The Road Trip - Part 1

The road trip route

There seem to be so many highlights of my recent trip to the States.  I have previously written about the “girls’” reunion in Kansas City and the Huerter family reunion in Marysville, Kansas.  The next (and final) phase of my wonderful summer trip to the States, was a long road trip with Mom, Dad and my aunt, Arlene.  

At the Sac and Fox indian reservation

We set off on Saturday afternoon after I returned from Kansas City.  We had a huge distance to cover - as it turned out it was about 2800 miles (4500 km) by the time I flew out (longer for the other 3 who returned to the mid west by car)!  We stopped at the Sac and Fox for lunch.  This is an indian reservation and although the slot machines looked tempting, we only had time for lunch!  

Flooded countryside beyond the banks of the
 Missouri River

The Missouri River has been flooded and we saw much evidence of this.  In fact, we had to reroute our trip since some of the roads were flooded and closed.  The house and barns in the picture were not NOT on the riverfront!  I am sure this flood was devastating to many people in its path.

The Corn Palace,
Mitchell, South Dakota

We passed through Council Bluffs (Nebraska), Sioux City (Iowa), Sioux Falls (South Dakota), finally arriving in Mitchell, South Dakota.  This is a city of about 15,500 and its claim to fame is the Corn Palace.  The building is fronted with mosaic pictures made from various colors of ears of corn, which are changed annually.  (5055 and 5057 crop)  Surprisingly, it is very effective.

Corn mosaic closeup

Wall Drug Store

Back into the car and from here on for the entire trip we saw signs warning of snakes, although we never actually saw any (for which I am grateful)!  The Badlands was the next stop.  This is a huge state park, full of beautiful mesas, striped with colored layers.   Wall, South Dakota was next, with a trip to the famous drug store.  This is a drug store like you have never seen!  I believe it started out modestly in the 1930s as a drug store (chemist!) and the owner, Ted Hustead, brought customers in by offering free ice water for travellers, many of whom were enroute to Mt. Rushmore (a VERY smart idea, judging by the heat that we were experiencing - up to 110 degrees - that is just over 43 degrees C, my metric friends!) Anyway, Wall Drug Store has expanded into a maze of interconnected shops dealing from jewllery to candy to souvenirs.

Mom, Dad and I

Arlene and I at the Badlands

Now at this stage, my camera, which has had palsy on and off for a year or so, started to really get huffy with me and the shakes by now were almost constant, so I had to resort to borrowing Mom and Dad’s camera when I felt the need for a photo.  I was NOT impressed!  

Crazy Horse Memorial was our next stop. This is very ambitious project that was begun near Mount Rushmore (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crazy_Horse_Memorial) in the Black Hills, South Dakota.  The huge sculpture (the final product will be far bigger than Mt. Rushmore - 195 meters wide and 172 meters high) was begun in 1948 and has a long, long way to go.  In this photo you can see me, a scaled sculpture of the monument, and in the distant background the mountain that has been carved to show Crazy Horse’s profile.  

Crazy Horse Memorial, Black Hills, South Dakota

Part 2 to come.........