Friday, June 26, was a hot day to start our trip. It was an uneventful day except that Chuck broke one of the temples on his glasses. Therefore, we will add a trip to Lenscrafters in Rapid City on Monday. Friday night we stayed in St. Joseph, MO at the last campground available in Missouri northbound. Saturday we took I-29 north from St. Joseph and enjoyed the farmland. After seeing the wheat fields in Wichita last week and the corn and soybeans of Iowa I can understand why this is the heartland. The nation is fed by these central states. The corn got taller and taller as we went north until South Dakota. The first town in Iowa is Sidney! The farms are far from the highway and the fields of corn go on for miles. There are many grain elevators and railroads. We heard the trains all Friday night. The DOT has a sign that says, "Be aware of motorcycles, they are everywhere." We arrived at Mitchell, SD at 3pm and after getting settled went back to town and visited the Mitchell Corn Palace. This is a large structure built in 1892 when the town was 12 years old. The exterior is decorated with 11 types of corn that is grown in South Dakota. Every year the building is redecorated with a new theme. The gift shop has more corn items than you can imagine. It is a-maize-ing. The picture of the duck shows how they know where to put the different pieces of corn to make the design. Tomorrow we will be in Rapid City, SD, the home of Mt. Rushmore.
