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Published: August 19th 2017
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This was the second moving day in a row. We are trying to make it back to the Mississippi River and we had a lot of ground to cover. We left at 7:27 AM and 64 degrees and headed out to cover 550 miles. Fortunately, the entire drive was on interstate highways, so we made good time and arrived at our hotel by 4 PM.
Today we drove through South Dakota and Iowa, and ended up in Omaha, Nebraska. The drive began in the Black Hills, where the topography is hilly and rocky. It seemed like we were riding though an ancient dried-up riverbed. The land was flat surrounded by hills with smoothed-out vertical ridges, all running up to the rounded top. The grass was a tannish yellow and punctuated by dark green bushed and small leafy trees. The flatlands were lush with green grass and all along the way there was a deep rut that snaked along between the hills, where the river runs. And all along the way were the ever-present railroad tracks. We didn’t see any moving trains today, but we saw train cars parked in various locations waiting for something to happen.
A short way
down the road we were recalling that we had visited the Badlands National Park and that it was located just to the south of where we were driving, although the entry point was on a distant road. And suddenly, there it was. We could see the northern outside edge of the park from the interstate. This park earns it’s name, for there is nothing that can be done with this land…not ranching or farming...but putting it on display for it’s God-created beauty.
Much of South Dakota was made up of ranches…large expanses of yellow grass populated by lots of cattle. There were a lot of youngen’s, usually trailing behind Momma, learning the ropes for the day when she will be gone and they will have to make it on their own.
Suddenly, as if someone turned on a light, the land changed from desert-like to lush and green. Cows were roaming on dark green pastures and intermingled with the ranches were farms growing wheat and hay and soy beans. And the one field that caught my eye was a huge field awash with a sea of golden yellow sunflowers. And I wondered where the birds were. When we
grew sunflowers in our garden, many years ago, the birds were always the first ones to appear when the flowers were in seed and they would eat what they could pick right off the blossoms. So, where were the birds, today? Steve pointed out that we don’t see a lot of birds in this part of the country. I am sure they are around, but apparently there is nothing in the farm fields to attract their attention.
On the highway going west, we saw three VERY LONG trucks, each carrying an air foil for a wind turbine. These things are huge and require a stretch truck which is at lease twice the length of a 53’ tractor trailer, and the foils were extended far beyond the trailer. One resource that I read says that they are 116 feet long. Perhaps, but they do come in different sizes. These could easily have been longer that that.
We crossed the Missouri River three times today, as it meandered along it’s path. We crossed it in South Dakota, again when we crossed over into Iowa, and again when we crossed over to Nebraska. In these parts, it is just a flat
grayish color flowing between green riverbanks. From my review of our trek for tomorrow, it appears that we will be following it all the way to the Mississippi River to resume our drive on the Mississippi River Scenic Byway.
So the count is up to five – The Mississippi, The Snake, The Columbia, The Payette and The Missouri. I need to change the title of this trip to reflect this.
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Kelli kernkamp
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Lots of driving!
Memories again for me. Beautiful pics. Enjoyed Moving Day #2. But we also had a lot of driving today, well, seven hours round trip, but not close to your scenic views. Just something we had to do. And I am having hard time staying awake. So again, thanks for your journey of today and will check in tomorrow.