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Published: August 19th 2008
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There will be flurry of messages since we are arriving home VERY soon! Do to technical difficulties we have been writing blogs but have been unable to publish them.
We awoke in Belvidere, SD and hit the road for what we knew would be a long day of driving. South Dakota is a BIG state!!! We had one last stop in SD and that was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. I had no idea what the corn palace was and I can quite honestly say that it was a very unique visit. The outside of the corn palace is redone each year do to the birds eating all those luscious kernels. The design of the palace incorporates all corn pieces and parts. This year’s theme, Everyday Heroes…and guess what? Teachers are on it, hurray. The inside of the corn palace is gymnasium with more corn murals. The gym is used by local high schools and colleges. Since this is the off season the court is used as a gift shop which sold anything from corn cob jelly (I had no takers for that) to butter flavored lollipops. This was a nice, quick stop. The added bonus was that it
was FREE. So if you are looking for something to do in SD here is something you can add to your list. We had lunch in the parking lot and then hit the road. I-90, here we come….
We decided to go into Minnesota just because we could and then go South into Iowa. We were now on secondary roads and off the highway, which are the roads I most enjoy. Upon entering Iowa it became clear that CORN is one of their major crops. It was everywhere!! It was getting close to dinner time as we entered Le Mars, IA and came upon the sweetest surprise. It is the world’s capital of ice cream. It did not take Chris and I very long to decide that an ice cream dinner would be a fantastic way to keep up everyone’s spirits after a long day in the RV. I can still taste the hot fudge sundae and see Devin’s yummy banana split. This was a very rewarding stop and dinner. We then hopped back into our moving home and headed toward Sac City. Upon researching our camping opportunities in NW Iowa we decided that we would stay at a
local state park. It was beautiful, quiet and nestled within a cornfield. I should mention that the farmer had recently fertilized his crops…mmmmm. It had been weeks since we left anything behind so we were overdue. This one was tragic for me personally. I was reading London by Edward Rutherford and had gotten about ½ way through a 1200 page book that had my favorite bookmark in it and sadly (yes, I am still scarred) it was left behind, somewhere
Our mission this morning, Starbuck’s! We are not near anything but I can tell you that our eyes were wide looking for any hint of green, we were desperate. The town that we thought would have one did not but Chris, being the eternal optimist, felt that Target may have one. I did not go in because I could not face disappointment (I know that is pathetic) so Chris and Nick went on a search. It was great because Nick snuck up behind me with a nice vanilla iced coffee, YES!!!
We left Target fully intending to visit the Field of Dreams field in eastern Iowa when we saw signs for the Iowa State Fair. It did not give the dates or location but we had our good and trusty Woodall’s to check and sure enough it was happening this week. We made a decision on the fly and headed to Des Moines and the state fair. We were only an hour away and Chris had seen something on Fried Twinkies and Snickers at the fair. That was all we needed to be sure of our decision…deep fried junk food. We made it to the fairground entrance with no problem and then we met a friendly Iowa policeman working traffic duty. He was waving his hands for two lanes to enter and according to everyone in the RV he motioned to the left lane for the RV. I started to pull in that direction when he started waving his hands to the right. For those of you that have ever driven a 25’ RV quick, sharp turns are not in its’ repertoire. He waved faster to the right but didn’t move so I was hesitant to really move the RV. I slowly brought it forward and watched his hand motions. When I reached him he said, “If you can’t drive then you shouldn’t get behind the wheel”. I came unglued, internally, of course. I’ve always been taught to respect the police but this was completely unsolicited rudeness. I started to lower the window to say something but decided against it, for many reasons. I was so mad I burst into tears after I drove by him. Everyone in the RV witnessed the exchange and felt that it was unwarranted. Chris really didn’t want to go to the fair at this point but we weren’t going to let one angry person ruin our potential fun.
No sooner did we enter the gate did we see the food booth for the fried twinkies, cupcakes, hoho’s, snickers, etc. We bought a twinkie and a snickers bar…the snickers bar was better by far but they were both weird and definitely not good for you. We walked most of the fair and visited some of the largest animal barns you have ever seen. We even watched sheep and pig showing. They love their farm animals in Iowa and it was refreshing to see so many young people working with the animals (4-H and Future Farmers of America). It put the Topsfield Fair to shame, sorry. They even had a life size cow made of butter! We ate at the Gentlemen’s Quarters which is run by the cattle farmers of Iowa. That was the biggest and best roast beef sandwich I have ever had. Devin had a Beef Sundae. I know it sounds weird but it was very good. Mashed potatoes covered with beef and gravy and topped by a cherry tomato. He has mentioned several times since that he wants a Beef Sunday. Maybe for Christmas we can have beef sundaes for everyone? Just kidding, Gemma The campground we rested our weary head at was actually at a gas station (66)…we’ve had some very interesting and funny RV experiences this summer. Each RV park has its own character, etc.
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