From Iowa to South Dakota

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Here is the report from days two and three on the way west!

We left Cedar Falls, Iowa on Tuesday and headed north towards Minnesota. First stop was “The Little Brown Church” that inspired the old hymn “Come to the Church in the Wildwood” (you will love this rendition:

).

Back on the road as we approached the town of Clear Lake, Iowa, George caught sight of a sign for a public garden, something we try not to pass up, so we added a new, unplanned stop—the beauty of somewhat unplanned travel. Should have known it was going to be a great detour when the first thing we spotted after getting on the exit ramp was a fox trotting along side the road.

The garden was a real treat, one of those things that civic-minded communities pull off with a little effort. Seems it was the site of the old school that was no longer in use. But the town held some property the school district wanted for a bus garage so a property swap was arranged. Now the community has created a beautiful garden with multiple types of flowerbeds, a children’s garden with vegetables, open green spaces for weddings and community events. It is run by volunteers.

Some of you reading this who know your rock and roll history know that what we then found was the SURF Ballroom—the last place Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper ever performed (https://www.surfballroom.com/surfhistory.html). Back in 1959 after a show on the Winter Dance Tour, Holly had rented a plane so he would not have to travel on the bus that no longer had a working heater (his drummer had to leave the tour because of frostbitten feet). Waylon Jennings was scheduled to be on the plane, but due to the illness of the Big Bopper and a flip of a coin three of rock’s early starts took off and crashed about six minutes into the flight, killing all of them.

The Ballroom still operates, one of the few big places like this left. The place is a walk through history with the photos of everyone from Duke Ellington to Buddy Guy and so much more. There were guitars donated from musicians, a display of letters (“Dear Mommy and Daddy” from Holly to his parents) and memorabilia from the crash, and rock and roll posters. An R&R mecca and we did not even plan on stopping! (Here is Buddy Holly on the Ed Sullivan Show:

).

Next stop, Blue Earth, Minnesota to visit the Jolly Green Giant. Seems that corn and peas are still grown and canned by Green Giant in Blue Earth and in a tribute to the partnership there is, well, a green giant with size 72 shoes.

A few hundred miles later and we were at Sioux Falls, SD. Yet another western town that has kept its downtown vibrant; this one by featuring an annual sculpture exhibition with nearly 100 pieces. Anyone can vote on the ‘peoples’ choice’ and the winning piece is purchased by the city and placed somewhere in town. By the way, the town also features the pleasant scent of ham, as the Smithfield meat packing factory lies upwind and when the are smoking you have a certain urge for ham and cheese on rye.

We left Sioux Falls moving West and had to stop at Mitchell, SD to see the Corn Palace (http://www.cornpalace.org/). We have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by this giant monument to folk art. The outside displays are going through their annual revitalization, which means rye and wheat stalks outlining what will be large murals made from placing over 175,000 ears of blue, yellow, red and more corn. Inside, the permanent murals depict a harmonious society with farming at its center. We loved the place! Unfortunately, while the Corn Palace was open, the George McGovern museum had closed for the day--a real shame. Senator McGovern was one of the great leaders of this nation, correct on his assessment of the Vietnam War long before it was a popular position and devoting his private life, after leaving the Senate, to issues of hunger. (My favorite McGovern quote: "I'm fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.")

The run from Mitchell to Murdo, where we spent the night, was some of the flattest land we have seen once we passed over the Missouri River. It often seems like you can see to the end of the world. The hay fields we past have hundreds of large round bales (speaking of which, they make use of the highway roadside by bailing that grass as well). And you are reminded of how harsh the winters must be when you find at all main exits gates and signs designed to close the interstate due to snow.

Speaking of the Missouri, we crossed where Lewis and Clark camped for several days on their way both west and east. We looked at an exhibit about the expedition and could not help but reflect on how easy our travel is versus the deprivation and hardship they faced. Oh, and did we mention that we have been seeing Wall Drug signs for hundreds of miles????

Day three

The start of day three involved another Kevin Costner sighting. (Remember, he starred in Field of Dreams). Just outside of Murdo is the “1880s Town”, a terrific recreation of an old west prairie town. It is also holds a wide variety of props and materials from the 1992 movie Dances with Wolves that was filmed near here—which Costner directed and starred in.

The place was stuffed with memorabilia from the 1880s to 1930s and the street lined with authentic buildings mainly from the 1880s that were found around South Dakota and brought here (http://www.1880town.com/). One of the favorites was a tar-paper shack that, when just a boy of 14, the owner of the 1880s town actually lived in for four years until he graduated from high school in 1933. We also learned that this goes on today, as many kids live on ranches some 40 miles from school—so they board in the school town during the week and go home on weekends.

Continuing west we made the Badlands National Park around 10 in the morning. (By the way, do you know this is the 100^th anniversary of America’s National Parks? They are a real treasure and we are lucky to have them--http://www.nationalparks.org/our-work/celebrating-100-years-service.) The terrain seems to come from another planet, and you cannot imagine how easy it would be for a horse and rider to get lost or stuck in here. We climbed up to a plateau and hiked for a while just to take in the beauty of one of the truly wildest places in the country.

Lunch was at the infamous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. Yes, we did stop there because, well, just because you have to.

Tonight we are in the southern end of the Black Hills in a little town called Hot Springs. Really, after soaking our feet, a more accurate name would be warm springs, but no matter. Here is an interesting fact—with an average temperature of 64 degrees this is the warmest city in SD, average rainfall is 16”, average snow fall is 28”. We are not coming back for winter.

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Photos

Little Brown Church
The inspiration for "Church in the Wildwood"

SURF Ballroom
The day the music died.

From the Valley of the....
You know the jingle