When you exit I-90 to head to Badlands National Park, you find the Minuteman National Historic Site. We didn’t know anything about this place, so we stopped to see what it was all about.

During the Cold War era, the US built 150 Minuteman missile silos and 15 control centers in South Dakota. These facilities remained on alert for almost 30 years until 1991 when the US and the USSR signed the START treaty, which required that the US decommission and destroy the silos.

One silo was preserved (with a glass cover so that satellites could verify that it was empty) along with one control center, and placed under the care of the National Park Service. Thus our newest National Historic Site was created.

There is a visitor’s center, where you can view a video and various displays on how the silos were built, how the control centers operated and what life was like working there.

It is possible to tour the control center and silo. However, they were still on their Winter schedule, so we missed the tour for that day. Maybe next time…

A few more miles down the road we see the Badlands. One minute you were driving through rolling prairie then the next it was as if we were on the Moon.

The Badlands were formed by water and wind erosion. They say that the formations loose one inch a year of soil.

In spite of the barrenness, humans have lived in the area for 11,000 years. Native Americans hunted the plains and homesteaders attempted to eke out a living farming the plains.

Today, the Badlands National Park contains the largest expanse of natural prairie in the US, over 64,000 acres. It is home to the endangered black footed ferret, prairie dogs and buffalo.

A Buffalo standing in the rain

Like most National Parks, the campground has no water or electrical hookups. However, being early in the season, we had the place almost to ourselves.

Our campsite at the Badlands National Park

Just about every tourist destination has some sort of large statue of an item or character that people stand in front of to get their pictures taken. We have countless photos of our boys, who are often not very pleased to be doing it, posing in front of giant boots, shovels, animals, you name it.

Well, now that Ann & I aren’t traveling with our kids, guess who gets to stand in front of the giant item?

When Lewis & Clark came through South Dakota on their journey of discovery, they wrote that the place was unfit for farming of any kind. Years later, the business men of Mitchell South Dakota wanted to prove to the world that Lewis & Clark were wrong. So in 1892 they built the “The Corn Belt Exposition” and covered the entire outside of it with mosaics and designs made from local corn and other grass crops. It was an instant hit, with people coming from all over the country to view it.

The original 'Corn Belt Exposition" (Later named the "Corn Palace"

118 years, two buildings, and a new name later, they are still at it. Every year, the Corn Palace murals are redone to a new theme. This year’s theme is transportation through the years. The murals are constructed with twelve varieties of corn, each providing a different color for the murals. This corn is all grown in the Mitchell area.

One of the Corn Palace murals

The mural artist first creates a small painting of the desired design. The painting is then divided in to a grid. Each square in the grid will be a 1 foot square in the finished mural. The artist then transfers the grid section designs to sheets of tar paper. These sheets are attached to the building, then cobs of the appropriate colored corn are trimmed to the appropriate size and nailed to the mural, using the designs on the tar paper as a guide. Local grass crops are used to create the designs that fill in the areas between and around the murals.

A partially completed mural

The completed mural

Birds and other creatures do eat some of the corn in the murals, which is one reason why they redo it every year, at a cost of $30,000. There are also murals on the inside of the building (which is an arena) that are more permanent.

Murals inside the Corn Palace

This evening we are staying in the parking lot of a Cabela’s store just outside of Mitchell. The have an area of the parking lot reserved for RV parking, complete with a dump station and it’s OK to spend the night there. This is the first time we have boondocked at a Cabela’s, and it worked out well. It was a lot quieter than a Walmart parking lot. We now plan to use their facilities more often when we travel..

You can see more Corn Palace photos in the Photo Gallery on our Web Site.

Thursday, April 22 – Saturday,April 24

Today we depart for our six month adventure. Almost everything is packed, except for the refrigerated stuff, and the items we remember at the last minute (like pillows, spare glasses, etc.). Our previous six week “shakedown” trip really helped us figure out what was needed and where it was supposed to be stored. While far from perfect, we seem to have had less last minute panic this time.

After last minute instructions to our boys (who STILL live in our basement), we head North to Xenia, Ohio, where we will be attending our local Airstream Club’s annual Soup Rally.

The Rally is held at the Green County Fairgrounds, just outside of Xenia. We had over thirty units (trailers, Motor homes and van campers) in attendance, which is pretty good for a rally these days (the club’s membership has been steadily declining). Thursday evening we attend a social, and have a great time meeting and greeting members we haven’t seen for over a year (we did not attend any local rallies last year).

Friday morning we caravan to the Wright Patterson Air Force Base (outside of Dayton, OH) to tour the Fisher House, a home that people can stay in for no charge while they or a family member are receiving treatment at the base’s hospital (much like a Ronald McDonald House). They do this with no money from the government, other than the land for the building. All funds to build and operate the houses come from corporate sponsors, fund raisers and donations by individuals. They run this 9 room facility (soon to be increased to 22) with only one paid full time manager, two part time employees and a lot of volunteers.

Saturday morning they start to cook the soup. It is cooked in a huge pot over a wood fire. It is made from scratch, with all fresh vegetables. It will slowly simmer over the fire all day, until it is served for dinner. After dinner we hold our club’s annual fundraiser auction. Everyone brings “treasures” that they no longer need, and we all bid on them. We have our own auctioneer, Don Kendig, who can be extremely funny with the way he tries to cajole bids from the audience. Seeing as how we were not going to be returning home for six months, Ann & I only picked up a few small items (with emphasis on the “small” .

Lot's of advice on how to cook the soup

Sunday, April 25

After a pot luck lunch of left over soup and other delicious items, we pack up and head to Franklin, Indiana (outside of Indianapolis). Our friends Dallas & Pam Peak are letting us stay in their driveway for the evening. We met Dallas & Pam at the 2004 International Rally in Lansing Michigan. They, like us, own a vintage Airstream trailer. Both Dallas & Pam are Emergency Room Physicians and unfortunately, Pam had to work this evening. However we had a great time with Dallas, who showed us how he roasts his own coffee beans.

Monday, April 26

I am awoken by the crowing of Pam’s roosters (she keeps several dozen chickens, for their eggs) and their dogs barking because Pam has returned from work. We get to spend some time chatting with her before we head off for our next destination, the Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria, Illinois.

Leaving Dallas & Pam's house

As you can read elsewhere in this Blog, we are fond of staying at casinos. Unfortunately, we didn’t win anything at this one. We boondock overnight in their parking lot.

Tuesday, April 27

The first part of today’s trip takes us through Northwestern Illinois (on Interstate 74). This is farm country, with little else to see but gently rolling landscapes of freshly tilled fields. This is an area where you have to plan your gas stops, because the majority of the infrequent exits do not have any gas stations. This is something I have always associated with the sparsely populated Southwestern states, not Illinois. But it is the case here as well. We see quite a few Red Winged Blackbirds darting back and forth across the Interstate. I notice them because we don’t see them very often  where we live, we have mostly Robins, Blue Jays, Crows and Sparrows.

We cross into Iowa when we hit Interstate 80 and start heading West. More of the same here, lots of farms. The hills are starting to flatten out a bit, and we are starting to get what Ann & I call “Big Sky”. This is where you have more sky than land, trees, buildings, etc. in your view. I believe that Montana calls themselves “Big Sky Country”, but our version is reserved for the Western/Southwestern “flat” states.

Outside of Iowa City we pick up Interstate 380 and start heading North again towards our next overnight stop, a Walmart in Waterloo, Iowa. As I have mentioned before, we like to boondock at Walmarts because it gives us the opportunity to pick up any items we forgot or need to replenish. The place was really busy, but we managed to find some seclusion in the parking lot past the garden canter. Learning where to park when boondocking in a Walmart is an art. You don’t want to be by the main road or any of the entrances/exits, as you will have traffic going by you all night. You also have to take the terrain into consideration (who likes to sleep with their head lower than their feet?). Sometimes things like parking next to high hedges isn’t a good idea because you get woken up at 5:30 AM when the birds start singing (something we learned the hard way). You also want to avoid having a light pole shining directly into your windows.

Wednesday, April 28

We start the day out by making what will probably be our last visit to an Aldi store. Aldi hasn’t expanded that far West yet, so we won’t see one till we return home the end of October. I could write a whole Blog section on Aldi, but for now all I will say is if you have them in your area, and you haven’t been to one yet, you should check them out as soon as possible. Just remember to bring your own shopping bags and a quarter for the shopping cart (you get it back once you return the cart) and remember that they only take cash or debit cards, no credit cards or checks.

We are now heading West again, on US-20, a nice limited access highway. After a while we pick up Interstate 35 and climb North again. Along the way we pass several huge Wind Farms. There are wind turbines, each with three gigantic propellers attached to a huge generator. The wind has started to pick up and all of the turbines are going at full speed. They are all in farm fields, with crops planted all around them. I suspect that the power company, or whomever it is that owns the generators, leases the land from the farmer.

An Iowa Wind Farm

We hit Interstate 90 and head West to tonight’s stop, the “Welcome Campground” in Welcome, MN. It’s a small “Mom & Pop” campground in an even smaller town. The place is a bit “cluttered”, but the rates are cheap and they have full hookups, free Wi-Fi and laundry facilities.

The "Welcome Campground" in Welcome, MN

The winds are picking up. We are supposed to got 40-50 Mph gusts tonight. The campground owner stops by and says that if things get too bad, they will evacuate us to the nearest shelter, which is a church. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that….

Here is our route, so far:

Photos from this trip can be viewed in our Photo Gallery.