Located on an exceptionally pretty stretch on the Mississippi, it was the boyhood home of its namesake.
It was time to turn around and had back across the plains toward Oregon.
Crossing the Missouri River in South Dakota.
We spent Tuesday night in Mitchell, SD. Home of the world's larget Cabela's:
Cabela's Mitchell, South Dakota Retail Store is located just off I-90. In addition to offering quality outdoor merchandise, the 80,000 sq. ft. showroom is an educational and entertainment attraction, featuring a décor of museum-quality animal displays, huge aquariums and trophy animals interacting in realistic re-creations of their natural habitats.
(I didn't get any pictures there but I found this flickr link where there are several.)
and also home of:
Yep, the world famous Corn Palace.
Set up inside is a large trap for tourists, enticing them to buy corn mementos.
Redecoration in process.
Above: detail of the exterior.
Yep, I did that. Sucker, huh?
Next stop: Murdo, to visit Anita. And Audie!
Murdo is less flat, more rolling than the eastern portion of the state. Above is the view from Anita's back yard.
We had a great visit, and found that there was more to Murdo than the infamous truck stop of the canned peas. There is the World Famous Pioneer Auto Show! Recently made more famous by a visit from American Pickers. And yes, I watch that show . . .
There's more there than old cars. I was getting pretty tired and wiped by the end of going through (how many buidlings and barns stuffed full?) but I took a few snapshots of things that interested me.
For Lani: a display of John Deere toys. Most as old as I am.
And who knew there were John Deere bicycles?
Put 'em to work and let them earn their keep, I say.
Nostalgia. Our first car was one of these. It was the car Tom had when we got married in '71.
I found Elvis's Harley interesting for the address. Must look it up when in Palm Springs, just out of curiosity.
Yep, they have some pretty interesting things in South Dakota.
The Dakotas are . . . different. South Dakotans apparently don't believe in taxes for anything judging on the road conditions which are the most abysmal we have seen in the western U.S. Anita has great stories about the area and how things are there. Or in some cases aren't.
We only ate at one national chain restaurant on our trip (outside of a Subway one other time) and that was when we hit Applebee's for a late lunch in Jamestown ND. We meant to stop earlier but towns between Bismarck and Lincoln had cafes that looked . . . well, scary. You may have caught the Olive Garden review that went viral on the internet a few months ago. I believe that I understand why the reviewer gave it such a glowing recommendation.
