Sioux Me

July 4-5

It’s a long haul from Baraboo to Sioux Falls, but I can’t complain. John Dillinger made the trip all the way from Chicago 80 years ago before there was an Eisenhower Interstate Highway System. He came to rob a bank.

I came because it is a way point on the trip to the Badlands.

The route we took, Interstate 90, has a section of hilly country, but most of it is prairie. Crossing South Dakota is like sailing on the ocean: you can almost see the curve of the Earth.

We left Baraboo a little after noon. We had gone back to the Ishnala to see if we could improve our snapshots. We also stopped at a Starbucks store to use the wifi because the system was down at the Clarion. I needed to consult Google Maps to confirm the last part of the drive to the Dakotah Lodge at Sioux Falls.

We crossed the Mississippi. Even this far north, it’s so big, I thought at first it was a lake.

Does anybody remember Sinclair and its green dinosaur? They still have that brand of gasoline out here.

One of the rest stops had an interesting juxtaposition. An old marker from decades ago talked about the significance of “vee-shaped ditches” along roads and between fields. They allow the prairie land to drain so it can be cleared for agriculture. Millions of acres have been affected, contributing to the prosperity of South Dakota.

Facing that, a few steps away is a newer sign talking about efforts to conserve the prairie, which has been all but wiped out of South Dakota. Efforts are under way to restore some of it. Vegetation of the natural prairie consists of tall grasses, some of which can grow six feet high. The roots of many native prairie plants reach as much as 15 feet into the ground. This helps them weather drought. The dense cover and deep roots make it hard for invasive species to compete.

We got into Sioux Falls a little after six on the Fourth. We asked about places to eat and got directions to Phillips Street. 

The neighborhood is a gentrification. It reminded me of Asheville, or downtown Fredericksburg with wider streets—1920s storefronts made hip.

Minerva’s, the place specifically recommended, was closed for the holiday. So were a couple of other restaurants, so we wound up at a bar that had 40 taps but served only hamburgers.

Very good, though, especially with the freshly cooked potato chips. I had a Founders nitro stout (the nitro makes it smooth and creamy, like Guinness) and a very fragrant Sierra Nevada Five Hop.

Joanna has been following our progress on state maps that we pick up at welcome centers. She noticed there is a Hutchinson County in South Dakota, not far from Sioux Falls. So we went there to wave to my relatives.

It’s a wide-open rural space. Huge fields of corn and other crops surround small clusters of buildings—usually a big house, an even bigger barn, and some smaller structures.

By coincidence, Interstate 90 brought us to the neighborhood of the Corn Palace.

It’s in Mitchell, S.D., just north of I-90. I always pictured it as standing by itself on the prairie and surrounded by tall grass. But no, it’s in what they call Historic Downtown and appears to be attached to City Hall. One of the current murals outside is a portrait of Willie Nelson rendered in shucked ears of corn.

We stopped later at a rest area dedicated to Lewis and Clark. A replica teepee stood inside the visitor center and we got a great view of the Missouri River behind the building. Like all the South Dakota rest stops, it is identified by an oversize concrete teepee on the grounds.

There was a sign telling me to be aware of poisonous snakes, so I went down the path looking for some. No luck, though.

A second floor of the visitor center was set up like the keelboat that the Corps of Discovery used much of the way up the Missouri. The river eventually became too shallow for the boat to navigate, so it was loaded with specimens collected on the way and returned with a small crew to St. Louis, where the expedition had started.

When we came out, there was a strange vehicle being carried on a trailer. I didn’t know if it was a thrust car or a catamaran. It was clearly a racing vehicle—very wide and very flat. It had a small cockpit and a gas turbine.

It was mounted on a special carrier that held it at a 45 degree angle because it was too wide to ride flat on the highway.

We spoke to the lady who owns it. It’s an aquaplane, a boat with wings. It doesn’t use the thrust of the engine, but instead uses the engine to turn a propeller, which had been removed for transport.

The boat had been in a race somewhere far to the south (she said, but I forget where) and was going home to Seattle, where it would run in a couple of other races.

We got to Kadoka, near the Badlands National Park, around 5:30. We picked up an hour because we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone.

I was beat and took a nap. Joanna brought her rice cooker and cooked a few ears of corn that we picked up at Wal-Mart, appropriately enough, not far from the Corn Palace.

My computer is telling me it’s 11:42 back in New Jersey. It’s almost ten here. I’m getting ready to pack it in, gang.

More later.

Harry

July 7

I remember Sinclair gas!

Amazing they're still around.

South Dakota sounds like a good place for an adventure.

Charlie

July 7

Now this is more like it, Grasshopper. Interesting and, I'm sure, beautiful.

Larry