Day 98 - April 15th - Swensons Sales and RV Park, Minot, ND

7:30AM
Better get on the road northward and break trail for John and Brenda. They have gained conciderably on us and are now only about 1 day behind us and following the same route as we are. Will complete this when we stop this aft.

4:15PM

Just arrived in Minot, North Dakota. 415 miles under our belts today. A long day for us!! We were amazed at the amount of water laying in the fields all the way across South and North Dokata. Yesterday we saw our first indication of that dreadful 4 letter "s___" word. Today there was more and more as we worked our way north. But it was as if driving on a "Causeway", with water laying in both ditches and extending away out into the fields. We thought that as we got closer to Minot, ND that it would get better. WRONG!! Here it got even worse. Mouse River that runs through was flooding the complete valley bottom. All farmland was buried and many farmyards inundated. We had planned on staying at the KOA just south of Minot, but when we arrived found it under water. Searched for another and found Swensons Sales and RV park on the west side high above the creek bottom. Spent night here.

Day 97 - April 14th - Famil-E-Fun RV Park, Mitchell, SD

Up and on the road from Waco, NE at 9:00AM this morning. 7 Miles back to the west on I-80 to York, and then turn north on 81. 20 miles up 81 came apon a detour. The Columbus Viaduct was closed, whatever that is, and we were detoured a few miles to the west for about 20 miles, before joining back to 81. This section a little narrow and through a couple of small towns, but that is OK with us. Adds flavour to the trip! The remainder of the day was fairly uneventful. We had talked about just continueing on for a total of 400 miles or so to Aberdeen, SD, but as soon as we were onto I-90 started seeing signs for the the "Corn Palace" in Mitchel, SD. We have wanted to see that on other trips, but never did get this far east. I remember once at Ripid City, we started east toward Mitchel, but when we found a mileage sign and realized it was 250 miles away, changed our plans, and went south on another route. Today we decided to take the time and go there. I was for taking ELTORO to the site, but Denice convinced me to go and get settled into the Famil-E-Fun RV Park about 6 miles to the west, and then come back with the jeep. Good decision Denice!! I never realized the palace was on the far side, through the down town section. This is a real neat place, with everything made from either corn on the cob, or straw, or husks.
The Palace, with its mad mix of onion domes and minarets, looks like it was drop-kicked out of czarist Russia. It was originally built to show off the fertility of South Dakota soil - and it's remained on the job, standing in downtown Mitchell for over 75 years. A rival "grain palace"
View of the Corn Palace, 1914. (Courtesy Mitchell Corn Palace)
Mitchell's Corn Palace is built out of reinforced concrete, not corn. Every spring, however, its exterior is completely covered with thousands of bushels of native South Dakota corn, grain and grasses that are arranged into large murals.
Typical yearly themes are South Dakota Birds or A Salute To Agriculture; this past year's was Youth In Action. Locals take great pride in the Palace's "corn-septual art" and "ear-chitecture." Mitchell isn't called the Corn Capital of the World for nothing.
The Corn Palace serves as a huge auditorium for touring celebrities (Lawrence Welk played here five times - a record), as a sports arena for the various Kernels teams, and as the locus of Corn Palace Week, the high water mark of Mitchell's yearly social calendar.

Corn Palace Week marks the end of the harvest - and the beginning of the planning for next year's Palace theme.
The Corn Palace has one more title - the World's Largest Bird Feeder. After Corn Palace Week ends and winter sets it, local pigeons and squirrels make a feast of the tasty murals.

After the Corn Palace went on to see the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. Here is a link to the site, that will explain better than I can.
http://www.mitchellindianvillage.org/index.php
We were late getting there as it closes at 4:ooPM, and we didn't arrive until 3:30PM, but the on duty Guide was more than generous by giving us a personalized guided tour through the complete facility and archeology dig site. He even took us to the dig site on his golf cart to speed our tour. Now late in the day, so stopped at KFC for some chicken to take back to ELTORO for dinner. Oh Yes!! some sunset pics!!

Day 94 - April 11th - Evergreen Acres RV Park - Belleville, KS

Again, another slightly less than 300 miles up the road. Now, for some of you folks, I know that 300 miles is just "Getting Started", but you know what, we're retired and we only travel short days. For about 40 miles prior to Wichita. KS we were on a Toll Road Turnpike. A beautiful concrete highway with very few exits or accesses. It ended at Wichita, and then through Wichita on I-135. Appeared to be a nice city, no too big, but much of the I-135 freeway is elevated about 30 feet with bridges crossing below on ever street, with a creek between the north and south lanes. Once past there, the highway was divided 4 lane all the way to where we turned into the "Evergreen Acres RV Park" just 7 miles from the Nebraska border. The Woodalls's RV Guide indicated this park was to have 15 Full Hookups, 5 15 Pull Thrus, 25 Total Sites. Well when we got there we found this was like a farmers back yard. There was only 4 sites that I could find. Nobody was home so I wandered around the complete yard, and I couldn't find any other indication of more sites. Now I supposed there maybe had been more, but it was obvious that I Tornado had gone through the shelterbelt of trees and the yard some time before. I would guess within the last year or two.
This is what happens to a nice farm yard shelterbelt, when a tornado goes through!! I would have liked to talk to the owner to get more details, but the evidence is clearly there, as to the ferocity of the event. Notice the remains of a corrigated Metal Grain bin that are scattered everywhere through the debris.

However, what we found was OK, as only one other site was occupied with a 5th wheel, again with nobody home. So we just set up and enjoyed the afternoon. Nobody showed up in the evening or the next morning so we just left our name and address, and $20 in an envelope and motored on.

Day 93 - April 10th - Best Western RV Park - Guthrie, OK

Another day, another 300 miles toward home. No Issues, just drive. Went through FT Worth, and then through Oklahoma City. A couple of the many interchanges in Ft Worth, TX

Neither was difficult. Lots of traffic, but just follow "Penny's" verbal commands from "Streets and Trips"! Rolling Hills between Ft. Worth and Oklahoma City

An amusement Park in Oklahoma City

Arrived here early - only about 3:00PM, at Guthrie, OK. Guthrie is only about 20 miles north of Oklahoma City It was short day, only about 6 hours driving, but that's enough for us for the day. Checked into the Best Western RV Park. Never realized when I did the search on "Streets and Trips" that this would be the same as the Best Western Hotel chain. It's OK but just basic. Good enough for one night!

Day 92 - April 9th - I35 RV Park - Waco, TX

Well, we are now on the road. Made the first 300 miles without a hitch. Left Rockport at 8:30 AM after bidding farewell to John and Brenda. It has been a most delightful 3 weeks with them. Always enjoy the time with friends who have the same likes and dislikes as ourselves. We travelled up highway 188 to Refugio, then 136 to Victoria, then 77 all the way to Waco, then onto I35, and out to the I35 RV Park just outside of the city. Todays drive was quite windy, and as we left the humid seashore the temperature just seemed to continue to rise all the way. I drove and Denice "Co-Piloted". That's better than saying "Back Seat Driver", and she snapped pictures. Here is one she took. As John put it, "Is that of a species, or an individual flower". However this one of the Texas State Flower, he "Blue Bonnet" turned out rather good. When we turned into the RV park the thermometer was registering 93 F. Just a little too warm. This is anice RV park with lots of large "Pull Through" site for$25 / night with a "Good Sam" card. WIFI is available but it is satelite and kind of "Hit and Miss", but seemed bettewr in the evening when the temp lower slightly. It is now 8:45PM and the temp still is 79 F. Air conditioner running, and liely will be a good portion of the night.

Once on the internet we checked out John and Brenda's Blog. Now John, I just told you how much we enjoyed our time with you guys, and now Denice says she wants to Kill you. Could it be this photo of the Spoonbill?????