Best Western Empire Tower Sioux Falls

... a lovely couple and I hope you are reading this Connie and Neil you are welcome at our place if you are ever down under. We set of to find interstate 90 eating apples only picked yesterday

We travel on 90 going past corn field after corn field with the occasional dairy or pig farm in between very few animals grazing as we assume it is to cold in the winter. All the farms have large barns for their livestock.

On this ...

... s edge. Driving through the neighborhood as we were leaving, we passed folks out visiting each other in driveways and front yards.
Settlers came here because of the falls of course - and so did a man named Pettigrew. He knew the falls would be a great source of electrical power and decided to buy 81 acres and drew up plans for an extremely large flour mill. He needed financing and managed to convince a New York banker to come out. Showing Mr. Seney the plans ...

Charlie and I began the drive through the Badlands with mouths gaping. How did anyone ever figure their way through this land. It must be full of skeletal remains. Well, turns out there were some to see. A wooden walk through a "fossil bed" appeared and we stopped. I expected to see fossils in the cracked dried mud, but they were encased in plastic topped boxes. Many signs warning "Rattlers" so we didn't step off .

The next ...

A stop over in this small town after a long day.

We called into Cracker Barrel for a meal before heading for the Holiday Inn. This was the first time visiting Cracker Barrel despite our number of trips to the US in the past. Shame really as the meal was good. It's an early start tomorrow.

Chicago tomorrow

... we know that after a short while Angus had completed ALL the laundry, while Morgan and I watched a movie on the laptop. Oh how we love our little brother! By 10 pm that night the rain turned into an all out storm complete with thunder and lightning. But if there is one thing we have learned on this trip it has been how to handle thunder and lightning, so it wasn't a big deal for us.

... the bones of nearly 60 mammoths, and they have another 45 feet of depth to study. It was great to be able to see these actual remains and learn about the process used to uncover and study them.

After Hot Springs, we drove 6 hours through the badlands to Sioux Falls. It had to be one of our longest drives through vast, bland landscape! Tomorrow we travel to our final destination, as chosen by the girls, the Mall of America. What a way to end this incredible journey!

... a run for the car!

By the time we made it to the car not only did it look like we had just taken a shower in our clothes it was freezing cold!! We headed back to Pam & Matt's place and got warmed up & had a cup of tea before calling it a night! Well, we may not have made it to a baseball game, but at least we tried!

... Basically, the waitresses had refused to serve her and she was none too pleased about it. After batting back her attempts at conversation with monosyllabic acknowledgements, she finally went back to her table. The waitresses proceeded to apologise to us then throw the aforementioned maniac out, but not before she'd calmly delivered some feedback regarding the service - "**** you, you ****ing *******s" I believe was the phrase ...

... until dusk, watched as wind turbines whizzed by, and gazed at the sunset as the twinkling lights of fireflies appeared in the surrounding fields. Sioux Falls, SD. 10:00pm The lights of Sioux Falls, SD appear in the distance as we leave Interstate 90. The parking lot at our hotel, Country Inn & Suites, and the surrounding lots are filled with shiny corvettes of all colors. We are a little surprised to say the least. Inside ...

... this time back north.

This trip only took me 2 days, although I did go a little fast in NM, and got a warning ticket...LOL I spent a month in CO, then after being assured that my SIL was able to take care of my niece again (she was home for almost 2 weeks before I left), I drove back to Texas. My hubby was there by that time, with a van-load of the rest of our stuff except for furniture, so we commenced job-hunting.