Oaks Hotel Sioux Falls

USA Day 12 Friday, September 11, 2009<br><br>Janesville Wisconsin to Sioux Falls South Dakota<br><br>Got Up at 730 it was still dark. We got dressed and packed. There was no breakfast at this inn only coffee with powered whitener Yuk. We set off with the intention of traveling the back road to Madison where we would join the interstate route 90 to Sioux Falls.<br><br>We hadn't gone far when we hit fog this was o thick we could only see ...

... were to meet next day to look at the Big Sioux River falls. Planning ahead, he had a crew dam up the river above the falls. At the perfect time, Pettigrew gave a signal to a crew out of sight up river tobreak the dam. The banker looked out astonished at the flow of water and agreed to the financing. The Queen Bee Flour Mill was designed to turn out 1200 barrels of flour a day and stood 105 feet tall. The overly ambitious project (not really enough water) failed in two ...

... drive through mostly flat land with no violet mountains, rolling hills or bluffs to change the view. I was left with one large question. Why are large round bales of hay scattered along both sides of the highway? There were lots of agriculture fields and numerous hay fields with mostly round bales either scattered or stacked in long rows. I'll have to google that!! <br><br>Charlie and I were glad to stop in Sioux Falls by about 4:00 pm.

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

... great to see buffalo at last after spending two days in Wyoming and South Dakota buffalo country. <br><br>In Hot Springs we toured an active archaeological dig, the Mammoth Site. This site was discovered by contractors in the 1970's. Apparently they uncovered what was an ancient sink hole that had been filled with warm waters during the last ice age. Both Columbian and Woolly Mammoths had roamed the area, and wandered into the water, but were unable to get out. So far they have ...

... a run for the car! <br><br> 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 &amp; Matt's place and got warmed up &amp; 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!

... been there before and think they make really good pizza. I always forget that a common topping on pizza here is hamburger. Guess it goes with the downtown slaughterhouses. <br><br>Left Omaha heading north, in a vain attempt to escape the weather, but at least it isn&#8217;t raining although I would rather have that. Drove up along the Missouri on the Nebraska side ...

We departed Grand Island around 9:30. About noon we had our first "trouble. " And thank God it wasn't that bad. The engine light went on just west of Seward (look on a map I have no idea where that is.) Fortunatley Seward has a Ford dealer so we stopped and got our fuel filter replaced. The stop set us back less than an hour. The rest of the ride was uneventful. We made it ...

... We got there early enough that we could actually go to the Falls park which is beautiful. I think Bruce got really tired of me taking so many pictures but I just love those falls. We ended the day with 600 miles. Stopped at a Super 8 that had to have the smallest rooms ever, we won't make that mistake again!