Statue # 6 - Teddy Roosevelt in relief Statue # 7 - Family of Tin-men From there, we stuck on the two-lane blacktop through the rolling countryside hills and towns into Bismarck and then on to Jamestown for the night.
Day 16 - Jamestown ND to Minneapolis, MN This one is from Regent, at the south end of the Enchanted Highway - I should have included it in the previous post - ah well, I guess I'm an amateur at this. In Jamestown is a city-run museum / adventure park with their own small herd of Bison. It seems reasonably well done and is worth a visit. They have also built a large statue of a bison - it's apparently 26 ft tall He's quite big, as you can see by me standing below his chest
After leaving Jamestown, we headed to Fargo- famous from the movie of the same name. That movie was set in the depths of winter - we arrived to find different kinds of depths - the heavens opened up and deluged the town. We paddled through and just headed into Minneapolis
As we approached Minneapolis, a message of a crash ahead gave us the incentive to take to the minor roads into the city. As we drove along, we saw a great looking 55 Chevy 2-door which sounded like it would run very hard The younger guy driving it made a little bit of noise with it and appeared to be having a ball.
Day 17 - Minneapolis MN to Green Bay WI Leaving Minneapolis, we drove through Downtown. Mrs DB decided she appreciated the architecture of the city and took a number of snaps From there, through St Paul and then heading east to Green Bay in Wisconsin. After the drought of California and the summer dryness through the other western states, the lush greenness and abundant lakes, flowing rivers and water lying around was a big contrast. We didn't take any photos of the green fields and woods as we p***ed through the countryside, but they were certainly pleasant. Green Bay was hot and humid when we got there.
Wow DB, you are flat seeing some country ! It's cool you're detailing some of the lesser-known attractions and sharing it. Do you wish you were driving your own cruiser, ha. Keep on truckin'...
Thanks Jet96 - this is our 10th trip to the US and we have seen many of the 'big' tourist places and towns. We like the open road and the smaller, out of the way places a lot, so cruising around the country is just plain fun. By the end if this trip, we will have visited all 50 states, which isn't anything unbelievable, just something we wanted to do
Day 18 - Green Bat WI to Cedar Rapids, IA We awoke to the sounds of thunder and the start of some rain. Within a few minutes, the rain became very heavy and continuous. Not worrying too much about the weather - after all, we are on holidays, so who cares about a bit of rain? We headed to some shops so Mrs DB could get some 'retail therapy'. Afterwards, we got some pics of the Packers home field of Le Beaux Field, headed Downtown, and dabbled in the Bay at Green Bay, all the while becoming amused at the localised flooding on roads, sports fields and carparks. After seeing enough water lying around, we headed down through the countryside, through Madison and eventually ended up in Cedar Rapids. The road along the way was pretty easy, without any dramas from the heavy rain that fell in the morning and by the time we got to Cedar Rapids, you could hardly tell there had been a storm. The countryside along the way was gentle rolling hills, filled with what looked like very productive corn fields and other crops. The farms, barns and storage silos dotted the fields and Wisconsin and Iowa looked like they produce a large share of the US crops with good looking soils and abundant rain. Everything looked very green and lush. The towns and cities we went through all seemed nice places to live.
Day 19 - Cedar Rapids IA to Sioux Falls SD A beautiful day greeted us the next day and we headed off through more farmland, past the John Deere factory in Waterloo and Mason City. More rolling countryside, filled to the brim with fields of corn, etc. After a few days of this, I must admit, I was starting to get a little 'corned-out' - not being a farm-boy or having any desire to be in touch with 'the land'. Don't get me wrong - I admire those dedicated farmers and appreciate that we would not have today's society without them - it's just not what spins my wheels. Anyway, as we were driving along, Mrs DB also got a bit bored and decided to have a look through our photos. For some reason or other - let's call it an 'Act of God' - obviously beyond any one person's control - she managed to delete all the photos we had taken from the camera. Whilst it may surprise you to know that it takes 5 minutes to download a few day's pics from the memory card, it takes mere nano-seconds to wipe a complete memory card. Isn't that efficient? !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, we lost a couple of days of photos. Harumph!!! Ah well, there were no great treasures a**** them - it just means no pics for posting for a day or so. The first of our post-ooops pics was of a Jolly Green Giant statue beside the road in some rolling green hills filled with more corn. He looked Jolly, and he was certainly green, so no false advertising there
The rest of the run into Sioux Falls was more of the same - the density of corn per square mile appeared to reduce somewhat as we continued west. I presume slightly lower quality soils and a little less rain. Mind you, we drove along beside steadily worsening skies which threatened to dampen us. Mrs DB was intrigued by the shadows cast by the clouds in the hazy sky just below and beside the large heavy cloud bank followed by 'a bit of rain'. Sioux Falls lived up to its reputation as, ummmmmm, the biggest of the smallish cities in South Dakota. Dinner was served and enjoyed at the local IHOP - yummmm!
Just found this thread and read the whole thing, and greatly enjoyed your pics. Glad you're posting so many of them, really makes it seem like I'm along with you! Now by posting this reply I'm subscribed to the part yet to come, and looking forward to it. But now I've got to get off this PC and get into the shop and back to work on BGII, my '31"A" Hi8boy, who is receiving a revamp of the transmission and shifter setup.
Hi Dad and Mrs Dad-Bud.Glad to hear that you are enjoying your trip.Very much enjoy the ride along.One of my cousins was stationed in Oz in WW2.USAAC.He said that he thought that the US had some wide open stretches,but Austrailia beat them by far.He also said"Great country,great people.God bless em all". Good luck.Have fun.Be safe. Leo
Day 20 - Sioux Falls SD to Rapid City SD Next morning we started a bit early as it was a fair drive from one side of South Dakota to the other. We quickly had a look through downtown and saw a memorial to the USS South Dakota beside the road back to the freeway. We stopped and had a look. It wasn't immediately obvious until you got out of the car that what looked like a concrete wall was actually the outline of the ship. It was quite an effective way to define how big the ship is in plan. The ship was highly decorated in WW2 as it was involved in almost all Pacific battles, as well as being used in the Atlantic campaign for a brief period.
Thanks for the kind words DOM, I'm glad you're enjoying the trip with us. I'm trying to keep up with posting but some long days and getting into the motel late is my only excuse. Hopefully I'll get back into a rhythm. Cheers.
Thanks Woodbutcher. Australia and the US are probably the two most alike countries in terms of size, lifestyle and (for the warmer bits anyway), the weather. (I realise that the US and Canadia are virtually the same regarding the colder bits). For us, it's very easy to get around and understand everything here. Of course there are plenty of differences, but if there wasn't there wouldn't be much use coming all this way, would there?
After leaving Sioux Falls, we headed to Mitchell. I had first heard of the Corn Palace in the Vintage Shots From Days Gone By thread - I didn't ujnderstand it and thought it was a bit of an anachronism but as we were driving by, I figured 'what the heck'. Of all the things we have seen in the US this trip (and probably some previous ones too), the Mitchell SD Corn Palace tops the lot. It is difficult to praise it without sounding sarcastic or belittling towards it but it is just a joy to behold. The idea of dedicating a building so it can be decorated - using corn husk (or ears?) as well as straw and stalks is just so left field that it seems ludicrous. The pure altruism of using corn motifs to raise the awareness of the town of Mitchell, eventually growing the whole concept into an annual celebration that the whole community gets involved with, and that draws famous acts, musicians, comedians and characters to help promote it is just a brilliant concept. Honestly, I am in awe and would recommend to everyone who has never been, or ever heard of it, to go to Mitchell SD and absorb the positivity. Astounding!
From Mitchell, we continued heading west along the I-90 to the Missouri River - what a huge river it is - it must be a bout a mile wide. As soon as we crossed, we headed north to see Pierre, not a person, the Capital of South Dakota. We had a quick look around town, took a photo of the Capitol Building and then left, heading west again. We arrived at the new Minuteman Missile National Park Service Visitor Centre just off I-90 and east of the Badlands NP eastern entry. We got there at 4.15, just before they were due to close. Unfortunately, the visitor centre was brand new and wasn't quite finished - the exhibits inside were just preliminary paper prints of the future graphics and were just taped to the walls. We rushd through in about 5 minutes. In the end, we really didn't miss much, as there wasn't anything much to see. I expect when they have finished setting it up it will be much better. So we headed into the Badlands National Park where, again, we got to the Visitor Centre with only a short time before they shut. This time, we had enough time to quickly look around and then drive through the park, When we just drove into the park, we spotted a flock of Bighorn Sheep.
As we progressed through after the Visitor Centre, the sun finally came out and brought the sights of the eroded hills to life. The shadows cast by the low sun angle provides contrast to the light sections in sunlight and the strata of the soft, easily eroded rock (more like soil, really) show up much better. The difference between seeing them on a cloudy day and sunny conditions near sunset are enormous. If you can 'arrange' for early morning or late afternoon and sunny clear day, you will see them at their best. Of course, the downside to spending a couple of hours late in the day looking at the beautiful colours and shadows is that you still have a fair drive into Rapid City. The sunset was beautiful but we got into our motel well after dark.
Thanks ****, I'm enjoying the ride, as well as the travelogue. Whilst all opinions are mine alone, and we all know about opinions.............., I'll be able to look back on this thread in the future and remind myself of our holiday in better detail than I would otherwise. It's nice to have a place to share our experiences (here on the HAMB) and I hope you guys might enjoy seeing some of the places we visit. Cheers.
If you go into Rapid City make sure to visit the "Motion Unlimited Museum". It is an awesome hotrod, custom, motorcycle and vintage toy, etc... exhibit. The man, Bill, that owns it is a hotrodder. Take Hwy 79 south. It'll be on the east side. Can't miss it. Tell Bill that "Tennessee" sent you there. He probably have to be reminded that I drove a 29 Model A Tudor with Big Caddy engine. Haven't seen him in a few years.
Day 21 - Rapid City and Environs Friends of ours, Mark and Lara have recently moved back to Rapid City. He works at the local Harley Davidson dealer and she works at a local medical facility. We dropped in to his work and had a chat and made plans to catch up that night. So we headed up to Sturgis, which had recently had their big 75th motorbike rally. Driving through town, apart from the handful of oversized saloons and myriad of bike dealers and repair shops, which are clearly there to service the huge influx of bikers during 'Rally', Sturgis on any other day is just a sleepy little town that is getting on with life - probably still getting back to normal. It is certainly Mecca for old motorbike riders with still plenty of people dressed in 'the uniform' looking around, hoping to see the magic that is Sturgis. Unfortunately, it's probably like El Mirage or Bonneville on any 'other' day - the magic comes from being there when all the cool people are there. Farmer Jim driving his beat up old pickup to get the milk and bread doesn't have quite the same vibe as 100,000 bikers. No photos of Sturgis - there really is nothing to show, apart from empty oversized beer barns, sorry, saloons, oversized HD and Indian bike dealers and a normal town just getting on with everyday life. Of course, maybe I just don't get it. Anyway, after Sturgis, we headed to nearby Deadwood - set in a high valley, it is a very pretty town, with plenty of old-style buildings lining Main Street. Unfortunately, whilst trying to maintain its link to its history from 130+ years ago, it has become so sanitised, it looks just like a street scenet from Disneyland filled with modern food and gift shops trying to squeeze every remaining dollar out of tourists pockets. It is trying to leverage off its past when it must have been on the edge of civilisation, where you can imagine plenty of gun battles up and down main street and people had to work hard just to survive. Sanitising it and filling it with hordes of 70 year old tourists dilutes the authenticity to the point it might as well be located in LA or Orlando. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful town - clearly all the businesses are working hard to get the most out of historic Deadwood, and the tourists are lapping it up - just not this tourist, is all. (Doesn't look like an authentic 1880's street scene to me)
Damn Racer29, I wish I had that advice a couple of days earlier. We're on our way to Yellowstone today and don't feel like driving back a couple of hundred miles - it'll have to be next time. It sounds like I would have loved to drop in there and say G'day to Bill Thanks anyway.
Sorry Racer29, I didn't mean to come across as dissing you - I was annoyed that I had been a few days behind with my updates and by the time I got to providing some updates, your recommendation for us to visit came through after we had left the area. I guess I should provide a better guide of where we're heading so it doesn't happen again. Cheers.
(Day 21 cont) After we left Deadwood, we headed north to Belle Fourche - a small town on the river of teh same name. Belle Fourche's claim to fame is that it is (near to) the Geo Centre of the USA - including Alaska and Hawaii. Before those two states were brought into the Union in 1959, the Geo Centre was in Kansas. The rest of town is pretty small but at least we got there. We headed back to Rapid City and on to Ellsworth Air Force Base to look through their aircraft museum. When we got there, a B-1B was just taking off - at full noise, they are something to behold, and a beautiful bird in the sky. We went into the museum and signed up for the visit to a Minuteman Silo which is housed on the base.
Before heading off on the tour, we took some photos of the planes sitting outside B-52-D - apparently, having a rear gunner signifies an earlier version of these long-lived workhorses There was also an F-111. Australia bought a handful of these, which were the pride of the RAAF. Unfortunately, the Aussie ones had fuel tank leaks which were almost impossible to seal - the sealants used were horrible to the health of the guys who had the job of doing the work. They eventually retired after being in service for around 30 years - when they did work, they were apparently very good - they just didn't work very often.
The bus tour through the Air Force base was really just a direct run through the support and residence areas of the base to a long defunct Minuteman Silo used for training. The silo was 100% full-size and had every part that was used in the 'real thing', so the visit was authentic in seeing exactly what you would find at any of the many silos dotted around the countryside within 100 miles of Ellsworth. Parked outside is a transport and erection / installation trailer that was used to install the missiles into the silos in teh field. From there, a set of stairs, not included in the genuine field silos allows ordinary people to walk down to the upper maintenance level of the silo. Located in the silo is a missile - long emptied of fuel and decommissioned, but a real one.
The 30 - 40 year old technology used in operating and targeting the Minuteman missiles looks very old fashioned compared to the miniturisation today which has meant most cars for the past decade or more have had more computer power than the Apollo moon rockets, modules and capsules. Mind you, the Minuteman was still hugely more accurate and reliable than the Russian equivalent. Part of the 'success' of the Minuteman was its large number of silos - meaning that if a malfunction or destruction due to enemy successful targeting (however unlikely), there would still be plenty of missiles left to retaliate against an aggressor. There were 150 silos located within a 100 mile radius of Ellsworth. Here's a map showing the layout - 3 squadrons of 50 missiles, each split into 5 sub-groups of 10 missiles controlled by their own dedicated subterranean hardened bunkered control centre, connected via multiple redundant systems. And there were a number of these installations around the country - one in Montana and another in Colorado (though if I didn't remember correct, I'm sure someone on here will know and correct me). We spent the rest of the afternoon looking around the museum which was run by a small group of dedicated personnel. Having been to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington DC and the US Air Force Museum in Dayton Ohio, as well as other similar facilities in Huntsville AL and even on the Intrepid in New York City, poor little Ellsworth comes a fair way back from 1st in any 'race'. The great thing about Ellsworth is that you get up close and personal with a Minuteman, so should I recommend it? Yes............ and no. If missiles are your 'thing', then yes, do it (unless the new Minuteman Centre further east along I-90 can provide the fix you need). If you're really looking for the best possible USAF history lesson (plus some NASA as well), I can only suggest you head to Dayton. That place is about 3 times as big as the Smithsonian and has a huge array of all types of planes as well as key supporting artifacts and historical information. Anyway, I am happy to have been to Ellsworth and I wouldn't recommend against it - I just reckon there are better places out there.
After the Ellsworth AF Museum closed, we had a couple of hours to fill before going to see our friends. We headed to downtown Rapid City to see their set of life-size statues of all the US Presidents. Located on street corners, we wandered down and then up, looking also at the town square with dancing fountains (and kids playing). After checking out the cool presidents and local kids, we found a local brewhouse which had been advertising for many miles along I-90. I eventually found a beer I could drink (many others I sampled didn't suit my taste - obviously my problem) and we had a couple of them. That night we spent with our friends, which was great.
The Jalopy Journal
