Escaping Minnesota, entering South Dakota

As mentioned in our last post... there was a HECK of a lot of rain.

Not that we would have minded staying in Minneapolis for yet another night... but we must go on! (I forgot to mention for the baseball fans: the night we arrived there, the Twins clinched the AL Central pennant. Coincidence, or are we blessings in disguise? Time to move and spread the joy.)

So before my digression, allow me to repeat that there was a HECK of a lot of rain. After verifying that roads were somewhat open, we decided to make a break for it and continue our journey.

This is NOT a roadside lake!

They do NOT play water polo in this stadium!

We had great weather and great scenery, as expected. Open fields of corn, massive wind farms, and the much publicized via billboards Corn Palace:

The corn is replaced EVERY year. And admission is free, except when they're hosting concerts. Kenny Rogers is playing there soon, as are other greats like Bjorn Again, and some country artists I wouldn't know of. And on this day, there was an abnormally large number of buses of senior citizens from all over the country descending on this palace of corn. Sharon and I decided to get the heck out of there before things got dangerous.

So we went across the street to a "western-style" bar, who's name escapes me.

That's when I realized that smoking was still allowed indoors in this state. Sure, only one person was doing it, but it struck me as odd - every other state visited so far (and Ontario of course) does not allow this.

Now that I bring up differences in law, how does this strike you?

Sorry we couldn't get a closer shot. This is on a highway... both riders are wearing no helmet, no protective clothing of any kind... totally legal! Land of the free, baby! At least in this state anyway. (Actually, this was taken in Wisconsin, but we saw this in South Dakota too.)

There are other rules that must be made clear at times:

At the front door. Now we have to put it back in the car.

But I digress again! Back to the scenery of South Dakota. Our camera cannot do justice. I leave you with one of our last shots, before setting up camp at a KOA in the middle of nowhere:

And we did manage to get a tent up before it got too dark!

Nighty-night!