Jessica's Wedding - Day 5

 Morning in our little motel came quickly and quietly.  Atkinson was certainly a sleepy town, just a few buildings on either side of the road that cut through town.  Our motel was extremely quiet, so we slept soundly.  Getting on the road, we traveled just a few blocks to our first stop: coffee!  Mona found a little coffee shop, Dejabrew, along our drive.  The little cafe featured a dizzying array of books and fragrances for sale. With coffee in hand, we got back on the road.

Much of the drive across the rest of Nebraska was, well, dull.  There were fewer rolling hills than in South Dakota, and much of the plains was covered in farmland.  As Mona pulled up on Google, more than 90% of Nebraska is agricultural land.  I lost count of the number of heads of cattle we saw along the drive - we simply passed farm after farm, with horses and cows dotting the landscape.  I have come to believe that states like Nebraska are truly "America's Kitchen", with so many of the things we saw were all things we would find at the grocery store. There were no planned stops along our drive, so we motored along to Lincoln.

Arriving in downtown Lincoln, I was reminded that we were also at the University of Nebraska.  Plenty of Husker signs and pennants hung along the road.  Arriving at the hotel, we found we were a few hours ahead of check-in time, so we hung out in the lobby.  Much of the family arrived, so we were quick to consolidate at tables throughout the expansive lobby.  It was wonderful to be able to catch up with family, most of which we hadn't seen since the last wedding!

After checking in to our room, made plans for the evening.  Jessica had arranged a reception a few blocks away at HopCat, so we ambled over for a nice dinner and warm conversation.  By coincidence, this evening also featured the Savannah Bananas, playing at Husker Stadium!  We grouped with Angie, Stephanie and Dorothy and made our way to the stadium.  IT WAS PACKED!  The stadium seats 85,000 and it was completely sold out.  The Bananas were playing the Firefighters, and it was expected to be a real slugfest.

The antics of the game truly defy explanation - "Banana Ball" carries its own rules, such as mandatory dance breaks, trick plays and so on.  If you have an opportunity to see them play, it's highly recommended.

The Firefighters narrowly defeated the Bananas with a walk-off home run at the bottom of the 9th
inning.   

It was clear that this team and these games were definitely fun for the kids - as we saw hordes of children in yellow attire.  Souvenirs, trinkets, balloons, stuffed animals and shirts were in every shop window and outside the arena.  

Leaving the stadium, we didn't take very long to back to the hotel - it was just a few blocks away.  Coming back to the hotel, we all grouped up in the lobby at a comfy table and spent the rest of the evening in deep conversation.  It was really nice to see sisters and cousins, of several different generations, conversing and sharing.  It's funny to think that Mona and I are Gen X, Angie, Stephanie and Dorothy are Millennials, just a few years younger, yet we're all facing the same challenges at different points in our lives.  The same trajectories, yet different point along the curve.  The mathematical analogy might be lost on some of you, but as I quietly looked on in their conversations, I believed this to be true.

As the evening wound down, we said our goodbyes and settled in for a good sleep.

Jessica's Wedding - Day 4

What a great night!  Relaxing in our hotel room after the previous day's adventures was a genuine pleasure.  I think this was the best sleep I'd had in the last few nights, so I was not complaining.

Heading down to breakfast in the morning, the small dining room was bustling with people.  Laura and I had breakfast, while Ramona took a walk in the cool morning air.  The weather was quite mild this morning, so she took advantage of a good walk through the small shops near the hotel.  The Roosevelt Inn offered a stay just minutes from Mount Rushmore, and the packed parking lot tipped me off that there would be plenty of folks at breakfast.  I was right.  In addition to the usual breakfast fair, they also featured a pancake "machine", essentially spitting out small pancakes.  Laura had never seen one before and seemed impressed.

Thanks to our busy schedule yesterday, we had seen so many sights that we were ahead of schedule.  This allowed us a later departure and a more-leisurely day.  Mona and I took a short walk up the street, taking a look in a few more stores.  Returning to the hotel, we loaded up and prepared for our longest day of driving.

This morning, we headed through Custer State Park.  Like the trip to the Badlands yesterday, this gave us another opportunity to appreciate the scenery of the Black Hills.  The roads were extremely winding, which the many motorcyclists we saw were enjoying.  We wound through the park and connected with the Needles Highway, the road that would lead us through two tunnels.  We meandered along, seeing not only a bison alongside the road, but many hawks as well.  You might not see him clearly in the picture to the right, but this hawk circled several minutes above us, patiently scouring the ground for his next meal.  Returning to the car, we continued on through many scenic overlooks, until we passed Sylvan Lake Lodge.  This small lake seemed to attract throngs of people - fishermen, swimmers, hikers, kayakers - all enjoying the lake.

As we neared the end of the park, we pushed onward to Custer.  Hoping to get a quick meal, we found the deli and local market were already busy, even though it was barely Noon.  With few options in town, we decided to drive a little further.  One upside: we saw some amusing sights along the road.  We noted many prairie dogs along the road, popping in and out of their little burrows.  We pulled off and had a "conversation" with them - barking back at their little yappings.

We decided to push on to our next stop: The Crazy Horse Memorial.  Not far from Custer, this memorial is the site of massive undertaking: carving a 660-foot granite mountain into a memorial to the legendary Lakota warrior.  The project began in the late 1940s and has slowly been making progress ever since.  The memorial site includes an expansive museum, with many exhibits of Native American art, beadwork and carvings.  I found the museum personally moving, as it provided a dose of reality to the current plights of Native Americans, as well as highlighting their successes.

The Crazy Horse Memorial left a strong impression on us, and made a fitting end to the last of the major stops on our trip.  With this last visit complete, we had checked off all the things we had decided to do on the trip.  Now, we were left with driving several hundred miles toward the wedding location: Lincoln, Nebraska.  After some discussion, we chose to drive as far as we could towards Lincoln.  Valentine or Oneill would put us just a few hours from Lincoln, but either would take us 5.5 to 6 hours.

With such a long drive ahead, it's no wonder Mona made sure we stopped for ice cream!  Two Cows Creamery was along our path in Hot Springs, South Dakota, so we stopped by for a snack.  The sign on the door read "Farm to Table, Cow to Cone" - I won't forget this one anytime soon!

Much of the rest of the drive was a multi-hour push through the winding, rolling hillsides.  We drove along the southern part of South Dakota, pushing through Pine Ridge and Olala Lakota Indian Reservations, before crossing into northern Nebraska.  The weather was kind and the traffic almost nonexistent, so we had plenty of time to talk, nap and drive.

Just after sunset, we arrived in Atkinson, Nebraska, just twenty minutes west of Oneill.  The small motel Laura found, Sandhills Guest House Motel, was highly-rated and one of the few hotels we could find.  Still, it was more than comfortable for one night's rest.  Tomorrow would see us make the final push to Lincoln for the wedding!

Jessica's Wedding - Day 3

We had a pleasant night's sleep at the Steever Bed and Breakfast. In the morning, we were treated to

wonderful breakfast by the proprietor, John. Over pancakes and bacon, he told us the story of how his wife found the house of her dreams, and they moved it 70 miles to this location in North Dakota. Yup - they hired a company to pick it up, trailer it 70 miles, then put it on a new foundation. Wow!

Returning to the open road, we raced along I-90 to our first stop. The interstate is 80mph in South Dakota, which takes some getting used to.  While the higher speeds made much of the state race by in the rear view mirror, the winds buffeted us at every turn. 

We discovered the Corn Palace of Mitchell, South Dakota and stopped in for fresh popcorn and a look at its famous murals. The exterior of the building is adorned with many murals made from corn husks and ears. Each year, a theme is chosen and local art students compete to have their designs displayed on the building's exterior.

With a bag of popcorn at the ready, we journeyed further westward, to gleaming sculpture, the Dignity

of Earth and Sky.  Located at a modern travel stop, this sculpture shared its space with both a rest stop, an exhibit about the journey of Lewis and Clark and spectacular view of the Missouri River.

Traveling further west, we found another stop - the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.  This facility is dedicated to the Minuteman missile program, the controversial buildup of strategic nuclear missiles that framed the backdrop of the Cold War.  The silos of the Minuteman program, each holding a Minuteman II or III missile, stood as silent defenders we hoped would never be used.  By the end of the Cold War, the Minuteman II missiles were decommissioned, partially replaced by Minuteman III and successive programs.  While these

missiles created a specter of fear in both American and Russian citizens, the fear of mutually assured destruction kept them from ever being fired by either side.

This last stop put us in close proximity to Badlands National Park, where we would find ourselves much of the day.  We would through the scenic drive, taking opportunities to step and see the eerie landscape, dotted with eroding mounds of clay and sediment.  In stark contrast, the green plains of the Badlands spread out between the buttes in a vast, green carpet.  At many turns along the road, the carpet seemed to spread clear to the horizon.

As luck would have it, we saw small deer and birds along the route.  At one turn, we saw a pair of buffalo grazing dozens of yards from the road.  At the very next bend, a lone buffalo munched on the grass within a few feet of the roadside.  We quietly passed him in the car and tried to snap a few good pictures.  The windy roads of the Badlands National Park twisted back and forth like a pretzel, until the road finally unwound near the park exit.

We had passed sign after sign along the highway, reminding us to visit Wall Drag.  And without hesitation, we stopped in to browse the many stores and collect a quick bite of dinner.

We pressed on in the late afternoon to complete the long drive, hoping to reach Keystone, South Dakota in the early evening.  Keystone is the landing zone for everyone coming to see the famous Mount Rushmore.  Each evening features a show with the lighting of the sculptures, a dramatic program about the strength of the American spirit and a salute to many members of our armed forces in attendance.  The short video was inspiring and heartwarming, but nothing held the spectacle of turning on the bright spotlight to illuminate the four, granite faces on the wall.  The program was completed with applause and acknowledgement of the veterans present and an audience-led rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.

With our hotel just a few minutes from Mount Rushmore, we quickly returned home and discussed our plans for Friday.  Our last day in South Dakota would involve more sightseeing, and ultimately put us in Lincoln, Nebraska for our pre-wedding family get-together.

Jessica's Wedding - Day 2

After a good night's sleep, we were ready for our next day of travel westward. Today, we are leaving Iowa City and heading further west. After a reasonable breakfast at our Hampton inn, we loaded up the car and continued west. We were greeted by rain fairly early into our trip, so we took a brief stop at a rest stop near Grinnell, Iowa. With the rain moving onward, it was easy enough to get back on the road. We continued West toward Des Moines. Knowing that Des Moines was an interesting stop, we looked for a few things to do there. Our first stop was the Iowa capitol building. This magnificent structure features a large golden dome in the center of the building, surrounded by four smaller domes on the corners. 

Only five capital building in the United States feature domes. Inside, we were greeted by an astonishing view of the Interior Rotunda. Pretty interesting, if you ask me. 

After a brief tour, we continued on to the Papa John's sculpture park. An unusual array of sculptures were scattered around the park.  Modern art always makes me think.... sometimes about what I'm looking at.  This also gave us an opportunity to grab sandwiches lovingly made by Mona, before moving onward. 

Back on the road, we left Des Moines and headed West along I-80 again.  Shortly along the road, we approached the Jesse James Historical site.  A roadside attraction, there was scarcely more than a placard reading, "Site of the First Train Robbery in the west, committed by the notorious Jesse James and his gang of outlaws - July 21, 1873".  Not much to see, but it was a good way to breakup our drive!

Turning North, we soon found ourselves at the Museum of Danish America.  A large number of Dutch immigrants came to America and found themselves settling in many cities across the US.  Iowa is actually home to the largest Dutch community in the US and boasts a substantial museum.  Also located at this museum is another troll!  This one was called Fjord (fi-YOR-duh), and she rides in her own boat.  Gotta snap a picture of this one, too!

Further North, we stopped at the World's Largest Popcorn Ball.  Yup - it was a ball of popcorn, large enough to fill an outdoor pool.  People seem to have a penchant for doing a lot of "World's Largest <This>" out here...  We also noticed that there is a LOT less traffic on many of the backroads we traveled on.  When we've driven in the farming communities in Michigan and Ohio, there was still a modest number of cars on the road.  This time, it was often 3-5 minutes between cars on these country two-lane roads.  There were definitely times I wondered if there were other cars out there, or if we'd slipped into a vortex of some kind...

Since we wanted to keep moving, Mona placed an online order at a Mexican restaurant along our route, in a little town called Storm Lake, Iowa.  Once we got there, however, we surprised the waitress as she had not seen the order appear on the delivery display - looks like they were used to getting orders via DoorDash and they failed to check another screen.  After a brief wait, we were greeted with (extremely) hot tacos!   Not wanting to delay our travels, we ate in the car and continued the drive.  

Our last stop for the day: the Wells Visitor Center in Le Mars, Iowa!  This is the home of Blue Bunny

ice cream, the self-proclaimed Ice Cream Capital of the World.  The cool treats were a nice reward for a long, hot day of driving.  While temperatures were well into the 90s much of the day, the Forrester stayed cool - I hope it handles the next few days as well!

As we continued on, we finally left Iowa and entered South Dakota.  Shockingly, the speed limit on the freeway was 80mph.  There was very little traffic on the road near sunset, but a few cars in the opposing lanes looked like they were going at least that fast.

We arrived at our stay for the night, the Steever's Bed and Breakfast.  This was a classic B&B, not an AirBnB for sure.  John greeted us warmly as we pulled up, and introduced us to Gypsy, the quiet pup he was dogsitting.  John showed us to our cozy rooms and we settled on a time for breakfast in the morning.  With our plans set for tomorrow, there was nothing left but time to take in our belongings from the car and bleat at the sheep who stared at me from the front lawn.

Jessica's Wedding - Day 1

 And we're off on another trip today!  Ramona's cousin Jessica gets married next week.  We're planning to drive to the wedding and see many stops along the way.  We haven't driven across the central US together, so this will our first time to see what the Great Plains states have to offer!

Laura will be joining us on the trip, so we'll be excited to see what her sees and enjoys!

Our departure from Kalamazoo was a little later in the morning than planned, but it worked to our benefit.  We found little traffic on I-94 across much of Michigan.  As we neared the Indiana border, construction and truck traffic slowed us quite a bit, but it didn't last very long.

Continuing across Indiana into Illinois, the skies became overcast and offered much protection from the strong, summer sun.  In the early afternoon, we reached our first point of interest, the Rochelle Railroad Park in Rochelle, IL.  Two major railline spurs meet here, creating a unique place where different types of rail traffic - commercial and passenger - intersect.  Apparently, you can see as many as 80 trains in a day, with many different trains passing every few minutes.

Back on the road, we continued westward, crossing the state of Illinois.  Reaching the mighty Mississippi River, we crossed the bridge and found ourselves in Clinton, Iowa.  Clinton is home to an interesting series of art pieces by Thomas Dambo, a Danish artists.  He created three wooden trolls, scattered around the city.  We visited the first one on our trip, Helmut:

Helmut was most impressive, because he was built around the tree that emerges from the pot!

Next, we crossed town to visit his brother, Warren, relaxing in his own building:

Back on the road, the World's Largest Truck Stop beckoned to us!  Sadly, it did not have a refrigerator magnet for us.

Our goal was to reach Iowa City, IA, so pushed a bit further.

Our Hampton Inn was easy to find, and allowed a chance to drop our bags, then head out for a quick dinner.  A Mediterranean fast-food place offered a chance for a quick meal, followed by a walk along the riverfront.  The Iowa River was flowing quickly near the park we visited, offering a slightly cool breeze to enjoy our walk.

Back in the hotel, we quickly settled in for a busy drive tomorrow!