Today was mostly a driving day, with minimal sightseeing, so this will be sort of a short post - and good thing, because we have to get back on the road in 9 hours.
We started the day at our hotel on the banks of the Missouri River. As always, we started late, with breakfast at 11, followed by pictures on the river:
It occurs to me, though, that if you correct for time zone, we've been starting out at just about the same time (Pacific) each day.
The hotel staff recommended that we check out the first rest stop on I-90 just across the river, which we did. I'm used to thinking of rest stops as sort of sketchy places with a parking lot and a couple bathrooms. In contrast, this one was really nice, with a pleasant picnic area overlooking the river, and a museum exhibit inside about the Lewis and Clark expedition (which had encamped near the site of the rest stop):
From there, we went about 70 miles east to Mitchell to visit the "world's only Corn Palace". The Mitchell Corn Palace is indeed unique - it's a large, city-owned building right next to City Hall that is decorated on the outside with huge murals made from four colors of corn. Every summer, the murals are torn down and replaced with new designs; one wall had been taken down when we arrived, but most of the designs were still up. This was one of the few things we visited that was actually free - it's used as an event hall during the year, and that revenue pays for free visitor access the rest of the year. Pretty cool if you're passing through the area:
From here, it was a 240 mile leg straight out to Albert Lea, MN to get gas. Nothing particularly remarkable about this drive, except that it was the first time all trip that the thermometer actually broke past 80 degrees - I think it got as hot as 89F (and humid!). The speed limit drops 5mph crossing from South Dakota into Minnesota, and I've come to the conclusion that Interstate 90 is really just one long road construction project connected with occasional segments of four-lane divided highway. Not a fan.
From Albert Lea, we drove on another hour and a half to La Crosse to get dinner. The only amusing part of this drive was that for about 5 miles, I got faked out by a white Saturn with a moonroof and a large antenna. The roof was open, looking like a lightbar; that, combined with the huge antenna from the trunk made the car look like a police cruiser from a distance. Dinner was at the La Crosse Family Restaurant just off I-90, which was surprisingly good, and really cheap. No time for a capsule review now; maybe tomorrow. After dinner we went another hour and a half out to Portage for the night to save some drive time in the morning, since for the first time, we actually have to be somewhere at a particular time.
Milestone: As of today, more than 10% of all the miles on my car have been accumulated during this trip.
Tomorrow: Portage, WI -> Manitowoc, WI -> Ludington, MI (via ferry) -> Grand Rapids, MI
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