Go West Old Man – Onward To Rapid City, SD – 2012

After a day in Iowa City we headed for Sioux Falls, South Dakota's largest city, via the non-interstate roads and a route I layed out to avoid construction delays.  We were on a combination of Iowa and US highways most of which were pretty bumpy due to the tar in the expansion joints – the interstates were the same.

It was sad to see all of the dried up corn fields and the pain the farmers must feel from investing so much time, effort, and money for little return – it looks like some of the soybean crop may be more of a success.  I was surprised to find the land to be gently rolling rather than the dead flat of central Illinois.  I could imagine how nice it would have looked with green corn waving in the breeze.  Iowa looked about the same as the early shots below of South Dakota.

I was totally amazed at the wind farms we saw driving along US-18 in Northern Iowa – one of which was more than five miles long.  As it turns out, Iowa is the leading state producer of wind energy and according to Wikipedia there is one in Hancock County with 148 turbines and since we were in that county and guessed the one we saw to have more than a hundred, this may have been it.  This a shot from the internet but very similar to what we saw.

We also saw two smaller farms south of US-18 and another with just three windmills, which we wondered about. 

We spent the night in a totally full KOA Campground in Sioux Falls, SD where we just rested, and planned for the next day.  We headed out about 8:30am and drove across South Dakota on one of the best roads (I-90) we’d been on including the sometimes pinkish pavement.  It is due to to some type of mineral rock that is used in the asphalt and for the shoulders –it may be quartzite.

As we went across the early southern part of South Dakota, it looked like Iowa with nearly all corn and soybean farms then became farms with a little grassland mixed end.  Nearly all of the scenery shots were taken out the window as we drove along.  Bev advised I would bore you to death with all these shots but I wanted you to see what we saw. 

West of Chamberlain, where we crossed the Missouri River, we went up several hundred feet and things changed.  This is the river as we approazched it, the hilly area on the other side, then the higher plateau than before.

While we still saw corn and soybeans, we began seeing grain, sorghum (the red fields), and sunflowers, with even more grassland. Soon, after going up to a higher plateau, there was just a little corn and lots of grain and grassland, with cattle and they were now ranches rather than farms.  Some of the rolls are grass and some are straw from the grain crop - winter wheat I think.

One shot I didn't get was one of the 50 signs advertising Wall Drug - famous in the area.

We were really enjoying the scenery and the drive on the good roads until trouble arose and we sat along the road for a couple of hours waiting for help to arrive – we sat outside in the breeze and the shade of the RV and had a cold drink, trying to make the best of a bad situation (thank goodness for RV road service).  Unfortunately, they can’t make miracles happen on Labor Day.  We were headed for Rapid City and the Black Hills but spent the night at American RV Park & Kamp (next post) in Murdo, SD and we were damn glad it was nearby – towns are few and far between and the guy who came to help us was from Pierre, sixty miles away – normal in these parts.  Murdo with a population of just under 500 is the seat of Jones County with a 2010 census population of 1006 humans but lots of cattle.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

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Two years ago:

Larry

9/2-9/3/12 event date