It's Corny, I Know

August 18-20, 2019

Hills RV Park, Plankinton, South Dakota

Day 65-67

Time change. Left around 9:30 am, got in around 4:30 pm with a few stops. The campground itself if good - the lots are large and it's clean. The check-in office and the pool are a little sad. Not sure if anyone uses the pool. Put up the large awning all by myself, with the help of the video I took at the dealership. This is a big accomplishment worth noting because it’s a daunting project for short females; glad I have a small ladder.

Met another solo woman traveler – Terri. Originally from Florida, she too sold her house and has been on the road with her dog. She teaches piano remotely and does some volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity RV; you commit 2 weeks, they put you up. I'll be looking into that for me at some point. I would be great to pickup some building experience. Weather today is a lot cooler, maybe 60 from 75 F. Did I mention the flies? They are even worse here.

Day 2 – Felt great sending out Montana part 2. Originally it was going to be a short day, just going to Mitchell, but it turned out to be pretty full one, due to a detour I made to going rural roads, versus straight on the interstate.

Took the back road thru Huron. Didn’t mean to go 60 miles out of my way. It was just miles and miles of corn fields on perfectly square farm lots. No real reason to go there, just wanted to see a few towns along the way to Mitchell. Though Huron is not a tourist town, it does boast the fact that Cheryl Ladd grew up there (former Charlie’s Angel), and the State Fair is held here (although the capital is Pierre). I had a decent salad at a café downtown and got to visit with the manager for a while. She suggested I go to De Smet (Little House on the Prairie homestead) about an hour away. Looking at the time, I couldn't do both Mitchell and De Smet. I decide to stick with my original plan; I’ll see the Little House tomorrow, on the way out of town. But we do have a few minutes to check out some thrift stores nearby, but unfortunately, nothing interesting. I notice a Merle Norman make-up store nearby and wonder, who wears that brand anymore? I wouldn't call downtown charming, but there are several painted brick murals which give it old time feeling. One the way out of town, I stopped off at the world’s largest pheasant, which is next to a gun store (of course). It’s the state bird.

Finally got to Mitchell/Corn Palace around 3:30pm. They close at 5pm and have a 24 hour “corn cam” on the 2nd floor balcony. I sent the link to my sister Sarah and see took a screen shot of me live!! Picture is not too clear, but you get the idea. So corny (ha!).

They call it the Corn Palace, but really it is to celebrate the harvest of corn and other crops. In poor harvest years, they've had to recycle the art. It’s quite a site, if you are traveling thru you need to stop. The building takes up a full city block. It’s first incarnation was 1892 – they had a few fires and rebuilds since then. Many very famous people play here, some recent, but mostly from years ago – Britney Spears, Dwight Yoakam, Lawrence Welk, Bob Hope, Johnny Cash and Jack Benny, to name a few. Took so many pics. I took pics of ALL the history panels and the corn art because the history was fascinating, and I know that someone, someday will appreciate it. Maybe saving them a trip, though I do think this is worth a stop. And, yes, I read every panel because I was not sure if I would have the bandwidth to read it again.

There are other tourist and local businesses downtown, including a terrific antique mall/store about two blocks away. On the other side of town, it’s commercial. I run errands in Walgreens, drive by “Meat Lodge” (see pic) – the name says it all but since I was stocked up on meat, I didn't go in – and Cabela’s Outdoor store. Now owned by Bass, this is the quintessential place to buy anything for hunting, full of testosterone and dead animals mounted everywhere. Reminded me of Tim Allen’s Show, Last Man Standing. I was looking for a large can of bear spray and fly tape. They didn't have any fly tape, I guess really campers don’t worry about that. Also, I wanted to check out their parking lot for future use. They have a dedicated area for RVers to stay one night free, this would be an upgrade over Walmart. Nice.

Finally, we are home by about 7 pm. It’s so humid. Slept with windows open instead of air conditioning. The fly problem goes away temporarily when the lights go out.

Goodbye South Dakota, off to Minnesota tomorrow.