Day 42 (Corn)
Day 42
August 2, 2006
Mitchell, SD to Apple Valley, MN (318 miles)
At one point today we realized that we were going to be only eight miles from Iowa when we drove along I-90 east of Sioux Falls. It was a unanimous decision that we would exit the Interstate and drive south into Iowa. We chose County Road 6 from several parallel, 2-lane roads that headed south. The state line was anticlimactic. The only indication that we had crossed into Iowa was that the road changed from asphalt to gravel. Corn was on both sides of the road on both sides of the line.
Rather than return to the Interstate, we decided to parallel it for about 30 miles on a Minnesota state highway, which was completely straight as it carried us over the rolling hills that stretched out ahead. It was a great experience. At one point, we drove alongside a corn field that went on for seven miles, interrupted only twice by what appeared to be two narrow driveways.
We took Minnesota Route 60 for 300 miles northeast through Mankato to the Twin Cities area. In the beginning we saw only corn, save a few small towns. As we approached our destination, however, we saw mostly corn plus a few lakes. The first part reminded us of the Eastern Shore of Maryland—flat to gently rolling and rural (only it went on for 250 miles instead of only 100). The lakes region didn’t look like anything we’ve seen before (picture Columbia’s Wilde Lake, then Kittamaqundi, followed by 100 or so more). At one point, after riding silently in the back seat for about an hour, Elliot asked, “What do they do with all this corn?”
Mankato was cool. It’s a college town—Minnesota State University plus two smaller schools—built along the Minnesota River with a compelling historic district that seemed to be a nice cross between Salisbury, Cumberland and Westminster, Maryland. We’d like to check it out in more detail some (summer!) day.
Our destination was the Bloomington area, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. We picked Dakota County’s Lebanon Hills Park Campground in Apple Valley, based on what we read on the Internet (principally that it was only 10 minutes from the Mall of America). As it turns out, it
was a great choice. The park’s beautiful campground, located in an upscale suburb that easily could be part of the Norbeck, Veirs Mill, Randolph Road section of Montgomery County, Maryland, is being run by a very nice couple from northwestern South Dakota. After being in rugged, rural desert areas for the past month, this environment felt very familiar and reassuring to us.
We set up the trailer and drove a short distance to a Super Target and bought some of the things we’ve done without for the past month. Nice.
August 2, 2006
Mitchell, SD to Apple Valley, MN (318 miles)
At one point today we realized that we were going to be only eight miles from Iowa when we drove along I-90 east of Sioux Falls. It was a unanimous decision that we would exit the Interstate and drive south into Iowa. We chose County Road 6 from several parallel, 2-lane roads that headed south. The state line was anticlimactic. The only indication that we had crossed into Iowa was that the road changed from asphalt to gravel. Corn was on both sides of the road on both sides of the line.
Rather than return to the Interstate, we decided to parallel it for about 30 miles on a Minnesota state highway, which was completely straight as it carried us over the rolling hills that stretched out ahead. It was a great experience. At one point, we drove alongside a corn field that went on for seven miles, interrupted only twice by what appeared to be two narrow driveways.We took Minnesota Route 60 for 300 miles northeast through Mankato to the Twin Cities area. In the beginning we saw only corn, save a few small towns. As we approached our destination, however, we saw mostly corn plus a few lakes. The first part reminded us of the Eastern Shore of Maryland—flat to gently rolling and rural (only it went on for 250 miles instead of only 100). The lakes region didn’t look like anything we’ve seen before (picture Columbia’s Wilde Lake, then Kittamaqundi, followed by 100 or so more). At one point, after riding silently in the back seat for about an hour, Elliot asked, “What do they do with all this corn?”
Mankato was cool. It’s a college town—Minnesota State University plus two smaller schools—built along the Minnesota River with a compelling historic district that seemed to be a nice cross between Salisbury, Cumberland and Westminster, Maryland. We’d like to check it out in more detail some (summer!) day.
Our destination was the Bloomington area, a suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. We picked Dakota County’s Lebanon Hills Park Campground in Apple Valley, based on what we read on the Internet (principally that it was only 10 minutes from the Mall of America). As it turns out, it
was a great choice. The park’s beautiful campground, located in an upscale suburb that easily could be part of the Norbeck, Veirs Mill, Randolph Road section of Montgomery County, Maryland, is being run by a very nice couple from northwestern South Dakota. After being in rugged, rural desert areas for the past month, this environment felt very familiar and reassuring to us.We set up the trailer and drove a short distance to a Super Target and bought some of the things we’ve done without for the past month. Nice.
posted by Hazzard Family | 16:10
1 Comments:
Frank - Thats alot of corn.
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