WESTWARD HO!

June 10-12, 2006

Well, we are on the westward trail now.  First we were always going east, then north and now we are kind of homeward bound, with a lot of stops in between.  The scenery is kind of rolling, green hills.

After leaving Decorah we traveled on to Spring Grove, WI to see the famous street named Myrah Street and the Myrah Farm.  We don’t think these Myrahs are related, but it was fun anyway.

Then we moved on to Waseca, WI to visit with Don’s cousin, Hal Watkins and his wife Margaret.  They very generously invited us to stay at their house, although they wouldn’t be there.  They had to take their son to the airport in Minneapolis.  He was leaving to go to Japan for a year to be an English teacher.

We arrived at Hal and Margaret’s house and immediately started the laundry.  Then made ourselves comfortable for the night.  They have a very nice townhouse, quite spacious, with a fabulous view of the lake.

The next morning Hal and Margaret returned after dropping Mark off at the airport.  I think they were a little trepidacious about their son’s trip, so I was glad to be there to take their minds off of things.

We had a very pleasant visit and Margaret made a yummy pork loin for dinner.

The next day Margaret left early for work at the local Mayo medical clinic and Hal went to get his precious Gracie.  Gracie is a very cute dachshund and Hal is crazy about her.  He missed her so much while she was in the kennel.  We said our goodbyes and set out on our errands for the day.

After leaving Hal’s house we went to the local medical clinic for Don to get his blood test.  Then we went to Wal-Mart to get a supply of medication, since the medication he ordered to be delivered to Hal’s house never showed up.  That all took most of the morning.

We finally got out of Waseca and back on Highway 90 and started hauling it west.  Albert Lea, Fairmont, Worthington, Sioux Falls all flew by.  The scenery was rolling hills and green fields. On the radio we heard endless reports of wheat crops and pork bellies.  South Dakota—the land of Reptile Gardens, Wild West Shootouts, Dinosaur Parks, Jackalopes, mysterious craters, and THE CORN PALACE! 

The Corn Palace is a typical tourist innovation.  There is absolutely no reason to go to Mitchell, so the Chamber of Commerce or someone got the idea to decorate a building with corn, a primary product of South Dakota. We took the tour, but our guide was new and she lost her notes, so it was an abbreviated tour.  Every year there is a contest to see who gets to design the pictures that will be depicted on the fascia of the building.  Inside there are honorary walls, which pay tribute to some of the great corn artists who have decorated the Corn Palace over the years.

Then we had to go to Cebela’s.  This is a huge sporting goods store.  Every guy’s dream, actually.  They had a very interesting display of stuffed animals—the standard deer, elk, antelope, etc., but also a porcupine, badger, wolverine, lynx, and turkeys.  The entire display is some conservationist’s nightmare, but really nicely done.  Don had fun daydreaming about equipment.

Back to the open prairie and highways with two cars.  We played our Tennessee bluegrass CDs and ambled along the western trail.  We finally pulled in for the night at Murdo, SD.