We knew that today was going to be a big travel day for us. We would try to cover over 500 miles from Jim's in Davenport, Iowa to Mitchell, South Dakota. Along that journey we decided to make a stop at the famed Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. This is the actual farmhouse and field upon which the 1988 baseball movie Field of Dreams was filmed. The drive to Dyersville was just long enough for the kids to watch the movie in the van to offer them some background on the location. As we approached the Field of Dreams we saw this: corn, corn, corn, corn, barn on a hill, corn, corn, corn, tractor in road, corn, corn, corn .... well, you get the idea. In all seriousness, the view was actually very pretty. Iowa has a lot more rolling hills than you would think. Otherwise, it looks a lot like rural Ohio. The final roads leading to the house were loose dirt and location very remote - thank goodness we had the GPS.
As we pulled into the site, it really looked pretty - much like movie set with the exception of a souvenir booth. The field was there to enjoy so Rogan, Mikah, and I all played catch on it. Rogan stood on the mound and pitched a few as well, even testing out the "ok" change-up that Jim had taught him yesterday. The kids and Jen and I all stood out in the field and listened for voices. All I could hear was, Ease his pain. I think this meant for me to find a bathroom so I used the Port-o-potty of Dreams and felt much better.
From there came a large chunk of driving. We passed by a lot of interesting sites and cities including the town which featured a 60 foot tall Jolly Green Giant. We passed interestingly named towns of Welcome, Zwingle, and Blue Planet. We were also amazed at the hundreds of windmills turning throughout the countryside. Way to go green, Midwest!
We stopped for a late lunch in Iowa at a Culver's and then pressed on again. We drove for a good bit in Minnesota. As is our tradition, as we see the sign for entrance into the state approaching, we begin chanting "We...Are...In... Minnnesota...Riiiiiiiight....Now!" So far we have done this for Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and now South Dakota. As we crossed into South Dakota, we began seeing the signs for Wall Drug and providing a little competition, the Corn Palace in Mitchell.
Arriving in Mitchell and with some daylight still left, we decided to go visit the free Corn Palace in the downtown area. I had mistakenly thought that it was a palace made from corn when in reality it is more or less adorned with corn designs. Interestingly, it had been in existence for over 100 years and each year, they decorate the exterior with different artistic patterns. We learned from a video inside that its original purpose was to draw tourism by competing with another city’s “grain palace” and to make it known that South Dakota was a good place to grow corn. Inside, the corn palace was part museum and part amphitheater/gymnasium. In the area where the basketball courts are, there was a large market selling books and knick-knacks related to the area. We bought a few things and then decided to go eat.
It was almost 8:00 Central time so by this point we were starving. We went to a place called Pizza Ranch near the hotel which was great food, service, and very inexpensive. We stayed the night at a Super 8 right near I-90 which had a small room, but a nice continental breakfast, wifi, and indoor pool. Despite being exhausted the kids went swimming for about half an hour. We had a small panic when Mikah couldn’t find her glasses for a bit, but things settled after Jen found them on the floor by the bed. Jen and the kids showered and went to bed around 11:00 and the three of them were asleep by 11:02. I stayed up and wrote some e-mails and worked on writing this blog until about midnight. I then laid down and was asleep by 12:01.
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