9/13/13

Even though it is Friday the 13th I am expecting good things.  Yesterday was wonderful.  We left Indiana and soon were in Chicago.  Even at 10:30 a.m. it was congested and allowed us many wonderful views of the city.  For those of you who new I lived there for 6 years it brought back memories and I really enjoyed seeing the skyline though it had changed vastly since I lived there.  

One part of our experience in Illinois was the rest area system.  They call them oasis and with the infrequency of them we understand why.  Viv wonders why they don't explain that they are a rest area for the benefit of the rest of the United States.  

The rolling, green hills of Wisconsin were very beautiful.  We saw dairy farms, but not as many as we had imagined.  Perhaps the cows don't like to locate near the toll road.  The most exciting thing was when we crossed the Mississippi River.  It was enormous.  There were lots of islands; some very large and others just a mound of earth erupting to the surface.  We really wished there was a spot to pull over and take pictures and fully appreciate what we were seeing.  Another point of interest when we entered MN was the number of very large wind farms.  We saw the turbines lined up for miles.  It looked like giant white tumblers suspended in air as they did repetitive cartwheels.  

We had a very nice dinner at a local restaurant in Albert Lea, MN and settled in for the evening.  The three of us expressed a great deal of excitement about our destination on Friday.  We will be staying in Rapid City, SD.  More to come.

This first picture is a very poor view of the Mississippi, the second is a wind farm and the last is a view of the Chicago skyline.