South Dakota

We started the day in Albert Lea with one minor mishap.  I guess you have to expect something on Friday the 13th.  My lunch container which held my scale, 2 tbspn.  measuring spoon and container were lost.  When we stopped for lunch it was nowhere to be found.  Luckily we found a Target near our hotel in Grand Rapids.  This minor issue pales in comparison to the unbelievable country and sights we traveled through.

We saw land that was so flat you could see forever.  This land was covered with enormous cornfields.  They extended in all directions as far as the eye could see. They seemed a bit brown and perhaps past their prime,but it was impressive to see the bounty of the crops.  Also we saw extensive fields of sorghum that are short plants with broad green leaves and deep red stalks of grain at the top.  It took a some time to figure out what they were, but thanks to the internet we discovered what it was.  These fields also stretched for miles as far as we could see.  We learned that it is used as feed for livestock.  Though it is good feed it is not as good as corn.  The next crop we saw was wheat, but it had all been harvested and in its place were thousands(maybe millions) of large round bales of the straw.  We learned that this in itself is important for bedding for animals, ruffage for livestock, and biofuel production.  

Then all of a sudden the land changed and we saw huge land mounds covered in grass and on them we saw large herds of beef cattle.

Then we began to see huge rock formations that looked like sand castles made  by a giant who was playing with bucket and shovel.  I am not the best photographer, but you can get some idea of what it was like.  We will see Mount Rushmore and the Badlands tomorrow.  We are hoping for good weather as this is our first real destination.  More tomorrow.