by Leaving South Dakota our route took us mostly US Routes to Grand Island, Nebraska. Soon after leaving our campsite in South Dakota, we crossed into the central time zone, almost back to real-time! We crossed over the Niobrara National Scenic River, unfortunately, we were not close to the visitor center so we were unable to add the cancelation to our National Parks Passport. Somewhere in southern South Dakota, we started seeing crop dusters. We were able to get a picture of one as it flew in front of MandDy. We also passed a small rodeo. There were people on horseback in a show ring and some waiting outside. Soon after we passed the Case/International Harvester factory. Trust me, after 340 miles you understand why it’s called the cornhusker state… I’m not sure they grow much else here.
The next morning we packed up and started our trek to Newton, Iowa (~320 miles). There was some interesting art on the first overpass after entering Iowa. We don’t have a picture because there were too many bugs on the windshield. Luckily gas was cheaper and we made it safely to our campsite. Across the highway, nearly visible from MandDy, was the Iowa speedway. There weren’t any races while we were in town but there was one the weekend before. We visited the local chain grocery store, Hy-Vee. We stocked up our food and got some treats for ourselves. Hy-vee reminds me of a Kroger with more store-branded items. The cool ranch tortilla chips were just ok. We passed the local Underwriters Laboratories (UL) on our way back to camp, which I find cool. Just about anything you plug into the wall at home has been checked and certified by them to probably not burn your house down. The next day Kori was surprised by the low flying crop dusters that flew over the campground at 7 a.m. and then again about 23 minutes later. After Kori finished some grading we went to the Amana Colonies in the afternoon, which we expected to be like Helen GA, and was merely a germanish looking tourist trap. No one with German accents or garb. They did have a lot of local handmade foods and souvenirs which was nice. The brewery in town was focused on small-batch IPAs and the like. The Brauhaus where we had dinner was mostly American food with german translations written on the menu. The food was very good, but once again not much of it was German. On our way out of town, we passed the Amana-whirlpool factory. We googled it and found out this plant dates back to 1940 bit was recently sold for 92.7 million
Once back at camp we fed the dogs and prepared for our next days’ journey to Eureka MO (~250 miles).
