Amber Waves of Grain

Dawn broke in Omaha and we found ourselves in the middle of a gullywasher. We piddled around and decided to memorialize 9/11 and take a side trip to the Strategic Air Command and Space Museum which is a little South of Omaha. On the way there we crossed the Platte River! I have read so much about it and seen movies with shots of it throughout and we were not disappointed. We got to the museum and took the tour. It was really cool and as a matter of fact, there was a military recruitment fair being held there today. I have been trying to get a picture of the beautiful brown-eyed Susan-like flowers that grow alongside the highways all through Missouri, Iowa and South Dakota and was able to snap one while we were parked at the museum. Also, I wanted to capture one of the unusual barns that they have out here as well as statuary honoring the great buffalo, which we snapped out there as well.

We then motored on up the road and were determined to get to South Dakota for lunch and then to Sioux Falls for the night. The drive was spectacular as we followed the Missouri River much like we did in Arkansas as we followed the Mississippi. However, the scenery was quite different. Towns spring up out of the corn fields which stretch for miles and miles on both sides of the road. There are no billboards, and no speed limits in the open spaces we traveled today, except for in the towns and construction areas. Also, there are no helmet laws out here and there are many, many motorcycles. I think they are foolish, but we are in cowboy country you know. We ate at a wonderful spot in Owona, South Dakota and the food was really tasty. John got a Mediterranean pasta dish with feta cheese which he wolfed down and I got a chicken stir over brown steamed rice with these eggroll-like delicacies which were to die for. We stopped at the South Dakota Welcome Station so that we could get info on Sturgis, Mt. Rushmore, The Badlands, Custer National Park and Crazy Horse National Park. Well, another nice, friendly Midwestern elderly lady gave us mappage, marked sites of interest on said mappage. She was thrilled to have an audience and we talked with her for about half an hour.

Onward to Sioux Falls where we are snuggled in the HI Express and are glad we made a short day of it today, since we have a long haul across the state westward to the Badlands……