Dang RV

Near the crossroads of I35 and 494 near Minneapolis, MN is the Mall of America, a HUGE mall with an actual amusement park indoors right in the middle of it and an Underground Aquarium worth seeing! It could take you days to go through the mall and all its uniques stores you won’t find elsewhere along with other big names like Macy’s and Sears. They have so many stores and restaurants that they sell a coupon book for them. There is even a coupon for the coupon book available.

They have a transportation area outside where buses and taxis are constantly dropping off and picking up. They also have the most handicapped parking near the entrance that I have ever seen at a mall. I was able to slip right in close.

The amusement park is quite real with 30 rides such as a roller coaster, log water flume ride, ferris wheel, and carousel. Legoland is also very popular. You can get an all day wrist band to ride and there is a $5 off coupon for that. Food stands in the park include Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut pizza among others or you can go up to the second floor to eat at Bubbagump Shrimp Co. LOL. An interesting store and restaurant is the Rainforest Cafe. The food was good but way overpriced.

I had a great time in the park and mall but being a night shifter, they closed just a tad too early for me so I caught the 10:30pm show at their AMC Cinemas for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Great way to end the day, with a good movie.

Near the mall is Waterpark of America which is billed as the largest indoor waterpark where you can actually surf and float their mile long indoor river.

Minneapolis also has an excellent hands-on science museum if you have kids and the time.

In St. Paul, you can tour the infamous Wabasha Street Caves where many a gangster such as Dillinger hung out, free from being bothered by local police, and prohibition was ignored in the night clubs setup down there.

I went to Wabasha this week to see the home of the movie, “Grumpy Old Men”. If you get into this area and want a great scenic drive, drive route 61 from Hastings to Wabasha along the Mississippi River and Pepin Lake. I found Slippery’s Bar in Wabasha as mentioned in the movie and there is an Indian Slough. The screenplay was written by a grandson based on his granddad and granddad’s fishing buddy as characters. Apparently they have a lot of characters in Minnesota if ya know what I mean.

The movies were not actually shot here but nearer to St. Paul. It is still a nice town to visit with many bed and breakfasts or an RV park to stay in. When I visited, they were gearing up for a festival with a Grumpy Old Men fishing derby and had the Budweiser clydesdales there. It was a little hot that day so I kicked off the shoes and went wading in the river. Others were swimming.

Moved on over to Minnesota. When I heard that Mall of America was here, I decided to stay awhile.

I would have liked to have seen the Spam (as in Hormel canned meat) Museum in Austin but alas it just did not work into my route. I came across a very bumpy I90 then headed north on a just as bumpy I35. Eek! 5 hours of jiggling my insides around and both the cat and I were ready to put up for the night. We stayed at the Hope Oak Knoll campground which is in a farmer’s front yard among a grove of beautiful oak trees and surrounded by his cornfield. No pool, cable TV, or internet there but being in the grove of old oak for a night was enough amenity. You can see the cornfield behind my trailer below (3rd pic).

The next day was an easy 2 hour jaunt to the Treasure Island Casino Resort near Hastings (below St. Paul). Their RV park has very strong wireless internet and a shuttle back and forth to the hotel and marina. The casino runs all day and night with live entertainment on Saturday nights. They have several restaurants inside to choose from including a delicious buffet. Rvers may use their pool and the park fees are very inexpensive without needing any discounts. You may want to go ahead and join the hotel’s Passport Club whether you intend to gamble a lot or not so you can get in on all their contest giveaways. Not being a gambler, I prefer to use this as a home base to see the area. It is a typical casino RV park, mostly pavement. George did enjoy the pool very much. I enjoyed Saturday night’s live entertainment, Lightening Flats.

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I took a drive over to Madison, to see my mail service there, MyDakotaAddress.com. Since that is listed as my “home” and my vehicles are registered there, I thought I ought to see it and be able to answer friendly questions about it.

Madison is a very nice, decent size town with several large lakes nearby, state parks, a university nearby, and a great mail service. MyDakotaAddress.com receives and ships my mail anywhere, when I tell them to by email or phone, and they email me every day that they receive new email so I know what is there and can tell when mail needs to be sent or when it can wait. They also registered my vehicles for me by mail. I really enjoyed meeting the ladies, Terri and Beth. They were nice enough to let my buddy George hang out in our “home” for a bit as you can see.

Talk about picking a great location! Their office is right across from the Post Office and one block from the courthouse and library. Very smart ladies!

Moved on over to the east side of South Dakota to Mitchell, home of the Corn Palace. This is much bigger than Sturgis, hot at the moment, and a nice, flat, easy drive from the west side. I crossed another time zone into Central time which made me later than expected. Oops!

I’m staying at Rondee’s RV Park behind the Days Inn, another Passport America park. I have now recouped the cost of my Passport America membership and will be reaping the gravy for the rest of the year at half price RV parks. Woohoo! Rondees seems to be run by the Days Inn. The wireless internet looks excellent here and you can purchase a day pass to the hotel’s indoor waterpark (pool, giant slide, buckets dumping water overhead, hot tub). The laundry room looks good. There is a Walmart and Cabela’s nearby and plenty of fast food joints and restaurants.

The Corn Palace is here and certainly worth a visit since it is free. Every year they pick a theme and spend $130,000 to redecorate the outside with corn. Corn is a big deal here with lots of corn fields and cattle. This decorating practice started way back in the early 1900s for an exposition and has continued to draw tourists. The corn murals are amazing. The Palace is also used for basketball games, conferences, world-class entertainment during the annual festival, etc.  I also caught the Blues brothers hanging out here across the street at the local ice cream parlor.

One last weekend to explore western South Dakota and I did my best. I should mention that the 3 things I have seen here more than any other place are a) motorcycles b) horses c) deer.

Yep, these folks are totally motorcycle and horse crazy here. It is only about 3 weeks until the huge Sturgis Motorcycle Rally when the entire world of motorcycles descend on this small town, but year round you will see more here than anywhere else. This is also the home of true cowboys it seems with rodeos, trail rides, and horse camps offered everywhere. If you like horseback riding, you will find a place to ride here with your horse or a rental.

Beware signs marked for deer crossings or deer next X miles. They are not kidding. There are deer along the road all over between Wyoming and South Dakota so be careful. Don’t be surprised if a jack rabbit or a bison cross your path too.

Anyway, on to Ellsworth Air Base and the South Dakota Aviation Museum just past Rapid City.  Being ex-Air Force myself, this was a treat for me and if you have kids, I highly recommend it.  Hey, it’s free! Outside the museum are bunches of planes and their stories. I snapped all the pictures I could but don’t ask me to name them. I know my B29, B52,T38, and Cessnas but that is about it. They didn’t have an F4 like I worked on. The museum inside was interesting and the gift shop was fabulous.

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Another weekend and another full day of sightseeing here in the gorgeous hills of South Dakota. You may need a map to plan your day but the roads and sites are so well marked that you sure don’t need one to find them.

I started off with the Crazy Horse Memorial which is the Indian answer to Mount Rushmore since they have heroes too. This is actually a work in progress which has been for quite some time. In fact, the original scuptor, Korczak Ziolkowski, died and work is being continued by his wife and 7 of his 10 children using books of his detailed plans and measurements he made sure to leave behind. At this time, you can see the face of Crazy Horse and the beginning of his arm. There is a large museum or art and indian culture there along with a fine restaurant, beautiful veranda over looking a water pool, indian crafts for sale, models of the scupture, and bus tours to the base of the memorial to watch the workers. 

The scupture shows Crazy Horse pointing and answering a question put to him, “My lands are where my dead lie buried.” After seeing the original Black Hills treaty broken and the failure of indian agents to provide the food, tents, blankets etc. that were promised them if they lived on a reservation, Crazy Horse never signed a treaty and refused to live on a reservation. He was stabbed in the back and killed by an American soldier under a flag of truce.

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Why oh why do all the vehicles I buy have minds of their own? They are all different types yet they all seem to go where they want to go with me along for the ride. All my cars are Herbies. Once again I went out for a simple run to the local Post Office and ended up at a much more interesting place, Fort Meade, an army post built in 1878 and once home for a time to the 4th and 7th Cavalries.

Fort Meade has no high walls surrounding it like people expect. When it was built the commander felt hiding behind high walls was bad for morale and it was safer to be on constant alert instead. Many of the original buildings like headquarters which is now a museum, the post office, barracks, and stables are still there. Many are still in use. The post was decommissioned and has been turned into a VA hospital but still hosts an Officer Candidates School. It was recommisioned for a short time in 2003 then decommisioned again.

Most notable is the former commander of the fort and his wife are responsible for the Star Spangled Banner becoming our national anthem. They felt it was wrong for a 117 year old country to not have what all other countries have and began having it played at the fort every day and then spoke to the state governor about their vision of making it country-wide for the Army. It caught on apparently.

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