.....For Amber Waves of Grain

July 24 – 26, 2006

Northern Iowa became more prairie-like and less picturesque as it ran into Minnesota. However, the temperature was up again so we stopped at Myre Big Island State Park in the southern end of Minnesota and it was a lovely setting. Our very private campsite was right on a lake with lots of shady trees and grass.

Minneapolis-St. Paul was our target. It was too hot to boondock – I’m so getting tired of this extreme heat -it makes everything so difficult. We stayed at the Mystic Lake Casino, just on the outskirts of town, which had an RV resort alongside. It was pricey though - $30, which I thought totally exorbitant, especially since we were all crammed in so close together. Mystic Lake is the largest native casino in the USA and it’s very glitzy but has no live poker, which upset Fernie.

The Mall of America was only 25 minutes away from the campground so we drove in to while away the afternoon in the cool. I’m not sure if it’s larger than West Edmonton Mall or the same size or smaller but it’s the same idea – a huge shopping centre surrounding a huge area of roller coasters and other rides – dozens of restaurants, an aquarium and so on and so forth. If we were forty years younger, I’m sure we would be more excited but we found it a bit ‘ho-hum’. We had a Japanese lunch but otherwise spent no money there - just the opposite, we made money. There was a booth for the Mystic Lake Casino and we approached the counter not telling them we were already staying there and asked if they had any discounts. The clerk must have taken a shine to us – she wrote up two $10 certificates. We expected it would be slot play but the cashier at the casino gave us $20 cash. I mentally deducted the $20 from the $30 we paid for the campsite and felt much better that we got it for $10.

Other than the Mall of America, Minnesota is also famous for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester (and I always thought it was in Rochester, New York) and the source of the Mississippi River in Itasca State Park in the north of the state. You can actually walk across the river there. There’s a chain of outdoor stores called Cabela’s Outfitters. We stopped at one in Minneapolis and found it massive and fascinating. I avoided the hunting department but enjoyed browsing around the rest of it.


Damn! It’s hot again and the forecast is calling for even higher temperatures. We headed for the Dakotas – having had enough of the Midwest and its humidity. On the border of South Dakota on the North Dakota side, is another native casino “The Dakota Magic”. It had full hookup RV sites for $10.50 – definitely worth it. Fernie went in to sign up for Texas Holdem Poker but no one else wanted to play. He was disappointed.

The heat so oppressive when we got there, dissipated within a couple of hours as the wind came up and thunderstorms threatened. Warnings on TV alerted ‘Extremely dangerous storms – if you are in or on the water, get out (how could they see the TV news in the water?); stay inside your home or vehicle’. The storms made a circle around us but it was beautiful watching the lightning in the northern sky.

There’s a beauty in the farmland of the Dakota prairie – the bales of hay scattered across the harvested amber fields, vast fields of golden sunflowers, mauve alfalfa crops, blue and white flaxseed and soybeans and golden wheat bending with the breezes. Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote Little House on the Prairie lived and based her books on her homestead in DeSmet, South Dakota, a tiny sleepy farming town that bills itself as “Little Town on the Prairie”.

We rounded a corner on a portion of winding road and had to slam on our brakes as a graceful deer pranced across right in front of us and soared into the cornfields.
A little further on, a large ring-tailed pheasant scampered across the road in front of us seemingly unable to take flight.

We ended up in the town of Huron staying at the S. Dakota State Fair campground where there were over 1,200 sites and probably only five rigs there. The sign said it was $15/night but we couldn’t find anyone to pay so we chose a shady site, hooked up and settled in expecting someone to come and collect – but no one did. We had ten acres to ourselves and a huge chestnut tree for shade and it was all free – that delighted my parsimonious little heart.

We’re losing the ambition to explore into all the nooks and crannies. It’s partly because of the heat and partly because we’ve been on the road for so long. We need to put down roots for a week or so but the heat keeps driving us on. The news tonight forecasts even higher temperatures – over 100 degrees F for the next five days.