CapeBuild's Cross Country Travel Log

[Capebuild]

Saturday Sept 24

Tomorrow morning we leave Castle Rock County Park in Mauston Wisconsin and head across Minnesota and into South Dakota. Our stay here in Mauston has been with the CampInn sponsored outing called CampOut. When we arrived here on Thursday there were already a bunch of tear droppers set up. We managed to snag a great spot in the corner of the park backed up on Castle Rock Lake. There are many CampInn teardrop trailers gathered here with a large sprinkling of home built rigs, foamies and other type campers. We've met a bunch of really great and adventurous people. Some who travel weeks and months at a time and one women who's lived in her CampInn trailer, full time, since 2011. I had a chance to meet Cody and TimC from TNTTT and toured their trailers; both really nice and well built. A number of people stopped by our trailer to have a look. This was also the first time we set up our new Eureka Breeze 10' x 10' tent. Very happy with this tent and it will be a nice addition to our rig. Well made, has 2 doors, full side flaps and is able to be positioned over the hatch if needed.

Yesterday we went to the Annual Cranberry Festival in Warrens, WI. This is a town with an everyday population of 366. During this festival the town basically shuts down all their streets to thru traffic and it swells with thousands and thousands of people. A LOT of people. There are booths all over the place with people selling all kinds of stuff. Was a little too crowded for my taste.


Seems like every other tow vehicle at the gathering here is a SubaruOutback. We fit right in. There was also a “cooking in a Dutch oven” demonstration which was pretty neat.

Today we toured the CampInn factory and saw how their campers are built. Really inspiring and enlightening. Picked up some good tips seeing all this. Even learned a lot from others staying here in the park. There was a big pot luck dinner this evening (Jean made Shepards Pie). Some "interesting" dishes were served. And then a large variety of cobblers were available with homemade ice cream sponsored by the CampInn folks. Then it started pouring, heavily, and we made our way back to our little drop with the rain pounding the roof.
John

[cjlangellier]

I had a chance to meet Cody and TimC from TNTTT and toured their trailers; both really nice and well built.

John, it was great meeting you and Jean! You have a beautiful trailer. Enjoy the rest of your trip. I'll be following along. Safe travels!

[Capebuild]

Sunday Sept 25

This morning we departed Mauston, WI in a pouring rain and headed into Minnesota. Crossed the mighty Mississippi River via Interstate 90. The river is quite large with lush green land masses popping up, the water flowing around them. The water level seemed really high. When we got to Winona we switched over to Rte 14 west hoping to get a better feel for the local sights of Minnesota. We were still able to travel 65 mph on this “smaller” travelway but not feel like we were on a highway. The road took us up this very large incline and just kept going up and up with no complaining from the Subaru. Then we traveled down and down winding up going through some small towns. We stayed on 14 for a while going around the larger city of Rochester. By this time the weather turned nice with the sun making a welcome appearance. We then remembered the Spam Museum but that was way more south in the city of Austin (via Interstate 90) so we made a turn down rte 56 (if I remember correctly). Rte 56 is one of those roads that makes you feel you’re out in the middle of nowhere, and we were. Corn fields for as long as the eye could see. They were different than the cornfields of Indiana where the plants were pretty much green. The corn crop here were more of a copper bronze with a red tinge coloring. Really beautiful with the sun hitting them. Many fluffy white clouds filled the blue sky. The roadway was somehow a bit higher off the cornfield’s level and you could see for miles to the horizon. Jean and I got into a discussion regarding the amount of corn fields and what’s done with all this corn. Corn feeds the cows and the cow’s meat feeds people. Corn syrup. Corn oil, corn for this and that…..yada, yada. But so much corn. We were in America’s heartland for sure. Once we got to Rte 90 (larger highway) the land area just seems so huge. It just goes on forever. Small homesteads (and silos) in the far distance, but tons of land. And lots of wind. I could feel it as I drove the car. Had to hold on extra tight to the steering wheel. Definitely affected our gas milage. We then began to see lots of windmills/wind turbines. With some on the spot internet searching we found that the Minnesota Wind Alliance generates millions of $$ for land owners and is the 7th windiest state.

We arrived in the Austin area around 3pm and made our way toward the Spam Museum. The town of Austin was small but seemed really great. I would have liked to have poked around there a bit but we were short on time. There was this old theater (The Paramount) right around the corner from the Spam Museum where Lucinda Williams just performed the other night. The Spam museum was nicely done, educational and provided all the facts you’d want to know about this major food group. I didn’t know that my height equaled 22 Spam cans high.

Began to see signs for Wall Drug.

After a long day of driving we finally crossed the border into South Dakota. We exited Interstate 90 and headed down a dirt road that was quite long and lonely; bordered on both sides by……. Corn fields. We then arrived at Palisades State Park, not far from Sioux Falls, SD. It was approaching dark and we found our site. We made a quick dinner of hamburgers on the Partner Stove. We’re here for 2 nights and tomorrow we’ll explore around and see what there is to be seen.

John

[Tom&Shelly]

There was this one guy (Levi Fisher Ames) from the mid 1800’s to the early 1900’s who was a pocket knife whittler ...

Gotta admit, the first time I read this, I completely mis-understood it, and was about to tell the forum about a great-great uncle of mine, John "Red Rocks" Farrell, who whittled small pistols, mostly out of soap. Think he used shoe polish to turn them black. So proud of his work, he would sometimes show them to the guards at Sing Sing....Ah, but like I say, I mis-understood your post. So, nevermind!



Tom

[Capebuild]

Monday Sept 26

Accessible from right inside the park are many hiking trails. We rode bikes to one trailhead which was at Split Rock Creek. The quartzite rock formations protruding up around the creek/river are an amazing reddish color and really a sight to see. We followed one wooded trail out to the water’s edge. If you were adventurous you could gingerly negotiate the rocks sticking up from the water and kind of tip toe to the other side. Instead, we hiked back and took the opposite side trail. We walked along a path more out in the open where armies of grass hoppers would fly up preceding our advancing footsteps. There were lots of them but a pretty cool sight. We wound up at a large body of still water (part of the creek) where we noticed these dark log shaped forms in the water. We realized they were fish (of some variety). They were large, like around 2 feet long, just slowly milling about. There were a few informative plaques that described life back in the mid 1860's when this area was first inhabited by settlers. You can really get a feeling for what life was like back then. We hiked along till we came to a large rock protruding out over the water and just sat for a long while. It was very peaceful.

After our trailblazing adventures we took the car to the close by town of Garretson (population 1,166) where we visited Devil’s Gulch. History has it this is where 2 quartzite rock formations rising high above the creek formed the gap where Jesse James coaxed his horse to make the 20 foot leap across the chasm in order to make his escape from a pursing posse after he robbed a local bank.

Garretson has one (small) main street where the cars pull in to park on the diagonal. Not too many businesses and very quiet. Had lunch in town at The Gulch Bar and Grill, replenished our provisions at the local grocery and then back to the site for a little R&R.

Traveling is really great!

John

[halfdome, Danny]

John, did the Spam museum explain why bad email and callers are also Spam?
Inquiring minds want to know.
Danny

[Capebuild]

John, did the Spam museum explain why bad email and callers are also Spam?

Danny, we had the same question and it did spark a conversation between us as we departed the museum but we never did get an answer.

[rjgimp]

Crossed the mighty Mississippi River via Interstate 90. The river is quite large with lush green land masses popping up, the water flowing around them.

It is a bit larger here than at it's source up in northern MN. There you can actually walk across it on some rocks, it's only about 50 feet wide. Near Winona is nothing compared to New Orleans. You'll need to stop in there and visit GPW on your way back home! Where it spills into the Gulf of Mexico the river itself is actually over a mile wide. The delta is several miles wide.

The road took us up this very large incline and just kept going up and up

Aside from the actual river channel, the valley is really deep and wide with very tall bluffs on both sides. Around Winona there are many many eagles nesting there. Fairly rare to NOT see at least one.

We stayed on 14 for a while going around the larger city of Rochester. By this time the weather turned nice with the sun making a welcome appearance. We then remembered the Spam Museum but that was way more south in the city of Austin (via Interstate 90) so we made a turn down rte 56 (if I remember correctly).

Rochester is Minnesota's third largest city. Duluth held that title for many years but Rochester and Bloomington (a suburb of Minneapolis have both become larger in the last 20 years. You do remember correctly, 56 is the road you were on and it is indeed a lovely drive.

Corn fields for as long as the eye could see. They were different than the cornfields of Indiana where the plants were pretty much green. The corn crop here were more of a copper bronze with a red tinge coloring.

There are many varieties of field corn which are used for many different purposes. When you see brown field corn It has ripened and is being allowed to dry in the field before being harvested, usually to produce silage for cattle feed. It must be dried to a certain level before being stored in the silo and allowing it to dry in the field is the easiest and cheapest way by far.

And lots of wind. I could feel it as I drove the car. Had to hold on extra tight to the steering wheel.

As you go farther west you'll see more and more windmills and you may even see a semi truck blown over and on its side.

Began to see signs for Wall Drug.

Yep, those start around I-35 and will increase in frequency and kitchiness as you go west.

We’re here for 2 nights and tomorrow we’ll explore around and see what there is to be seen.

There is a nice National Park Service site at Pipestone MN, which is just back over the border and about 30 miles north. They have a display showing how the hard reddish stone was/is quarried for, y'know... pipes!

[Capebuild]

Wednesday, Sept 28

Rob, thanks for your welcome comments. They provide lots of info we’d never know. You would make a great traveling companion.


Funny how when you’re on the road one day blurs into the next. I meant to post yesterday, didn’t, and now I’ve got to charge up the brain cells. At any rate, what I remember is we took Interstate 90 for most of the day’s travels yesterday (Tuesday). We crossed (or maybe we didn’t cross, but saw) the Missouri River… actually I think we did cross it and came to this great rest area with a number of exhibits on Lewis and Clark. There was also this 50 feet tall…. metal sculpture of a Native American Woman. Very cool. Soon after we noticed the eco-system changed; the landscape became more of soft rolling hills. The crops were a lot of sunflower fields and some red topped crop which I assume was a grain of some sort which was being harvested in a very dusty fashion.

Our next stop was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. I, for some foolish reason, thought the entire building was made of corn. It wasn’t (duh)…. And was really an arena for basketball games, local high school performances and the like. The exterior was created in such a way where murals were constructed on its surface, made of different colored corn cobs cut in half lengthwise. Kind of like “cob by number”. Each year has a different theme. This year’s was “The Circus”.
We then poked around downtown Mitchell a bit and then departed for the Badlands.

We arrived at Cedar Pass Campground Amphitheater in Interior, South Dakota…. In Badlands National Park.

The landscape here is beyond words. Just incredible…. You’d think you were on another planet. We set up the teardrop, made dinner and then made our way over to the amphitheater where there was a presentation on astronomy. It started at 8pm, it was dark out and the stars were also just beyond words. Amazing!! On full display. There was a powerful telescope set up pointed right at Saturn. It was so clear it looked like a postcard. I had to ask if it was and was promptly told it wasn’t. The ring(s) were so clear. Then Ranger Chuck and Ranger Karen put on a great presentation. With a powerful laser pointer they identified certain stars and then pointed out the International Space Station which just happened to be flying overhead. It moved quite fast from one end of the night sky to the other and then disappeared on the horizon. Just incredible, the whole thing.

I’ll post the next chapter and the day’s outing in the next post. Traveled 2,400 miles thus far.

John

[Capebuild]

Wednesday Sept 28 (continued)

Went to Wall Drug today in the town of Wall, South Dakota. Quite the tourist attraction... but really, not to be missed. It’s history is very interesting which I’ll let you readers investigate on your own……. But suffice to say, it was well worth the visit.

As we drove around we see the local canine is the “prairie dog”. Some of them are not afraid of humans and even will pose for the camera if you act like you’re going to feed them; or maybe they’re just curious. I didn’t feed them……but grabbed a few photos anyway.

For the rest of the day we drove around the Badlands National Park. The landscape is just truly amazing. I’ll post some pictures but they don’t do justice to the actual thing. We’re here for a couple more days and will poke around a bit more.

Oh, almost forgot. Also visited the Minute Man ICBM Silo Museum. Very interesting and educational. Being a child of the 50s-60s it jogged some memories in my brain from way back in my childhood and growing up. Not such fond memories, I suppose.

John

[rjgimp]

Rob, thanks for your welcome comments. They provide lots of info we’d never know. You would make a great traveling companion.

I've often said that you learn far more things by accident than you do by design and most of the tidbits I share around here (by FAR!) I learned entirely by accident. One thing I learned the last time I visited the Corn Palace in August 2017 is that well behaved and leashed pets are welcome inside the building! We had our dog with us on that trip to view the solar eclipse and I did indeed bring him inside and I have a picture of him there sitting very calmly at center court.

Nice astronomy presentation you enjoyed there. I will have to check that out the next time I am out that way. I imagine there is a fair amount of light pollution where you live and what you are able to see at night out there in South Dakota is a whole different experience! I know the aurora borealis is fairly active lately and even as far south as you are it is fairly likely you'll be able to catch a glimpse of that if it flares up a bit. The Northern Lights can be absolutely mesmerizing! I use an app called Sky View which is really helpful in identifying locations of stars, planets, constellations, and even the Hubble and ISS. I use the free version because I am a cheapskate but the pay version is even more informative.

[RJ Howell]

You have a lot to do and seen this trip. I kinda did the same on my first time west from the Nor'east. Had so much I hopped see! Last trip through Badlands NP we stayed 3 days and gave it a decent look around. More there than meets the eye for sure!

I hope I mentioned 'The Wall' to you to check out.. I try to for each heading in to BNP. Just outside the west entrance is a road that leads up by the radio tower. All around there is free camping and several spots with wonderful views. Apologies if I forgot to mention...

[Tom&Shelly]

Oh, almost forgot. Also visited the Minute Man ICBM Silo Museum. Very interesting and educational. Being a child of the 50s-60s it jogged some memories in my brain from way back in my childhood and growing up. Not such fond memories, I suppose.

John

Last time I was in that neck of the woods it was an active silo. Had friends there and they all got MBA's while sitting in the command center for days on end. One side effect of the Cold War was that it paid for many of our educations. In grad school I became friends with a Russian who had the same experience. It's a weird world!

Shelly and I want to visit the museum when we get the chance.

Tom

[Onajourney]

These trip reports are really great John. Thanks and I know I am not the only one who looks forward to them. I need to figure out how to take a few weeks off from the day job after my build is done.

[Capebuild]

I use an app called Sky View which is really helpful in identifying locations of stars, planets, constellations, and even the Hubble and ISS.

My wife has the Sky View app on her phone. It is very handy. It seems 30 years ago where we are in the northeast we did get wonderful night skies but as you say, the "light pollution" from one built up area 25 miles away has affected our star shows. Although, still, on a clear night we get some good stars.... but I have to say nothing like this here in the Badlands. I woke up last evening around 2am and looked out our large front window..... just incredible. I think tonight we'll switch our heads around and sleep with the shade open

Just outside the west entrance is a road that leads up by the radio tower. All around there is free camping and several spots with wonderful views.

On our return from Wall, SD we entered the park from the west side and did notice the free camping area high up on a ridge.
Next time.

Shelly and I want to visit the museum when we get the chance.

Last night I was looking through the brochure I picked up at the museum and evidently you can schedule a tour of one of the 2 or 3 decommissioned missile silos in the immediate area, allowing you to go down into the depths of the command centers.

John