Hello Mitchell, South Dakota!!!

Giving a shout out to our peeps from Mitchell, South Dakota....home of the world's only Corn Palace!  For real now, I bet you didn't know that!

We started our day by exploring the quaint little Illinois town of Galena.  While in Galena we ran into some friendly biker dudes that Samuel waved down (to let them know how much he liked their bikes).  They insisted the kids get on one of the bikes for a pic.  We then make the trek over the Mississippi River.  This may have been the highlight of the kids' day.  We all dipped our toes in the river.  Greg and I schooled the kids on the importance of the Mississippi and its many ports.  Despite our being away from home, there is quite a bit of schooling going on!   From there we went on to Mason City, Iowa, where we visited my Uncle Bob and Aunt Vernice and my cousin Kris.  It was great meeting with them in their home for a quick catch up.  

We had a beautiful day of traveling through much of America's farmland.  Lot's of crops and windmill farms, rolling hills and trucks.  We have such a beautiful and diverse country!

Today was mostly a day of heavy driving.  Lots of bugs on the windshield....yuck!  Greg had to take the van to a car wash.  It was pretty gross.  We ate at a restaurant near our hotel and the kids chose to skip dessert so that they would have enough time to go down the water slide at our hotel before it closed for the night.

Tomorrow we will head out to Mount Rushmore and Devil's Tower.  We should end up in Sheridan, Wyoming, Lord willing.

I have included some pics from our day to give you a taste of it all.

LYMYWY,

Kara