Minnesota - South Dakota

Left Minnesota Thursday (yesterday) morning - it was 35 farenheit (3 celsius) outside! What a shocker!! We had to rummage through bags to find 'sweaters' we had bought in Texas!

Drove across the countryside (5+hrs today, 328 miles) and in to South Dakota. Lots of corn fields. Some interesting sights along the way including these sculptures in someone's field - you can see how big the bull is compared to the cow in the foreground... someone's been busy! We were also impressed to see many wind turbines through the fields - the picture below is an example of how the turbines blend in with the corn fields. Apparently there is a larger assembly of them some 30 miles west of here...

We had trouble with our 'cell phone' today and it was no longer connecting to the network. We had to end up going to Sioux Falls to find an AT&T shop where an 'expert' could look at both the phone and the SIM card - took a while but ended up being the phone which needed some adjustments...... Sioux Falls and much of the I-90 around it is under construction - roadworks and detours which we had to navigate along with our GPS - it was frustrating and nerve wracking to say the least. Luckily we also found a post office to do some mailing and the counter assistant was a very friendly man, who was able to help us out with directions - he has my undying gratitude forever!

We stopped at a store called 'Cabelas' which sells outdoor products. I always love going in there because they have the HUGEST display of (taxidermied) animals right in the middle of the store, usually 'in situ', so they look like they're on the mountain side or whatever. I like this one of the moose - they are so big, rarely seen unless in the woods and you can never get close to a real one - I don't even think I've seen them in a zoo, yet.

It is now hunting season and Cabelas has a very large range of all things hunting - Dave and I snuck a photo as we were leaving. I was further shocked/surprised at the sight of a man at the entry gate, with a very large rifle. The assistant was checking it over - there is a sign at the entrance which states clearly that all firearms must be presented before entry to the store... I've never seen a firearm so big - Dave thinks that the gentleman must have been bringing to the store to get serviced. I guess it's nothing out of the ordinary for people who live here, it's just out of the ordinary for people like me!