Day 3: Hello South Dakota!

Before we made this leg of the journey, I did not realize just how big South Dakota was. It is 380 miles long which we crossed most of today, and ranks 46th in population. Today, we started in Rochester, Minnesota, and the first part of the trip was along the southern part of Minnesota. The land is flat and full of wind farms. Literally, there were hundreds of wind turbines! I have never seen so many in my life. I saw a commercial earlier in the morning that stated 15% of all Minnesota's electricity comes from renewable resources! I beguiled the time by reading "A Tale of Two Cities," by none other than Charles Dickens. I also had the audiobook on my iPod which helped with the pronunciations.

Once we entered South Dakota, with not much change in landscape, we came across Sioux Falls, the largest city in South Dakota. It was our lunch stop and we carried our sandwiches and subs to a nearby park that had a river running through it with a waterfall. It was quite scenic, and surprisingly warm. After our lunch break, we started the long and weary journey across the state of South Dakota. The horizon extended for miles and miles and nothing more than ranches and fields were seen. On I-90 in South Dakota there are thousands of billboards that advertise many of the areas local attractions. For example, there is the Corn Palace, a museum dedicated to corn and is entirely made out of it, and the famous Wall Drug Store. Wall Drug Store is in the western part of South Dakota and is known for the ridiculous amounts of stuff that they sell. They practically sell everything from homemade treats to anything you can imagine. There is even a chapel in the store! Wall Drug store has become a tourist hotspot. Unfortunately, the Hermanns did not stop because of the long journey. Wall Drug Store took up a good 40% of the billboard advertisements. Other advertisers were Reptileland, the town of 1880's (a town themed from the 1880's), the National Museum of Woodcarving, Rushmore Caverns, and many more outrageous attractions.

The scenery changed slowly as we trekked across the state. It become hilly and there we more elevation changes. Mountains and hills started to appear on the horizon. We then reached Rapid City, the destination for day 3. Our hotel is new and has been accommodating, and as of right now everyone but me is asleep weary from a long day of travel.

Andrew