Day 4
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| Glockenspiel |
We started our day in New Ulm, Minnesota, which has a fascinating history. It was settled by a group of people from Germany via Cincinnati called Turners. They essentially believed in free speech, free will and good health. Though the town has grown and changed since then, New Ulmers still pride themselves on their German heritage. We saw the Glockenspiel clocktower, but arrived 3 hours too early to hear it and see the figurines. Alex was sad about that, so I guess he'll have a reason to return! DJ enjoyed his run in the morning, taking a scenic
jog run (his words) to New Ulm high school, where he made good use of their track.
After New Ulm, we meandered on Rt. 14, also known as the Laura Ingalls Wilder highway, and enjoyed the cows and ruralness. As DJ drove, we kept seeing signs for the
Sodhouse. For those of you who know me well, I'm an avid reader and one of my favorite authors is Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was introduced to her books when I was around Alex's age, and continue to read them until this day. I knew that Laura's original dugout house (From the Banks of Plum Creek) no longer existed, so was curious about this Sodhouse. We pull in (off of a dirt road) into someone's farm house. There we met a lovely family from Maryland who was also taking a road trip, and then met the female owner of the Sodhouse, Virgina McCone and her adorable kittens.
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| Look close-there are kittens behind those stairs! |
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| Prairie grasses |
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| Soddy |
Mrs. McCone and her husband run the Sodhouse in addition to their farm, which is literally ON the prairie. Mr. McCone built various outbuildings made of sod and logs, to honor the prairie pioneer lifestyle. They used to rent a few of them out for overnights, but stopped doing so. It was a quick detour, but well worth it! Alex was totally fascinated by the kittens, the walls and the prairie itself. I can clearly remember chapters in the Little House novels where people fear getting lost on the prairie. Let me just say-you don't really understand that until you SEE it. Miles and miles of deceptively high straws and grasses. We didn't go into the Sodhouse, but just the ingenuity of the settlers to use the incredibly dense dirt & grass as bricks, and to do so by hand-wow. Alex enjoyed the story of Laura and the time the oxen ran across the roof of their house and poked a hole through.
Off we went, intending to stop at Walnut Grove, MN, which is where On the Banks of Plum Creek actually takes place. The dugout is gone, as is Pa's wood house with glass windows, and upon more research, we realized that there really was nothing there of note that belonged to or was related to the Ingalls family.
One quick picture from the car sufficed, and off we continued.
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| Which books did YOU have? (I had the blue and the yellow sets) |
Rt. 14 (still) took us into South Dakota and the town of Brookings. Without even realizing it, we drove past the South Dakota State campus, where Adam Vinatieri played football before playing for the Patriots. De Smet, South Dakota was the next stop, where I really got to indulge my inner 8 year old. De Smet is SMALL and still very much a farming community. We opted to skip the homestead museum and discovery center and went instead for the guided tour, where Marly took us through the Surveyor's house (By the Shores of Silver Lake), which was moved closer to town.
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| Alex grinding wheat |
We also checked out the first De Smet school house, which had been converted back to it's original state after it was a residence for many years. True to form, the restoration included the loose seat, which got Carrie and Laura kicked out of school. Explaining the concept of a 1 room school house to Alex (and other kids who listened in) was hilarious. The lack of paper was also a novel concept to all. A reproduction of Laura's first teaching schoolhouse (the Brewster house) was on display, and then we all
drove over to Pa and Ma Ingalls' house in DeSmet, which was built during Little Town on the Prairie.
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| The Ingalls house (not homestead) |
Though I knew Laura considered her books to be a fictionalized account of her childhood, I still didn't realize that she never actually lived in that house, she was married 2 years earlier! If you've read the books, it's the house where they built a special parlor room for the organ they bought for Mary. Included in our tour were some discussions and visuals to mirror the books, like grinding wheat in a coffee grinder and living in a claim shanty. Picture a California king sized bed. That's about the size of a claim
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| Mary Ingalls' bead work |
shanty, in other words, smaller than the motel room in which we are currently staying. One quick tour of the museum and gift shop, and off we went, passing Lofton's general store, which is still there. (Most of the other buildings have signs in them telling what they were, but are now used for other things. Pa's 2 stores are gone.) Another family was touring just as we were, and they had a son Alex's age. They hit it off just fine, while the mom and I discussed how giddy we were to actually be visiting! where Laura! lived! They were from Virginia, so we shared some of our road tripping stories.
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| Charles "Pa" Ingalls' original headstone |
A few miles down the road is the De Smet cemetery, and of course, I couldn't resist this either. Off we went to look at and pay our respects to some of the Ingalls family, including Ma, Pa, Carrie, Mary and Grace. We also saw the headstones of the Boast family, who are mentioned prominently. Yet again, we made another failed letterboxing attempt, this time making friends with a charming couple from Michigan who were geocaching. They tried to help us, but no luck, again.
The last part of our day was the most interesting in a way. Our original plan was to drive to Kadoka, SD and spend the night. Well, it was 5pm and we were still 4+ hours off, so, we came up with a new plan. We'd stop in Huron for some dinner and drive as far as we could without feeling tired. Throughout South Dakota, we amused ourselves by looking at the little townships and their population sizes and comparing them to something we knew back home-class sizes, grade/team sizes, etc. Then, being a research addict, I'd look up the history of the townships and share some tidbits. We continued to do this from De Smet to Huron, where in many cases, there were literally more cows than people. So different and so interesting! Huron was an interesting little town, but after a quick drive through, we opted to just keep going. Just one of those weird feelings. The next hour was spent driving straight through farmland and frantically searching maps for the names of villages that just might have a restaurant-enter Wessington Springs and the Springs Inn Cafe. The food was good, Alex and I discovered the wonder of cheese balls. (Deep fried cheddar cheese!) and feeling better about ourselves, we drove on.
We saw cows. Lots and lots of cows. Many cows. Cows!
Additionally, some huge wind farms which were surprisingly attractive to look at.
What became incredibly fascinating was the end part of our drive, which is where we are now in Chamberlain, SD.
The transition to prairie Great Plains with cows to rolling hills and the Missouri River was nearly instantaneous. One minute, it's this:
and within a few miles, it was this:
Note the ominous storm clouds in the distance. We were able to beat it out by 10 minutes. Go us! The Missouri River valley is a sight to see-it's simply gorgeous and the town of Chamberlain is adorable. I'd often considered giving it all up and moving to South or North Dakota, but today made me realize that total rural living is not for me. I'd rather a small town, but driving 1+ hours to the grocery store (Walmart or Family Dollar) is not appealing. It's still awe inspiring though.
Daily Stats:
States: 2
Cows: Thousands. Some mooed at Alex. He mooed back.
Lutheran churches: 15
Signs for Wall Drug: 5
Suicidal birds: At least 20, including a pheasant.
Our day began at the Best Western Lee's Motor Inn in Chamberlain, SD. We immediately crossed the Missouri River and continued on our way. Our first stop was in Wall, SD, to visit the famous tourist attraction of Wall Drug. This place is awesome, and if you are in the area, or even if you aren't-go here! It's kitchy and cute and has a great history. If you are afraid of missing it on your journey, don't worry. We counted around 75 highway signs, which is part of the charm. Lunch, donuts and picture taking later, and off we went to, yet again, find a letterbox. This time we had success! Go us! (We also passed around 300 signs for other Wild West and Olde Tyme attractions, but didn't stop. 
Though we had seen cows and horses galore on our journey today, DJ insisted that he needed to see some much more exciting animals. Luckily for him, the second we crossed into Badlands National Forest, we found some big horned sheep! We continued through the Badlands, stopping and taking pictures all the way, and decided to continue onto Mt. Rushmore since time was in our favor. We had forgotten all about the switch into Mountain Time, so that was a pleasant surprise when it popped up. Note: Unless you want to backtrack through the Badlands and go back to I-90 in Wall, you go through the park and through some very rugged areas. One of the major roads we took wasn't paved, but a highlight were the cows less than 2 feet away from us. We paused in the car and had a meaningful conversation with them. Most weren't talkative, but a few mooed back.
