Well, day two of our adventure has come to a close. We made it from Grinnell, Iowa to Murdo, South Dakota (about 543 miles) but that included a very important stop in Mitchell, SD -- home to two of the must-see places in this scenic state, namely the Cabela's Retail Store and the Mitchell Corn Palace.
Cabela's was a last stop for camping supplies, and the Corn Palace added a little bit of culture to the trip. For those of you not familiar, the Corn Palace was built in 1921 as a convention, sporting and exhibition center. That, however, is not its claim to fame. The entire outer facade of the building is covered with detailed murals created entirely of local agricultural products (corn, wheat, soybeans, grasses, etc.). New murals are put up every year and, what the birds don't eat, are stripped down the next year and new murals created.
We also managed to run into a few old friends, Jake and Elwoood Blues. They were taking the night off, but agreed to stop and take a photo with the group (l-r, Sara, Angela, Jake, Mackenzie, Sam, Elwood and Glenn). Tomorrow we will be continuing our way west, making the Mother's Day Site (another 550 miles or so), but with another pit stop in Hot Springs, SD at The Mammoth Site (http://www.mammothsite.com), the world's largest mammoth research facility. The website does their work far more justice than I can do here, but while there, we will be joining another old friend of the Dinosaur Field School and recent Cincinnati transplant (and former UC grad student) Don Esker who is serving as assistant curator. We're all hoping for a little face time with some of the Pleistocene behemoths (all of our tools are accessible), but we'll have to wait and see.It is probably going to be a few days until I can post again as tomorrow evening will see us in the desert settling in and and setting up camp. Please feel free to post your comments...it makes this a lot more fun for me, certainly. See you then!
2 comments:
You will all be singing the blues once you reach Montana. Ten day highs for Bridger, 95-100. As someone pointed out last year, at least its a dry heat. Keep telling yourselves its only 37 degrees (don't think about the celsius part). Did you pick up one of those solar-powered airconditioned tents at Cabela's?
Dale will be sorry he couldn't join you at the Mammoth Site. He could have picked up some missing parts for his specimen back in Ohio (actually a mastodon, but close enough). Don't let Mac in there with his three pound hammer. No species should go extinct twice.
Jason - the heat has apparently already gotten to you. It is now "July", not "May".
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