Aug 11th - Leave Minnesota and head to the Corn Palace in South Dakota

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So today we leave Minnesota and are on our way to South Dakota. We are going to stop at the Corn Palace, which is a building decorated with corn each year to celebrate the corn industry in SD.

What could go wrong today???? READ TO THE END. It's hilarious!

 Look at the windmills. In addition to corn farms and cattle farms, they have windmill farms TOO!

 They are huge! And that is corn growing all around them. Miles and miles and miles of corn

 Cut me some slack. I'm doing 75mph, it's REALLY windy today and I'm trying not to lose my new phone. The way this trip is going, it could easily happen. LOL

At about 250 miles into the trip, we stopped so I could get some gas. I filled up, went to the bathroom and went to meet up with Fred at the camper. When I got there, he was still in the front seat which I thought was odd. Was he ready to hit the road already? I wanted a little break. When I walked up to the window, this is what I saw.....

He must have been really, really, really tired!

 He must have put the camper in park and passed out. LOL

We arrive in Mitchell, SD at the next KOA. We do our usual setting up, eat dinner and relax.
Today was a long boring, straight, WINDY ride.
We wanted to go to the corn palace, but there was a storm coming up which looked like it was going to miss us, but we decided to be safe and take the camper anyway so we don't have anymore WET stories to discuss. 

Here is it! The Corn Palace. Look at the weather. It's nice and dry, that is as we go in!

This is the side of the building close up

History of the Corn Palace

The Corn Palace Story. Basically they wanted to celebrate the South Dakota corn farming industry and to attract tourists. 

 Here's the inside which is used for high school and college basketball games and performances by singers such as Tanya Tucker who is playing next week. 

Look closely at the wall up top. That is decorated with corn cobs!

 It's almost unbelievable and pretty cool

Look at the previous picture. This is a close up of the decoration all the way to the right. Those are different colored cobs grown specifically for the building. It costs $130,000 each year to re-do the palace and it's free for us to see it all. 

 Another close up.  

As we were looking around we heard loud thunder outside. We both looked at each other and Fred said, good thing we didn't ride. Well, we didn't know how true that statement was until we walked outside. 

Within 15 minutes of the start of the storm, the roads were flooded. The wind was unbelievable!

If I didn't know any better, I would have thought we were in a hurricane OR a tornado!

The wind was blowing so bad in all different directions! I got hit in the face with hail. That hurt!

We decided we were already wet and ran to the camper

LMAO!!!! What else can we do but laugh! Can't we stay dry for another day? On the bright side, we were in the camper so we were able to change into dry clothes right away. I said to Fred, "We should head back to the campground, this wind is going to blow my bike over." I said this really thinking it. When I tell you the wind was blowing so hard, OMG it was literally like a hurricane. I looked on my phone at the weather channel app and it confirmed the winds were blowing in excess of 60mph!

We get back to the campground, the storm seemed to be calming down, my bike was still upright. I thought about tying it down but thought that's just silly!
 Or was it?

I was working on the blog and after an hour of uploading pics and adding all types of comments I closed the window without posting and lost ALL the work I had just done. Remember the days of writing a paper for college and you are almost done and the computer shuts down? Well, that's what happened. Fred started laughing, which made me laugh. We are perfect on this trip together. When one of us gets frustrated, the other finds it funny and lightens up the mood. We haven't been frustrated at the same time, YET!

So, I get back on the blog and start all over and then I decide to look out the window. 

What do I see you ask?

The license plate on my bike is sideways. 

LOLOLOLOLOL. 

This can only happen to me!

LMFAO!!!!!!!!!!!

Once again I'm like, can you believe this! Let's just leave it on the floor until the storm is over and Fred is cool and collected and says "No, we'll get it up" 

That's exactly what we do. As Fred went back into the camper for a flashlight, I'm next to the bike with  my hand in mud laughing! Fred comes back out and says "Are you losing it" And in between bursts of laughter, I say "absolutely"

We moved the bike behind the camper and strap it to the caddy 

The way we should have done during the storm. 

Look at the handlebar, that's grass sticking out.

It's hard to see in the pic but on the pipe is a reddish colored stone from the gravel it was laying in.
I looked around the campground, nobody else's bike blew over. WTF! LOL!


We can't make this stuff up. I guess this is what makes a good trip! At least for you that are reading it,
and me, right now thinking, what happened? Fred suggested someone went "bike tipping" instead of "cow tipping" OR Maybe the bike was tired and wanted to take a nap after 2000 miles.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL