It was one of those moments… one kid was tired, one kid was hungry, one kid was thirsty, one wanted to be read to, one was screaming, one had to pee, one was cold, one was hot.   I think that count is at 8 yet I only have four children… although the volume in the motorhome sounded more like 8 kids… on the Scream Machine. We were in need of a break but we were trying so hard… too hard to make it to the campground we had just made a reservation that same afternoon.

Then all fell silent!

Why, you ask?

Because it sounded like the roof of the motorhome blew off.  There was suddenly a loud noise and it wasn’t humans.  Now would be a good time to mention that we had been driving about 2 hours straight in 25mph South Dakota winds.  Two hours might not sound that long but for a motorhome towing a van in the South Dakota hills, it’s a really really long time.

Well, we got that much needed break we all desperately needed.  And we also almost lost the three vents on the top of the motor home.  All three vents were hanging on by one last screw.  All three had blown open while driving which is what created the “our roof blew off” sound.

Thank you to man who offered us zip ties to tie the vents back in place.

It may appear in this picture that Jeff is wearing a crop top.  Trust me when I tell you that he is not and that this is wind practically blowing his shirt right off his body.  At one point, one of us opened the door from the motorhome to go outside and the wind  blew the door so hard that it actually put a hole in the outside of the motorhome.

 

And what were the kids doing?

 

Sliding down a pile of dirt in the lot we were parked in… or at least we hope it was dirt.

 

Only three kids is these pictures… where was #4?

Soaking up the rays of the South Dakota sun.

God has a funny way of giving you exactly what you need.  We needed this time outside, even in the wind, to let go and unwind for a bit… sometimes it takes a little unexpected turn of events for me to do exactly what needed to be done anyway.   This little story could have had a terrible ending but I am thankful we were are all safe and so was everyone else on the road that these vents could have easily hit had we gone any further.

We had heard about The Corn Palace but it wasn’t on our list of things to do.  Then we realized that we were staying in the town The Corn Palace is located in and we were in search of a grocery store.  Well, we found the Corn Palace and a parade that was blocking the road to the grocery store.  Come to find out that this parade is a big deal in Mitchell, SD and that people travel far distances to see this particular parade.  What was so special about this parade?  I have no idea. 

We saw the Corn Palace and it was interesting but I don’t ever need to see it again.  The building is covered with ears of corn in different colors to make a mural.  Think of a paint by number but with colored ears of corn instead.

 

The “paint by ears of corns”.  This is what they draw before they put the corn in place.  The best picture I could get.

 

The corn murals.

When we went inside to see what was in the building we were asked if the kids were participating in the tractor pull.  “The what?” I said.

It turns out the building is a venue for various town events.  This particular day the event was the kid tractor pull.  I didn’t know what a tractor pull was.  For those of you like me, the child peddles a tractor for as long as they can as the weight they are pulling gets heavier and heavier.  It looked like a pretty serious event with prizes and trophies.

 

My kids don’t love parades but they do love candy so we stopped briefly to watch the parade but really is was just to score some candy.

 

It was hard to see the candy after this car passed by.  There is no possible way this car passed inspection with the fumes it was giving off.

 

 

We did eventually get to the grocery store.  What a great place this was!  I started chatting with the woman managing the gluten free section of the store.  She was telling about various websites to get coupons for gluten free food.  After giving her my email address, I later received 7 emails from her with loads of info on g-free eating.  She also asked if we wanted samples of some items in the store.  Um, free stuff… yes , please! She whipped out her Sharpie marker, began picking up items off the shelf and then wrote “sample” on  the items as she put a slash through the UPC.  I was so thankful for her generosity.

When driving to our campground in Pipestone, Minnesota we just so happened to see a sign for Pipestone National Monument.  I have heard of many of the monuments and national parks in this country but I had never heard of this one.  The kids were excited to do the Junior Ranger program here and earn their first badge of many to come.  And I was excited to find out what this Pipestone place was all about.

Turns out this monument is an active quarry.  Only Native Americans can quarry here and apparently it can be a long process for them to get a permit.  What are they looking for?  Pipestone, of course.  This a red stone that is found under layers upon layers of sandstone (or is it granite?).  Traditionally Native Americans use the pipestone to make peace pipes. 

We walked the 3/4 of mile trail to view quarries and the Winnewissa waterfall.  It was hot and we were all overdressed.  But we made it through and saw some beautiful sights.

There were many different kinds of prairie grass throughout the park.  All of them are so important for the ecosystem here in the Great Plains.

 

 

Koah observing a spider web between the amazing rocks.

 

The falls.

 

A Native American pipestone artwork.

 

Taking the Pipestone National Park ranger oath to earn their junior ranger badge.

It’s always risky to take a motor home towing a van down a one lane dirt road that you have never driven before.  We must have looked like die hard Little House fans coming down that road.  It’s a good thing there wasn’t a soul in site because we did need the entire parking lot… well it wasn’t quite a parking lot but more of a turn around.  We were on the hunt for The Ingalls dug out home.  This is what we found…

 

So we thought we were going to see the dugout that the Ingalls lived in while living along Plum Creek.  It turns out that it is the ruins of the dugout.  The dugout collapsed many years ago.  Although the kids were disappointed that they weren’t able to play in a real dugout, they were all being lured by the fresh spring creek water of Plum Creek, on this hot Minnesota September afternoon.  Koah made the first plunge and the other 3 each followed in time.  We are reading On the Banks of Plum Creek so this made this afternoon swim extra special.

 

 

 

And the prairie…

Instead of Mary and Laura it is Makenzie and Freya.

In the book On the Banks of Plum Creek the Ingalls wheat crop is destroyed by grasshoppers.  While we were following a path along Plum Creek there were thousands, and I mean thousands of grasshoppers. Makenzie said they are locust and she is usually right but which ever they are, there are enough insects to completely destroy a wheat field.

The kids were super muddy when it was time to head out.  The beauty of traveling in a motor home, always a clean (well maybe not clean but at least not muddy) set of clothes and water to rinse off with.