Summer Trip 2023 Day 19

4 July 2023

Today was all about eastward movement from South Dakota through Minnesota and Iowa, into Wisconsin. I did 435 miles of driving, partly on I-90 and partly on secondary roads. In both cases, traffic was extremely light.

I just want to say, however, that the closer I got to Madison WI, the worse the drivers became. Neither MA nor CT drivers can hold a candle to Madison-area drivers for their blatant disregard of traffic laws and aggressiveness. I’m almost sorry I’m staying here for two nights.

The morning began with storms bearing down on Sioux Falls:

That picture doesn’t even do the scene justice as you can’t see the wind whipping or the really dark clouds a bit further away. Since my hotel didn’t have free breakfast anyway, I opted for an earlier start as I could see that I didn’t need to go too much to the east to escape the incoming downpour.

Once I was into Minnesota a ways, I stopped at a rest area that was surprisingly modern! And although you can’t see it in these photos, the roof of the building is covered with soil and plantings.

While in Minnesota, I did what one should probably never do – I stopped by a house I’d lived in for a couple of years during high school, in Fairmont. Not only is the house much smaller than I’d remembered, but it’s been seriously neglected by the current owners, perhaps not surprising given where it’s located. I didn’t bother photographing the side where chunks of siding are missing …

Eventually, I found myself driving right along the Mississippi River for a few miles before turning and crossing it! It was really quite beautiful at this point and there were a lot of pleasure craft on the water. I barely caught a view from the first of the bridges; the river has multiple branches at this particular point and because I didn’t realize that, I didn’t have the camera ready for the better views that followed.

Once into Wisconsin, I stopped one last time for a rest break before Madison. The view from the rest area is typical of this part of Wisconsin, and the bathroom building is, sadly, typical of this entire part of the country. This one at least has the advantage of being a (small) step above a basic pit toilet.

I’m in Madison for two nights and I think I’ll head back to the House on the Rock tomorrow where I visited in 2017, so there will be lots of interesting photos from that to share 🙂