Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Iron Mountain, Michigan (Day 3)

Today was a day full of driving to go from Sioux Falls to Iron Mountain. We saw lots of farm land, lots of tractors and lots of road. We started out early and in no time we went across the Minnesota border. This is hard to see but it's the sign as you are entering into Minnesota.

 The minute we got into Minnesota we started seeing wind generators again. I saw a bunch of them in Wyoming, none in South Dakota and then a bunch again in Minnesota. Here we are cruising past some. The farmers are making money from the electricity they are generating from the air and the crops they harvest underneath them. That sounds like a good idea to me.

 I was surprised by how many tractors I saw out plowing the fields. I guess that farmers can't take Sundays off if the weather is right for plowing.

 Minnesota is the land of 1000 lakes. This is 1 of the 1000 lakes. We had a slight slow down soon after this due to construction but it only lasted about 20 minutes and we were back to full speed.

Right close to the border of Minnesota and Wisconsin is the Mississippi river. This was the bridge that goes over the river. 

 I am not sure why but I was excited to see the Mississippi river again. It has been 20 years since I saw it last. I fished, rode a bike, and drove a car into this river. It was down in Missouri but it was still the Mississippi river! I am going to be able to see this river again in St. Louis on the latter part of this trip and I am excited for that. I spent many days sand bagging in Missouri to keep this river out of peoples houses. Sadly the river didn't care and all the towns I tried to help were reclaimed by it. It was sad but still an amazing sight to behold.

 Right after the river we crossed the Wisconsin border.

Steven, my son gave me a Lego man to take with me for this trip as a good luck charm and so the Lego man could have an adventure of his own. I decided to get some pictures of him in various areas along the trip and send them to my son. Here Lego man is posing in front of the water tower to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. I hope to get some better pictures of him in more known areas along the way. (I seem to forget until I feel him in my pocket.)

 The scenery changed drastically from rolling hills to pine and aspen trees the further we drove. The weather was beautiful with only a few drops of rain on the windshield. Tomorrow and Tuesday we are suppose to get dumped on with rain so that will make things interesting. I guess it snowed here in Michigan last Friday so hopefully it will just be rain.

 After a lot of driving we finally went across the border into Michigan. Woo Hoo. We pulled into Iron Mountain, Michigan and talked about driving on to Ishpeming or Marquette. It was that time of day when the deer like to come out on the roads. We already had seen 2 on the road a little bit earlier and we got a good deal on a hotel room so we decided to stay for the night in Iron Mountain.

 We went out to dinner and this mural was on the wall at the restaurant. I am not sure what the artist was trying to capture but it was a very interesting picture.

So it wasn't the most exciting day but we were able to go a lot of miles and tomorrow we will be in Ishpeming. That was the main goal on this trip, so we will be spending a few days there checking out my Dad's old stomping grounds and hearing some of his childhood stories. I am really excited to finally see Ishpeming and see the places I have heard about all my life. I have a picture in my mind about how it will be so it will be interesting to see if it's anything like how it really is. I can't wait!