Headed Back to Rapid City

After leaving the kids in Wisconsin we headed back to South Dakota via Minnesota. Our stop in Minnesota was a KOA Kampground between Austin and Albert Lea. Part of our game plan was to stop at the Hormel SPAM Museum, however, we misjudged the dates and we arrived on one of their closed days. Minnesota was just an overnighter on our way to Mitchell South Dakota. We spent three days in Mitchell so we could visit several of their attraction. 

Mitchell South Dakota is most famous for the only Corn Palace in the world. The Corn Palace was first built in 1892 after Sioux Falls went bankrupt trying to built theirs. The outside of the palace was decorated with corn and other grain plants. Each year a new theme was chosen, and off they went.

After the theme was decided an artist would create concept drawings, they would be drawn on roofing paper hung on the building exterior, and craftsmen would mount the corn cobs according to the drawing. 12 shades of corn are used in the murals. One of the few times the theme was not changed was during WWII, all food was supporting the war effort. For more info: https://cornpalace.com/.

The next day we took a drive to the Prehistoric Indian Village Site. This museum is also an archaeological dig site of Native American villages. The first building tells the story of how man migrated to North America, and the building of tribal communities. The archaeological dig site is protected within a structure but is not being actively worked due to the COVID19 pandemic. There are story boards and artifacts on display as well.

The dig site is the communal area between all the living dwellings. For more information you can go online at: https://www.mitchellindianvillage.org.

There is a man and his wife that live in Mitchell and restore Mustangs. His business (Telstar) has been at the same location for 54 years. All the cars are their personal collection, some for everyday use, others for show, and some for sale. It's funny, all my pictures are some of the other cars.

The red car he designed and built himself. It is made from a lot of different cars, and is a one of a kind. The green '57 T-bird is for sale. This is a port hole hard top (not shown in picture) that was a full restoration. The shop owner still has his 1966 Ford Ranchero. Their collection isn't big and can be viewed in about 40 minutes on a guided tour.

We drove back home and I decided I was hitting the pool for some cooling down since the temperature was over 90 degrees with 75 to 80 percent humidity. We relaxed in preparation for our drive to Rapid City.