Day 35: Sioux Falls, SD to Wisconsin Dells, WI

Sunday July 17

Sunday July 17 marks 5 weeks of us being on the road and sadly, having only a week left.  The girls are getting excited to go home and see their friends.  We have driven 6825 miles and seen a lot of cool places.  Our favorite spots are still Rocky Mountain National Park, Yellowstone, Arches and Bryce.  We liked the dry heat of the desert more than the humid air in South Dakota and Minnesota.  The highest temperature was 122 at Hoover Dam.  We saw snow fall in Colorado.  We have come back through 2 time zones which makes it easier to communicate with family at home.  I am calling Mom and Dad most travel nights to check in (I know how Mom worries about us being on the road) and there were some late night calls when we were 3 hours behind them.  It does make travel days seem longer when we travel AND then have to lose an hour to the time change.  I much prefer going the opposite direction and gaining an hour. 

Minnesota reminds me a lot of Kansas; flat and crop land.  I feel like we are in the middle of a corn patch.  It is very pretty and green.  South Dakota had a ton of cattle and horse fields but there are no more of those visible from Rt 90 in Minnesota.  There are also areas that have lots of wind turbines, just like Kansas did.  The weather is a steaming 92 and very humid; the kind of weather where your shirt gets wet just being outside.  I am glad we are in the AC.  Minnesota does not have any rest areas open so we are not able to get any tourist information.  When we stop for lunch, we notice the convenience store has a sign saying that due to the government shutdown, they can not sell lottery tickers.  Looks like if you have a winning lottery ticket, you can’t turn that in either.  When Scott stopped for gas in Minnesota, the attendant told him the state had worked out a deal and would slowly begin running again this week.

Farmland

Road Ratings:

Utah: B+

Idaho: B+ Great rest area with tourist information

Montana:  B (score was brought down by road construction near the campground where you had to wait for a pilot car to escort you across- all times of day and night)
Wyoming:  A

South Dakota:  A-

Minnesota:  D- very bumpy AND no open rest areas.

The girls are so excited to get to Wisconsin.  They have been looking forward to the country’s largest water park since we began planning our trip.  Once we hit Wisconsin, we are met by cattle everywhere.   There are still some crop fields but we notice a lot more cattle and signs for cheese.  The girls do not pick up on the billboards displaying cheese.  Scott gives them until dinner time to find out what Wisconsin is famous for.  Lexi overhears me on the phone telling Mom and Dad that we are seeing a lot more cattle and assumes it is dairy products.  Isabella goes to the KOA store and asks a nice woman working there.  They finally come up with cheese. 

Wisconsin is so HUMID.  It is mid 90s but you can’t move without your shirt getting wet and sweating.  I talk to my parents outside in a lawn chair for a half hour and I am soaked.  After dinner the girls and Scott run to the pool while I take laundry to the laundry room.  The laundry room is AC and almost cold so it’s a nice reprieve from the oppressive heat.  Evidently the upper central states are on a long term heat wave.  We get a passing thunderstorm right at bedtime.  But a lot of rain falls during the night and another thunderstorm in the morning.  Since our only plans were to go to Noah’s Ark, the country’s largest outdoor water park, we let the girls sleep in.  We all wake up and get going around 10am, at which point the storms start to clear and the rain stops.  We make a nice breakfast and head to the water park.