Moving on to Michigan

Mitchell, SD

Updating the exterior of the Corn Palace

We've had a nice stay in Mitchell, SD while we updated some family documents.  Walked by the Corn Palace to get some updated photos and watched them update the decorations.  Finally got out to see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historical Society's museum at De Smet, SD too.

We also got to see why South Dakota's so green.  For a few afternoons, thunderstorms would start

Surveyor's House - Laura Ingalls Wilder's first house in De Smet, SD 

building just northeast of Rapid City and move southeast to Sioux Falls. Light hail in almost all of 'em.  But it seemed like they lined up like aircraft preparing to land at a busy airport and moved through the area.  Hopefully, all the farmers & ranchers appreciated it.

The is the first time that we've stayed at R&R campground in Mitchell and people just sat.  Few people were leaving in the mornings and arriving

The eventual Ingalls house in De Smet, SD

in the late afternoons.  Then bike week at Sturgis ended and it was just like you pulled the drain plug in an overfilled sink.  Almost everyone started moving as the RV parks around Rapid City started emptying out.  By the time we started traveling east yesterday, most bikers were long gone.

Also unusual for us, we ran across chatty Mobile Suites owners in a park.   The first couple were members of the

Original chalkboards in one of the school houses in De Smet, SD

SOITC and were just checking up on us which we really appreciated. The second couple had the same trailer floor plan as ours and bought it from the same dealer (RV's for Less in Knoxville, TN).  Come to find out, they bought it the month before ours arrived from the factory.  As they bought it off the dealer's lot, we're pretty confident it's one of the ones we looked at as we made the decisions on what to order.  Then came the "God" part.

We've been wanting to upgrade the recliners and had picked up a brochure last year from one of the "Amish" furniture builders in Topeka, IN.  Turns out this couple has replaced their recliners from the same company plus got an additional end-table to fit between the two recliners.   Nothing like getting to see first hand the furniture you want in the same trailer as yours and seeing that it fits. And they told us the style & type of light shade to change out over the dining table to provide more light.   (Hey, I can see the keyboard on the computer at night now!)  Talk about your "fruitful" chance meetings.

So that's it for this week.  We've stopped for the evening at the KOA in Oakdale, WI.  Plan to watch some football tonight and move on toward Manistee, MI tomorrow.  That's the plan, anyways.  David

Checking in at the Flying Goose Campground, Fairmont, MN