Trip to Sturgis Day 2, Part 2

It was a long haul between Mankato and Sioux Falls, 156 miles to be exact. The heat was wearing on us but we continued on. We hit a stretch where the skies clouded up and by checking the traffic on the other side of the highway, cars had their headlights on and most people on motorcycles were wearing rain suits as well. Instead of chancing it, we pulled over and put our rain suits back on. Almost immediately, we were accompanied by another 10 bikers doing the same. Better safe than sorry, it's no fun wearing a rain suit when your're already a little wet so it's always best to have it on before the rain even starts. This morning we weren't so lucky but we learned from the experience so this time we were ready.

It did rain for a little while, but not terribly long. We were glad to be prepared though. As the skies cleared, there was nothing left to think about the the road ahead. It was smooth sailing, or riding in our case.
The Minnesota countryside was mostly corn. We could see why as we passed some biodiesel and some ethanol plants between the cornfields. The landscape was also dotted with windmills. It's good to see that people are using the new technology for a better world.

As we rode along I was thinking about my geography classes. As a child with limited travel experience (we spent summers in Crivitz on my grandmother's farm or Menominee at my other grandmother's place) what I learned in geography classes might as well have been fiction. Textbooks filled with images of our great country from the Midwest farmlands to the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains was just about as real as a fairy tale. It was all in a book, nothing I knew from my own travels. So here we are riding along with my feet two feet off the ground, smelling the smells of the countryside, seeing the world up close for myself. The Minnesota lush green farmlands turned into drier grasslands and plainfields as we rode into South Dakota; the fairy tale was fading and what I learned in geography class was becoming reality.

There is nothing like traveling on a motorcycle, the sights, sounds, and smells are always amazing. If it weren't for the sound of the engine, I would feel like I was one with Mother Nature. We could hear the cicadas chirping over the bike; there must have been tons of them. We rode past the most amazing fields filled with sunflowers. They were growing as far as the eyes could see, like yellow polka dots among a dark green background. Their bright faces were all aimed towards the sun in the exact same direction like little soldiers all in a row. As the vegetation changed from the cornfields in humid Wisconsin and Minnesota to the dryness of the Great Plains where the grasses took over, we knew we were now near Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

It was time to take a break so we took the downtown exit. There was nothing that exciting to see, so we had to make a choice. Try another exit or ride directly to Mitchell, another 60 miles to our final destination of the day. We were both getting cranky so adventuring around Sioux Falls seemed like a bad idea; we decided to continue on to our hotel in Mitchell.