Going across the length of South Dakota, one could easily get the impression there is a void, aching to be filled, either by hydraulic fracturing, as in its northern neighbour, or by patented corn, as in Nebraska, to the south.  In the midst of this seeming void, near the hamlet of Belvidere, I looked heavenward, and was answered by these:

After a satisfying meal at JR’s Cafe, just off I-90, I drove on to Mitchell, best known as the hometown of the late Senator George McGovern.  I got a good night’s sleep and spent the first part of the morning looking around Mitchell’s downtown.  Here, one finds the Corn Palace, a favourite of families with school-age children.

You can see, it’s impressive and kitschy at the same time.  Also impressive, at least to me, is the left-over steam pipe from an old school building, on the south edge of downtown.

While I enjoyed a nice lunch at Grandma Max’s, in Sioux Falls, and enjoyed the banter of the truck drivers as they flirted with a pretty waitress, I did not have time to explore South Dakota’s largest city.  My destination on Monday, July 22 was Pipestone National Monument.  So, I drove over that way, via a back road that took me through Garretson, SD, and scenes like this;

Something tells me that the farms, and their steadfast, hardworking adherents, will be back.  The good people of the soil have always ebbed and flowed like prairie grass.

Next:  Pipestone National Monument, MN