Living Our Dream

Alexandria, MN Part I: Runestone Museum

Woodbury, MN

It was a relatively short travel day from the campground at Jackpot Junction Casino to our next destination in Minnesota. Still, Margery had time to make these observations about the southwest quadrant of Minnesota as we drove into the state:

1.  There is lots of beautiful, rolling-prairie farmland.

2.  There are corn fields for as far as the eye can see, but knee high by the 4th of July will not happen this year - one foot high is more like it.

3.  The land of 10,000 lakes had many more in cornfields.

4.  John Deere dealers are everywhere.

5.  There are more Dairy Queens here than in Louisiana.

6.  The vast majority of homes and farms are meticulously maintained.

7.  We saw no mobile home parks.

8.  Many, many homes had RVs parked on the property.

9.  There are numerous small towns (under 500) that have grain elevators as their major structure. 

We had an uneventful drive of about 2½ hours, and we arrived at Lazy Days Campground in Miltona, MN shortly after noon. Miltona is a small town about 30 minutes north of Alexandria, MN; and the campground is about 5 miles outside town, so it is really out in the sticks.

Lazy Days has very large sites, some of which are pull-throughs. The sites have full hookups - some with 30 amps, and some with 50 amps. The sites with 50 amps have only 50 amps. There is also free Wi-fi. The next photo shows our pull-through site at Lazy Days Campground.

And the next photo is a view of some of the sites behind us. The campground was about half full when we arrived on the weekend.

In addition to a heated pool, Lazy Days has lots for kids to do. There is a playground, a BMX bicycle dirt track, they had a wagon with some hay bales on it hooked up to a golf cart for hay rides, and their lawn mower was hooked to a train made out of plastic barrels.

The campground was nice and quiet. There was no interstate noise, and we only heard a few, fairly distant trains.

After relaxing Sunday afternoon watching the NASCAR race, we headed into Alexandria on Monday. Our first stop was the Runestone Museum, which is the home of the mysterious Kensington Runestone. On our way into the museum, we had to stop for a tourist photo with Big Ole, which is a 28-foor fiberglass statue of a Viking. The statue was made for the 1964-65 New York Worlds Fair.

Everyone always wonders what Scotsmen wear under their kilts, and Paul was also curious about what Vikings wear under their little skirts. Now he knows.

When we stopped in the museum gift shop to pay our admission, Paul couldn't resist trying on a Viking helmet.

   

The Kensington Runestone is a gray stone about 36 inches long, 16 inches wide, and about 6 inches thick that contains runic inscriptions on the face and on one side.

The next photo was taken from a slide show at the museum and has better lighting to show the runic lettering more clearly.

The runic alphabet was used by Germanic people, which includes Scandinavians, from about 100 AD until they adopted the Latin alphabet around 1100 AD. Many Nordic hunters and adventurers set up stones with runic inscriptions as a way of saying, "I was here." About 3,000 of them have been found in Scandinavia.

In 1898, Olof Ohman supposedly found the flat stone entangled in the roots of a tree he was clearing from his farm near Kensington, Minnesota, which is about 15 miles southwest of Alexandria.

The translation of the inscription tells the story about 6 Goths and 22 Norwegians who were on an expedition from Newfoundland to the west. The stone is dated 1362. If authentic, the stone suggests Scandinavians were in Minnesota 130 years before Columbus landed in the New World.

The stone has been a source of controversy since it was first discovered. Experts were quick to label the stone a hoax, but others who studied it declared it was quite possibly authentic. Studies indicate weathering of the inscription is consistent with an age of about 500 years. Another argument in favor of authenticity is the fact Olof Ohman wasn't well enough educated to have known about the runic alphabet to have accurately created a fake stone.

It is widely accepted that Vikings had landed in Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland around 1000 AD, but how did Viking explorers make it all the way to inland Minnesota? Some say they sailed through Hudson Strait to the north of Newfoundland and then south through Hudson Bay. There are several rivers and there are many, many lakes that lie in depressions created by glaciers during the Ice Age. A couple of wet years could have linked many of the lakes together, especially during the spring thaw.

In one location along the route, there are three boulders with triangular holes cut into the rock that are identical to holes in Norway that were created by chisels rather than drills. The holes were used to fasten anchor pins for boats.

Several relics such as the axe head below and an iron striker (right rear) that was used to create sparks for fire starting have been found in Minnesota. These implements are the same as Norse implements of the 1300s found in Scandinavia. These relics have not been found anyhere else in North America indicating they were probably not brought by immigrant settlers.

There are still many nay-sayers who maintain the stone is fake, but there is also a lot of evidence that says it could be real. It's an interesting debate that will probably never be settled.

The Runestone Museum also has several other exhibits relating to Minnesota history. In addition to an exhibit of Native American artifacts, they also have a display of animals and birds of Minnesota.

The Runestone Museum has another room with several exhibits that depict life in Minnesota in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Outside the museum is a reconstruction of Fort Alexandria. We'll tell you about the fort in our next post.

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum

Morton, MN

Laura Ingalls Wilder was the author who wrote the novel Little House on the Prairie on which the TV series of the same name was based. The series ran for 9 seasons in the 1970s to the early 1980s. Paul was always in his woodworking shop after dinner in those days so he never got to see any of the programs; but Margery and our daughter, Lora, never missed an episode.

The book is based on real life experiences of Laura Ingalls Wilder as a member of a pioneer family in the late 1800s in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. Since we were passing near there, Margery wanted to stop at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum.

We normally don't sightsee on a travel day, but this time was one of the few exceptions. Since Walnut Grove is only about a two-hour drive from Sioux Falls, the plan was to get a fairly early start, pull into the campground at Plum Creek Park near Walnut Grove, unhook the toad and drive back into town to visit the museum. We then planned to spend the night at Plum Creek Park before moving on to our next stop.

Not only was this one of those rare occasions when we went sightseeing on a travel day, it was also one of those times we didn't make reservations. Big mistake. We pulled into Plum Creek Park before noon figuring we wouldn't have a problem getting a site that early in the day in a small town, but the campground was all booked up. What we didn't account for was the fact most of the sites were taken by seasonals. On top of that, some sites were closed because they were too waterlogged from recent rains. The few sites that remained had all been reserved since it was the start of the weekend.

We drove back into town to the museum and found a place to park the motor home with the toad still hooked up. Before we went into the museum, Margery checked her list of campground possibilities and found Jackpot Junction Casino about an hour down the road had a full-hookup campground. She got no answer when she called to check on site availability, so she left a message.

Then we went into the museum.

The Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum in Walnut Grove has several buildings from late 1800s that represent the period that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in Little House on the Prairie and some of her other books.

The 1898 depot has a room with displays and photos relating to the Ingalls and Wilder families. The Ingalls family arrived in Walnut Grove in 1874. The family consisted of Charles and Caroline Ingalls...

...and (left to right) Carrie, Mary and Laura.

The second room of the depot had photos from the TV series. Charles and Carrie Ingalls were played on TV by Michael Landon and Karen Grassle. Laura was played by Melissa Gilbert, and her older sister Mary was played by Melissa Sue Anderson. Twins Lindsay and Sidney Greenbush switched off playing the role of Laura's younger sister Carrie.

Although the series was based on the book and featured many of the same characters, it also expanded on the stories with new characters and fictional events. After all, the writers had to come up with enough stories to fill 9 seasons.

One of the more memorable characters from the TV series is Nellie Oleson who was the town brat. Nasty Nellie was played by Alison Arngrim. The next photo shows the real Nellie Owens. The TV Oleson family was based on the real life Owens family.

Margery really enjoyed seeing pictures not only of the real Ingalls family, but also the pictures of the actors when the program was being produced and what they look like now. Suffice it to say that grumpy Mrs. Oleson and bratty Nellie Oleson are very attractive in their own persona.

When the Ingalls family first arrived in Walnut Creek, Laura was 7. They built a dugout into the banks of Plum Creek as depicted by a display in another building called Heritage Lane.

Outside, the museum has an above-ground reconstruction of the dugout that is about the same size as the original.

The dugout had one room. You can see the sod that made up the front wall.

The museum also has a small chapel that was constructed as a 1983 high school shop class project. The chapel displays items from several local churches including an old pump organ.

An early settler's home was moved to the museum site to represent the type of home the Ingalls built after the dugout. The two-room house is furnished in the period of the late 1800s.

"Grandma's House" is an onion-domed, wood-frame house built around 1890, about 10 years after Laura and her family left Walnut Grove for the Dakota Territory. The house has no connection to Laura, but it still represents the period that she wrote about. There are several displays in Grandma's House depicting the history of Walnut Grove with photos, furnishings, and other memorabilia.

There is also a one-room school on the grounds that is similar to the one Laura would have attended and similar to the one where she later taught in the Dakota Territory.

Little House on the Prairie should be required viewing/reading for our young people today to help them learn about the importance and value of a strong, traditional family unit. The stories also provides valuable life lessons that make us laugh, cry, and think. The Waltons should also be required viewing for the same reasons. Unfortuantely, Margery thinks that too many of these lessons go untaught today.

After we finished up at the museum, we got back to the business of trying to find a place to stay. We had still not heard back from Jackpot Junction, so Margery called again and got the same recording. We then called Riverside Campground, which is located about half way between Walnut Grove and the casino. Unfortunately, Riverside Campground was closed because of flooding.

We still couldn't reach the casino campground by phone, but we didn't have much choice but to drive on because we could find nothing else near our route. If they didn't have any sites available when we got there, our fall-back plan was to call our next destination to see if we could come in a day early. That would make a long day of it, but we thought we could make it if we had to.

When we arrived at Jackpot Junction Casino, it turned out the west (new) section of their campground was all booked up for the weekend, but there were lots of sites left in the east (old) section, including two pull-throughs. We took one!

Most of the sites in the old section are back-ins, but they have 4 curb-side pull-throughs. Although not ideal because you're right on the campground road and the hookups are on the wrong side of the rig, we were happy to get ANY site, let alone a pull-through so we wouldn't have to unhook the car for a one-night stop. Not only that, but the sites in the old section are a bargain only $12 a night ($10 during the week).

 

The roads are paved, and the back-in sites in the old section are gravel with a little grass between. The next photo shows several of the curb-side pull-throughs on the left and some of the back-ins on the right.

Most of the sites in the new section are pull-throughs. Pads are paved and the sites are a little more spacious. Both sections have free Wi-fi, and the sites in the new section also include cable. Prices for sites in the new section are $15 during the week and $20 on the weekend.

The campground is located behind the casino away from traffic and truck parking; and other than a bit of a hum from the ventilation fans at the back of the building, the campground was pretty quiet. After a long day and a good night's rest, we continued on our way north in Minnesota. This time we had reservations, and we had what we hoped would be some interesting sightseeing in store. Stay tuned.

Sioux Falls, SD

Sioux Falls, SD

The main reason for going to South Dakota was to get our driver licenses renewed. The driver license office is closed Mondays, and everyone says it is crowded on Tuesdays and also on Fridays. Therefore, we timed our arrival in Sioux Falls for Tuesday so we could get our licenses renewed on Wednesday. We arrived about 10:00 AM. Mid morning is supposed to be better than early or late morning, and mornings are said to be less crowded than afternoons. In spite of our careful planning, the DMV office was jammed. We considered coming back the next day; but  it was a rainy day anyway, and there could have been an even longer wait the next day, so we decided to stick it out and get it over with. We had to wait 5 or 10 minutes just to get a seat, then we waited about an hour for our numbers to be called

New federal laws require states to make sure applicants for drivers licenses are properly identified because driver licenses are widely accepted as identification to board airplanes and to enter certain federal buildings and facilities. We gathered up all the documents they said we needed, and we also took more than what was required - just in case. But there was no problem with any of our identification, and we walked out with new licenses in hand.

We planned an extra day in Sioux Falls just in case there would have been a problem at the DMV. Since everything went smoothly (other than the long wait), Margery had time to schedule a haircut on our free day. After her haircut, we decided to head into town to Falls Park to see the Falls on the Big Sioux River - especially since the sun finally came out.

The falls have long attracted people to the area starting with Native Americans. The first Europeans to see the falls were French explorers in the early 1700s, and the first American settlements were started in the 1850s.

The falls consist of the Upper Falls, the Main Fallls, the Lower Falls and a series of cascades. The photo below shows the Upper Falls.

The next photo shows Margery with the Main Falls in the background. The small building to the left is the turbine house for the Queen Bee Mill. The remnants of the main building of the mill itself are barely visible to the right of the turbine house.

 

The next photo shows a little closer view of the turbine house with the remnants of the main building behind it.

The 7-story mill, which was built from Sioux quartzite quarried at the site, cost about $500,000 - a LOT of money back when it was built from 1879 to 1881. Just two years after the mill began operation in 1881, it was bankrupt because of a scarcity of quality wheat and because of insufficient water power. The mill changed hands a few times, but no one could make a go of it. The mill was converted to a warehouse in the 1920s, and it was destroyed by fire in 1956. Only the turbine house and the stonework for the bottom couple of floors remains.

The photo below is another view showing the full width of the Main Falls.

We walked downstream to get yet another view of the Main Falls (near the top of the picture) with the Lower Falls in the foreground.

Below the Lower Falls is a visitor center with an observation tower...

...where you can get an excellent view of the park and all the cascades and falls with downtown Sioux Falls in the background. When we were here five years ago, the amount of water cascading over the falls was minimal. This time, there was water coming from everywhere!

From the side of the tower opposite the falls, we could see the John Morrell & Co. meat packing plant. Morrell, a subsidiary of Smithfield foods, is a major employer in the city of Sioux Falls.

 

Paul liked the stone sculpture of a buffalo near the base of the tower called "Monarch of the Plains," so we paused for a photo.

On the way back to the motor home, we stopped for an early dinner at Qdoba. Qdoba is one of our favorite chain restaurants, and, since there aren't that many around, we usually make a point of stopping when we find one.

When we began planning our summer travels back when we were in Florida for the winter, we decided to take our time getting to Sioux Falls to make sure the weather had time to warm up. Then, after we got our licenses, we planned to spend a little time in the western part of the state, after which we would meander south through Colorado and into New Mexico. However, when we heard that smoke from the wildfires in Arizona was sometimes finding its way all the way to New Mexico, we had second thoughts.

Even though firefighters are now starting to gain control over the Arizona wildfires, they still have a good way to go before the fires are out. Plus, there are now new fires right in New Mexico. With the possibility of smoke in the southwest combined with the fact that we have been experiencing temps in the 90's since the end of April, it seemed like a good year to head north. Since Minnesota is just a stone's throw from Sioux Falls, we decided to start our northern loop there.

Kansas City to Sioux Falls, SD

Sioux Falls, SD

For our next destination, we headed to Sioux Falls to get our driver licenses renewed. Unfortunately, the direct route from Kansas City to Sioux Falls (I-29) was closed in several spots in Iowa due to flooding of the Missouri River.

The detour recommended by Iowa DOT was to take I-35 north, then take I-90 into Sioux Falls, but that route would have added about two hours to the two days we planned to take to get to Sioux Falls. We considered crossing the Missouri River into Nebraska and taking US 75, which would have theoretically added less than an hour, but Nebraska DOT recommended against that due to numerous construction delays on US 75. The only reasonable route left was to take US 59 north in Iowa and cut back to the west to pick up I-29 again in Sioux City, IA north of the closures. Our GPS estimated this would add a little over an hour to two days of travel - not too bad.

US 59 runs roughly parallel to I-29 about 20 to 30 miles to the east through the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, we found a campground in the middle of nowhere at about the halfway point along the route.

Prairie Rose State Park is near the little town of Harlan, IA on Prairie Rose Lake. Prairie Rose has 95 campsites - 77 with electric only, 8 with full hookups and the rest with no hookups. From the campground map, it looked like most (if not all) the sites had 30/50 amps. Electric-only sites are $16 a night, and full hookups are $19. About half their sites are non-reserveable, so we had no problem getting a site for one night on a Monday.

There is an east loop and a west loop in the campground. From the satellite images online, we could see the west loop was heavily wooded, so we didn't even consider a site there. All the full hookup sites are on the east loop anyway, so that was another reason to skip the west loop. It's not that we need sewer for only one night, but we only travel with a minimal amount of fresh water in our tank to save weight. Therefore, for an extra $3, we preferred the full hookup site so we didn't have to look for a spigot and take time to add water to our tank before we set up.

We got the last non-reserveable, full-hookup site. Fortunately, it also allowed us to get good satellite reception.

The roads are paved, the sites are gravel, and there is grass between the sites. The sites are fairly wide, but not as wide as most state parks. Being in the middle of nowhere, the campground was very quiet - no traffic and no trains. In spite of being in the middle of nowhere, we had 4 bars on the cell phone. Go figure. The next photo shows a view down our row.

The east loop overlooks a finger of Prairie Rose Lake. There are two rows of sites that are terraced, so both rows have a nice view. However, the second row does have to look over the roofs of the RVs in the first row, but there was hardly anyone in the first row when we were there.

In the morning, we continued our detour northward up US 59. When we lived in Pittsburgh, we used to think western Pennsylvania had the worst roads in the country. Now that we travel, we are finding out there are other states that have a shot of claiming the dubious distinction of having the worst roads. Iowa is one of those states. Another one of those states where we have been recently is Louisiana, and Louisiana doesn't even have cold weather so they can't blame their bad roads on the freeze/thaw cycle and the use of road salt.

US 59 in Iowa has narrow lanes and narrow or non-existent shoulders that are also low in most places. The road also has a lot of pot holes and very rough expansion joints. When you're driving a heavy vehicle with 100 psi air pressure in the tires and a solid front axle, you really feel every jolt up through the steering wheel and through the seat of your pants. When we finally rejoined I-29 north of Sioux City, it wasn't a lot better. There were still narrow lanes and rough expansion joints. The South Dakota state line finally gave us some relief from the ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk of the expansion joints.

We pulled into Tower Campground in Sioux Falls in the early afternoon. We stayed at Tower Campground when we went to Sioux Falls get our drivers licenses when we first started full-timing 5 years ago. Tower Campground was a little rough around the edges back then with lots of older mobile homes in the eastern section and permanent RVs in the western section. From some of the reviews we read, it continued to go downhill until new owners took over about two years ago.

The new owners have done a remarkable job fixing up the campground. They still have some work to do, but they have cleaned out most of the mobile homes, the old house, and older RVs. The few mobile homes that remain are newer and very well-kept. They have installed new utilities in some of the old mobile home sites in the eastern section and converted them to relatively spacious RV sites. They want to do more sites, but they are waiting for zoning approval.

There was a time when our mail service, Alternative Resources, no longer recommended Tower Campground for those RVers staying in Sioux Falls to establish their South Dakota residency or to conduct other business. However, with the great improvements at Tower, they are once again on the Alternative Resources list of recommended campgrounds. Tower also gives Alternative Resources customers a special camping rate of $25.

There are full hookups with 30/50-amp electric (at least in the eastern section - we don't know about the western section) and free Wi-fi and cable. The roads in the eastern side are paved, as is about half the road in the western side. The sites are gravel. Unfortunately, the gravel is pretty dirty with lots of dark-colored, fine particles that tend to get tracked into the rig when it rains. We know that because it rained the first two days we were in Sioux Falls. The photo below shows our site at Tower Campground after the sun finally came out.

The next photo shows some of the other RV sites in the eastern section where our site was located.

And the photo below shows the western section where sites are a little closer together.

Tower Campground is conveniently located fairly close to town, but that also means there is a lot of traffic noise from I-29 that is nearby and from 12th Street, which is a busy, 4-lane, main artery into the city. There are also occasional trains fairly close by. Tower Campground is also close to Sioux Falls Regional Airport, which is home to the 114th Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard. If the wind is right, Tower Campground is on the glide path to the airport, and you will get to see (and hear) passenger jets, commuter jets and F-16s. Fortunately, the noise from 12th Street and the airplanes quiets down at night. Although the F-16s are loud when they do fly over the campground, it's the sound of freedom; and we didn't mind.

The next morning, we headed over the the DMV office. In our next post, we'll tell you about our adventures at the license office and the sightseeing we were able to squeeze in.

Independence, MO Part II: Puppetry Arts Institute

Lee's Summit, MO

Margery came up with a rather unusual sightseeing attraction for our next stop. After we left the Frontier Trails Museum, we drove several blocks down the street to the Puppetry Arts Institute.

The institute teaches puppet making and puppetry. They also have a puppet museum that Margery was interested in seeing since our daughter, Lora, was involved in a puppet ministry at our church when she was in grade school.

Hazelle Rollins was a Kansas City puppeteer who began manufacturing marionettes in 1932 in the midst of the Depression. Her business grew, and her puppets became very popular. She had several patents relating to marionettes including one for the mouth mechanism, one for the control to which the strings are attached (called the "airplane"), and one for foot movement. Hazelle had over 300 original character designs. In the 1960s, Hazelle, Inc. was the largest manufacturer of marionettes in the world.

Hazelle Rollins retired in 1975 and sold the company. She died in 1984.

Some of the remaining inventory of Hazelle, Inc., was acquired by the Puppetry Guild of Greater Kansas City, which eventually established the Puppetry Arts Institute. The institute now displays the puppets in their museum. That's Hazelle in the photo.

In the 1950s, Hazelle began producing hand puppets in addition to her marionettes.

Along with the Hazelle puppets, there are quite a few others on display including this one of Harry Truman. Of course, Independence was Harry Truman's home, and it is the location of his presidential museum. When the creator of the puppet was unable to find artifical hair that he liked, he used his own.

Nunsense was a popular off-Broadway play. The museum had a number of puppets representing characters in the play. It was interesting to see the different personalities of these Muppet-style puppets. These puppets have been rented for performances all over the world.

There were also quite a few examples of finger puppets.

The lady who gave us the tour of the museum has traveled worldwide, and many puppets she had collected in her travels were on display in the museum. The photo below shows some Punch and Judy characters.

The puppet below is from Taiwan...

...and the dragon is from China.

Margery had a good time with one of the puppets that were available for visitors to try. Look at the child-like exuberance on her face.

The photo below shows a group of puppets in various stages of completion with a completed one the right. You can see how the frame starts out with flat pieces of wood. Padding is added, then the clothes are put on.

The Puppetry Arts Institute isn't a major attraction and wasn't one that Paul was particularly enthusiastic about visiting. However, we do some of the things we do even if only one of us is interested. The other then usually finds it's better than they thought. We both had fun seeing the different types and styles of puppets. Visitors to the museum also have the option of making their own puppet. The institute does birthday parties, too. Wouldn't that be fun!

It seems with all the high-tech toys available to kids today that they are not challenged to develop their imagination. It was heart-warming to see how puppetry sparks the imagination and that there is still an interest in challenging young people.

We had a couple of days to relax before heading to our next destination of Sioux Falls, SD where we will be staying only a few days to get our driver licenses renewed. We'll have a report on our travels in our next post.