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  • Judy and Mark
  • Jul 7, 2020
  • 2 min read

Feels like we're on the movie set for "Dances with Wolves" (click photo below for buffalo hunt scene). Jacob, this is for you...

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Rolling green hills and wavy grass as far as the eye can see.

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Starting to notice rock formations in the fields...

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...and in the distance.

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Plenty of highway entertainment.

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Fun stop in Mitchell, SD to visit the World's Only Corn Palace, adorned with actual corn cobs, husks, grasses, moss, and dirt. Built in 1892 to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus's arrival (why should Chicago have all the fun). Mark celebrates with a breakfast of freshly popped corn (he's got the shakes from not having movie corn for this long).

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Here's one of the artists (they refer to them as artists) shaping a buffalo from moss.

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They grow 12 different varieties of corn, all in separate cornfields, in order to make the different shades of designs (see them at the bottom).

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Notice the design on the left commemorating SD native George McGovern. Hometown: Mitchell SD!! Uh oh...there has to be a museum here somewhere...

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WELL Looky-Looky!!

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George and Eleanor, on the campus of Dakota Wesleyan University, where he served as a History professor for most of his career and she was his closest advisor and a tireless campaigner (unusual for women back then).

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Meet Kelly, who happened to be in the school library when we arrived, and who very kindly let us in, even though the building was COVID closed. Here is the office where McGovern worked for decades, inviting in students and faculty for coffee and conversation daily.

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And of course the museum was COVID closed too. Well, not unless you knew Kelly.

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Plenty of artifacts from the '72 campaign...

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Mark called him the Bernie of his day (Molly, he had a good, progressive heart).

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He had the right musicians behind him (Egg, he would have had your vote!).

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And dedicated much of his life as a senator, presidential candidate, and advocate for the powerless, to better the lives of the poor in America and around the world. He focused squarely on the issue of food scarcity; those raised in farming communities often have a unique sense of their role in remedying world hunger. The museum dedicates much to this. (Lizzie, he so got it).

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Food for Peace...

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...A Lifelong Crusade

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Some final wisdom:

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  • Judy and Mark
  • Jul 7, 2020
  • 1 min read

In case you thought we were so original in doing this trip, meet Charlotte from Philadelphia, another Escape Campervan adventurer we randomly spotted at this rest stop in Onawa Iowa. Oddly enough, she was jealous that our van was "so tame" when compared to hers, which was decorated with cartoon figures. Click photo below to see what these Escape Campervans are all about.

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  • Judy and Mark
  • Jul 7, 2020
  • 1 min read

Crossing the mighty Mississippi...

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...into the corn fields of Iowa (click photo below for some Dar Williams)

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Every mile looks like a painting...

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Ready for dinner! THIS is fresh corn. Cooked it for dinner on the camp stove. Was amazing.

This reminded Mark of the times when his dad would stop on the side of the road and get fresh corn for dinner. "Papa" insisted that the only way to eat corn in the summer was to make sure it was picked the same day. And, sure enough, this corn that Judy made for dinner really did taste great!

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Watched July 4th fireworks at night on a hilltop with a 360-view of the surrounding towns, each with their own fireworks display. Plus our campground had its own "parade" with a white pickup truck decorated with flags and packed with red, white & blue fans of the USA -- young and old -- waving sparklers and cans of PBR. As they drove by, their slogan for the night was "Freedom ain't Free!"

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Torrential rain as we leave our house, then just as we get on the NJ Turnpike and we're gifted with a rainbow (look beyond the white car in the distance)

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