Travelling to Freeport, Illinois, through Iowa

We left Chanhassen and decided to travel cross-country to avoid the Minneapolis/St Paul traffic.  This led us to US 52 through Rochester, MN, and on into Iowa.  We headed to Dubuque, Iowa, for the bridge crossing the Mississippi river into Illinois.

A sight along the Mississippi river at Guttenberg, Iowa.  Perhaps the colors a still heading for peak color but we took what we found for often a rainstorm and wind fells the leaves prematurely.

Another view of the river.

Sue buying presents for special friends at this entrepreneur at the wayside.  Christmas maybe?

A friendly person at the wayside snapped this picture.

We enjoyed the colors of the fields in the next few pictures.

This photo showed the beutiful greens and bowns of the countryside in Iowa.  Many crops are being harvested.  

Chanhassen, MN, on our way to Freeport, IL

Our first day of our trip took us to the Minneapolis area.  In the north suburbs we found these fall colors.

Some wag said that this is one tourist destination that moves.  Wait in one area in Minnesota and the color will come to you.

Our first stop was to see Joan and Ralph whom we have known for some 22 years.  They have moved to an independent living facility after most of their lives living in a home where their family was raised. In two weeks they will be heading to Arizona where they have wintered for many years.

We will be attending the Chanhassen Dinner Theater tonight where Fiddler on the Roof is featured.  We have attended this theater for 30 years or more when Broadway plays are given.  This church was once the landmark in an unpopulated area where the theater is located.  Now the area is extremely built up.  So a little nostalgia here. 

There were matinee performances at the main and smaller theaters in the afternoon.  We attended the evening performance.

The interior of the theater and Sue is purchasing tickets.

Members of the cast giving an after-performance seminar with some students from Hastings, MN.

A collage of past performances.

We walked out of the theater and here was Russ, a fellow employee of 3M for almost the same dates that Al worked there.  He was driving bus at that time and now has 56 years of experience with the bus company.  Think of the coincidence of seeing him.  Just a few minutes more or less and we would have missed him.  Russ was driving the bus taking the students back to Hastings.

Downtown Rapid City, SD

We decided to visit Rapid City's downtown area on Saturday.  The motel provided van service for us and we took advantage of that.  Parking could be a problem so we were glad to forget that.

We came upon a Heart event which included a 10k run.  There were many related booths in this square that is being developed from what we were told was a parking lot.  A group of singer/dancers were performing on this stage.

Part of the activities included food booths.  Here sandwiches furnished without charge from Subway provided our lunch.

This fountain reminded us of Atlanta where we witnessed a similar feature.  Sculptures adorn the park.

We posed alongside a work area where the sculptor works at his craft during the week. So one may watch creativity at work.

Rapid City has really kept their downtown area in good shape.  Here a former fire station is now a brewery and pub.  Along I-90 approaching Rapid City from the east are billboards advertising this business.  What made the signs remarkable were actual out-of-service fire trucks alongside the sign.

On every intersection are four statues of former United States presidents.  Here Harry Truman holds up the Chicago Tribune in 1948 when the newspaper reported prematurely that Thomas Dewey had won the election.  Since Sue and I both read the Tribune in our youth in the Chicago area, we had to take this photo.

The Alex Johnson Hotel shows the good condition of the area.

I thought that the interior lobby of the hotel would be interesting, so I explored it and found out that it was special.  Note the seated gentleman.

 Details of the lobby of the hotel with a Native American theme.

I sat down next to this gentleman and we began to converse.  He is a Native American born in Canada and now lives for the past in the Rapid City area.  He had just traveled from Montana by bus and was waiting for a friend to pick him up.  He said that his family moved to Canada in about 1876 when General Custer was moving about the area and that his family was "tired of running".

Ellsworth AFB and Lakota Drama

We are going on our own because the second tour offered did not interest us.  So our stop was Ellsworth Air Force Base.  Created in 1942 to train B17 bomber crews.  Many crews were sent to Europe to participate in the bombing campaign over Germany.  After the war, it was the base to the B36, perhaps the largest Air Force planes.  As the Cold War progressed, it was a main base for the Strategic Air Command and a base for an extensive missile layout.  The nature of assignments has changed and the personnel head count has decreased from about 25,000 to 3.500 now.

We visited the South Dakota Air Force Museum and took a tour of the base.

A B1B bomber on permanent display.  Makes me look very small.

We toured the museum and as always, more time was required to see it all.

Sue always thinks of her dad, Frank, who served in Korea during that war.

We then went on a tour of the base.

Our guide is a retired Air Force man.  He had knowledge about the areas we could see, mostly confined to this missile training facility.  A B1B bomber passes in the background.

A map of the location of missile silos around the base.  Each number at the end of a yellow path was a silo.

The disarmed missile in its silo.  Tourists are warned that anything dropped into the silo will not be recovered.  It would be interesting to see what has fallen.

The warhead of the missile pointed heavenward.  The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreement in 1979 mandated the closure of all Minuteman 1 missile silos.  According to the narrator, when the US inspectors arrived in Russia, the silos there were filled with water and could not have been used to launch missiles.

This mural greeted trainees.

At our dinner, a group of Lakota Sioux dancers from the Pine Ridge and Red Bud reservations performed a play illustrating the oral history method of the tribe in the past to educate young ones of their traditions.  The man at the drum is Red Cloud, a descent of the Red Cloud who was a leader at the time the Black Hills were settled.

The woman on the right was our narrator and gave a drama.

An flute player.

Bus Tour of the Black Hills

We chose to take the tour offered on this day.

This shipmate allowed me to photograph his shirt in order to illustrate the ship.  It was first commissioned in 1944 during WW2 and then served in the Korean War.  In 1953 it was taken off the lists for a major update which included the enclosed bow, slant deck to facilitate landings and steam catapults to launch airplanes.  I joined the ship for its recommissioning in 1955 and served for one tour to Japan, Hong Kong and the Philippines.  I left the ship for another one in New Orleans in 1957 and the ship went on to serve in the Vietnam war.  It was decommissioned in 1973 and scrapped in 1992.

I think this is dedication to the memory of the ship as this license plate from Missouri shows the initials of the ship and its number.

 We lined up to board our bus for the day.

Sue with our driver who looked the western way.  He indeed was a "cowboy" as we will show later.

First stop was Hill City to board the "1880" narrow gauge train.

A steam engine needs water and they take it on before each trip.  We were headed for Keystone.

Our train moving down the tracks.

This one minute video provides some sentimental sounds of a past era.  A woman's voice is heard selling something. [I will post this when I am at home with a faster internet connection.]

We arrive in Keystone and more water is added.  The jacket around the boiler holds recycled fuel oil so no tender is needed.

The bus met us in Keystone.

Mountain goats very near the bus.

 

Entering a tunnel at the "Eye of the needle"which is eight feet and four inches wide.

A crowd of people at the exit of the tunnel waiting to see if the bus gets stuck.  The driver stopped the bus and turned on his emergency flashers to stir up the crowd.  He actually does this once a day as this is his occupation in the summer.

We arrive at Mt Rushmore to view the lighting ceremony.  It was a bit chilly but we were warned to use "layers".

After a movie commemorating Mt. Rushmore, all active military personnel and all who have ever served were invited to the stage.  In the manner of "Where's Waldo", can you find me in the crowd?

Veterans with the illuminated figures in the background.

We visited this site in 1987 with our daughter Anna.  The area where the visitor's center was has been completely changed with this way of state flags included.