The End of the Line

Since posting last, I've travelled another 1,300 miles. From Michigan, I set off to Minneapolis, Minnesota. If I had to define a "boring" day, this was probably it. The lack of identity and seeming nothingness of Illinois was offset by the rush of entering the suburbs of Chicago and then the city proper. However, after leaving the windy city, the rest of Illinois was similarly barren and uninteresting. Give me open plains or rolling hills like South Dakota or Pennsylvania, but when all I see are unidentifiable neighborhoods and towns, I get really bored. Even though Lansing to Minneapolis was a shorter drive than Cheshire to Lansing (by about 3 hours), I was much skittier and restless. It wasn't my favorite day :-(

Minneapolis was a great city, I'm so sad I only had a day to explore it. Fortunately, I had a great host in Katrin and list of attractions to follow, and I made the most of my day exploring the various campuses of U of M at St. Paul and the West Bank along with other attractions, such as the Guthrie Theater and the Mississippi River!

Downtown Minneapolis.

 My awesomesauce sleeping teepee, complete with Chandalier, dinosuar themed blankets, and octopus pillow.

The world famous Guthrie Theater, whereI talked shop with some students, bought some discount scripts, and learned former URI'er Matt Rodgers is working as a student!

After wandering downtown for a bit, I ended up at Club Jager, a recommendation, where I met up with Katrin's sister Alex and her friends. We proceeded to dance the night away to 80's pop. I had a friggin blast!

Leaving Minnesota, I travelled briefly through Iowa into South Dakota. What started off as a lame long day drive (ala Day 2) quickly became an awesome experience. I was literally talking on the phone when my life changed as I came over a hill top and saw the start of the Black Mountain Hills of Dakota. From that point on, I was transfixed by the imagery of SD which I can say was unlike any state I'd seen before.

Only one of a dozen shots I took of beautiful South Dakota.

An 80 ft. apatosaurus guards the entrance to Wall Drug.

Along the highway as well were hundreds of billboards for various attractions, including the infamous Wall Drug, whose atypical billboard advertisements had me mesmerized for over 300 miles. The rest stops were fun, the rolling hills were beautiful, and the rainstorm was enjoyable thanks to the wide open views and a little Jack Johnson to keep me smiling. The Badlands were beautiful, vaguely reminiscent of my trip to the Grand Canyon, but much more barren and isolated. They were a sight to see.

Bruce of the Badlands

South Dakota was a poetic journey that culminated with a prolonged drive to Mt. Rushmore. I got to visit Mt. Rush by myself, with no around me, and so I got to bask in the glory of one our great national monuments by myself.

Me tapdancing alone in front of Rushmore. In a Good Shirt, no less!

There IS room for a 5th dramatic face up there...

I then detoured down to Fort Collins to visit some friends there, and have spent the last day 1/2 here. It is Saturday morning, Mountain Time, 9:49am, and in a few short hours I will take my final extended drive (about 5 hours) north, to Boulder, Wyoming, where the real adventure begins. I'm not sure when my next post will be, as I may not have internet for awhile, but thanks for following along thus far.