After breakfast we bid our farewells to Jim and hit the road. It was going to be a scorcher today. We didn't ride too far before riding in to Mitchell, South Dakota, to see the famous Corn Palace. It's a large community building but what sets it apart is the fact that the outside of the building is decorated with different colored corn cob murals. We'd ridden past hundreds of miles of corn crops so felt it the right thing to go and see this.
It is free to go in the building and explore the displays about the buildings history and see the variety of corns that are grown. Paul even got to mill his own corn flour. It's actually quite impressive to see.
Time to push on. It was getting hot outside. We didn't want to get too comfortable as it makes it harder to get going again. We crossed the mighty Missouri River which was the trigger for the landscape to change from flat, cropping country to treeless plains of grass. Crops gave way to hay baling. The temperatures soured to 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees C). I tipped some water on Paul's shirt but it too was boiling hot! Riding along a slight breeze made the temperature bearable but in the end the heat won out.
We did wonder if we were the stupid ones as everyone else riding bikes had no helmet, no jacket, occasionally no shirt, no gloves and they looked ever so cool flying past us. Yes, have to admit we were the slowest vehicle on the highways even though we were setting a fairly decent pace.
We pulled in to Murdoo, two sweat-balls in bike jackets! We got a cold ice-cream immediately and once we regained our composure discovered the GTO Diner across the road, right next to the Pioneer Auto Show. We lunched there, it was good too.
We didn't fancy getting out on the road for a while so decided to check out the Auto Museum. It was advertised has having Elvis' motorcycle on display, a Harley 1200. It was one of the better museums we've seen and complementing the old cars and bikes were the historical one-room buildings brought in from the local township when they were due for demolition or upgrade. It all set the scene of an early 1900's village resplendent with the associated paraphernalia that went with each shop or department.
A wooden car that actually goes...
And other interesting things...
The bike section was disappointing but there were plenty of other displays to make up for it.
This next vehicle took my fancy. Possibly the first motor home to traverse the globe.
There was so much more on display, sheds and sheds and sheds full of old cars. We were so hot by this stage we weren't taking it all in. But the clock was ticking by and we have to keep moving. We'd enjoyed the break but it was time to get back on the road.
Further up the highway we decided to stay at a place called Kadoka. It was now 5.45pm, it was hot and the Motel had a tree out the front which we could park Ellie under. There was no question about not staying. We booked in and unpacked. It must be mentioned that Ellie handled the extreme heat remarkably well.
We got to watch the sun set and we got some take away at the only place to chose from - Subway. No complaints, we were settled up for the evening, we had shade, and we weren't going to starve. In fact, it was rather nice eating outside on the only patch of green grass within a hundred miles.
It's certainly big sky country out here.
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