Day One Dairyland and 10,000 Lakes

Early-ish rise to finish packing the stuff we forgot to do last night. I feel sick, something about the enormous plate of tortilla chips I ate last night at Azteca does not seem to like me this morning. I manage to gather my things together but it falls to Krista to do the bulk of the packing.

First stop is for brunch at the Pine Comb Cone restaurant somewhere on the outskirts of Madison.

It was busy so we had to sit in the smoking area. Then back on the road. Eventually we reach the western edge of our home state, then cross into Minnesota. Wisconsin is mostly a boring drive, it is pretty much as flat as a pancake. The western edge though gets a little prettier as we cross the Mississippi river, it actually seems to take about 10 bridges to cross the river and then we are in our second state.

Minnesota starts off very pretty indeed, the Interstate Highway follows the river for the first few miles, it's kind of up and down, nice.
Then it turns back into regular old Midwest. Another 250 miles across Minnesota and we finally reach our destination state for the night, South Dakota. We are staying in Sioux Falls, it seems to be a small city. Our hotel is right next to the highway, it's cheap but the no-smoking room has a stale cigarette smell and the free wireless internet doesn't work in our room.

We get checked in and then head into town for something to eat, it's getting to be early evening. Sioux Falls is a strange place, there are many, many buildings that say “casino” on the outside in fancy neon. To me the all look like little hole-in-the-wall bars. My favourite though has to be the “Kings Casino and Skateboard Headquarters”, WTF??? Dinner is at a steakhouse, I had an ordinary Prime Rib and a pretty good local beer, Krista had quite a good filet mignon.

After diner it's back to the hotel, book somewhere to stay for the next night, watch a little TV, read and then bed.

Just over 500 miles today!