Tuesday, September 05, 2006

On the Road Again...





After the Willow Creek Dress project in Wyoming was done, I began traveling again, roadtripping in my van through South Dakota to Minnesota. I passed Sturgis during their biker fest, so I saw my share of bikers, passing and waving to me on the road with signs like "Sturgis for Bust" strapped to the back of their hogs. On the way I stopped at the famous "Wall Drug" in Wall, SD, a drug store from the 1930's which has taken over the Main Street of the small town and become a kind of surreal theme park. It had a t-rex that roars every 15 minutes, a 5-banjo-playing machine, a "creek" where kids can pan for gold, a pharmacy museum, a tiny chapel, walls of historic photos, a soda fountain, shops with western wear and fossils, and loads of other random weirdness. But my main destination was the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD, which is a 114-year-old building covered with murals made of 200,000 ears of corn. There has been a terrible drought in the Dakotas and Nebraska, so this year the towers were not covered, and I met people who were comparing the weather there to the dustbowl of the 1930's.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think it's great to see another female travel across the US in the name of art. I,too, traveled into Sturgis, Wall and Mitchell, SD on my trek from Seattle to Harrisburg, PA. I see you took note of the Corn Palace murals. I am very interested in murals as well. If you see anymore, please post them!!
heatherrine02@hotmail.com