Dakotas Trip, Days Five and Six, 9-12/9-13-2019

Best laid plans, etc. Our plan for Day Five was to go east to The Corn Palace and then south to Abilene and Topeka, Kansas. The Corn Palace is in Mitchell, SD. During the night, seven inches of rain fell and flooded the area. For photos, click HERE.

We tried to find a way around the closed Highway 90. We backtracked (west) 22 miles and turned south, only to find that highway blocked. We finally retraced the 22 miles and went as far east as possible until we reached the detour which took us north, then east, then south. We were getting nowhere fast. We missed the Corn Palace, obviously, but you can see photos HERE. Most of southeast South Dakota had flooded areas, so we headed home. 

We reached Al's Oasis at lunchtime. Our plan was to be here by 9:00 a.m. As you know, we honor our departed relatives by eating certain foods on their birthdays. We needed to eat a cheeseburger on September 12 for our cousin's birthday, so we had a buffalo burger at Al's.

We spent the balance of the day just driving, and decided to check out the casino we saw on a sign for Sloan, Iowa. It was three miles off the road, so we'd only waste six miles if it was just a little joint. We lucked out.

It's called WinnaVegas and owned by the Winnebago tribe. We had nice rooms, $15 each for dinner, $25 each free play, and $5 for breakfast, and the cost was $99 each with no tax. Bill even got an extra $10 free play because he has a smart phone to click on something or the other.

We didn't use our breakfast vouchers because the buffet wasn't open until 8:00 and we were on the road by 7:30. I wanted to get home in time to pick up Stormy and Pepper at the vet's by 5:30.

Breakfast was at Penny's Diner in Missouri Valley, Iowa, and it was a fun stop.

We grabbed a sandwich at a drive-through about 3:00 and I got my babies by 4:30. They were so happy to be home. Stormy wouldn't leave my side all evening. I let them sleep on my bed that night, and by the next day, all was well - I could sleep alone.

Though we ran into some bumps in the road (figuratively and literally) it was a great trip, and with a sigh of relief, I can say, "I did it. I finally got to North Dakota."