Tuesday - July 27, 1982 - 7:26 am C.D.T.
7:26 am C.D.T. - We got out a little late today. Going to IHOP for breakfast. We rearranged the items in some of the suitcases. Tonight we probably won't find anything! The boys had chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, but they were terrible. Seems their refrigerator was giving them trouble, so the waitress didn't charge us anything for their breakfast. It's raining today but we drove out of the downpour.
12:45 pm C.D.T. - Stopped at a truck stop for Lunch - mile 180 - Rte 90 Minn. Crossed the Mississippi about 11 am & mailed letters to Dad & Matthew's friend, Steven.This is another Tedious day of driving.
3:15 pm C.D.T. - Stopped at the Des Moines River Rest Area - Elevation 1436. Great view. Milton took some pictures.
4:48 pm C.D.T. - Arriving at Pipestone. Hurray! Our first sightseeing stop that's not a restaraunt or bathroom! Pipestone was interesting. We walked the mile trail in 45 minutes, took some pictures and let the mosquitos dine on our bodies. (From here on out I will be adding pictures of each sightseeing stop with captions about what I remember about the pictures. These will not be from the journal, but from memory and will be italicized. Hopefully, I will be reasonably accurate. If you know something about the place, feel free to contact me and correct me on factual information.)
At Pipestone, there is a place were Native American men would have to pass a test of manhood which Matthew is "demonstrating". The two rock faces shown here have a 100 ft drop below them. The rock on the right is a small platform were the elders of the tribe would place an arrow. The young men would have to leap across, retrieve the arrow, and leap back. Not a hard leap for a well conditioned young man, but you'd never catch me trying it.
This waterfall is a very picturesque place, but I was really tired in that shot. We got to the bottom of the falls and Dad said, "Hey, Milt. Run back up to the top and I'll take a picture of you." being the dutiful son, I ran back up to the top. I doubt I could do it today.
And kids today think they invented graphetie. This rock shows it's been around for at least 100 years. Check the dates!
Matthew is standing in one of the quarries at Pipestone. Here I should explain that this was were all of the tribes would come to mine the materials used for making peace pipes (see image below for some of increadible examples of their work). An interesting tidbit that I picked up from here was how holy this place was. Even if two tribes were at war with each other, they would NOT fight while they were here. Could you imagine any nations today having such a place?
8:05 pm C.D.T. - Arrived in Mitchell, S.D. Went to a Bonanza for dinner, they had a great salad bar. After dinner, Larry went to K-Mart to see if he could get a can of oil. Checked into the motel and Matthew went for a swim.