Landmark Journey 2015: June 18 Pella Iowa & South Dakota

We had the longest day from Holland Michigan to Pella Iowa, going through 4 states and just under 800 KM's. This is the most trucks we've seen on the road so far, one can see this is a major route from East to West. We also hit another torrential downpour just outside Chicago; apparently this area has been hit with tons of water. The roads in Iowa are very good for the most part, but it seems every State is doing road work.
I was just bagged when we got in to a most wonderful State park 10 minutes from Pella; its worked by the Army's Engineering Corps; veterans are given jobs, and they do a real nice job, we were most impressed. They gave us a real nice handicap spot which was all paved; the first paved site on the trip!
Most days we would get in early enough to explore the local town but not this time. It was time to BBQ the tenderloins we had picked up at the Coscto on route. And it was just simply yummy!
An early bedtime (we had gained an hour heading West) but the problem with that is my body says wake up after 8 hours, which I did at 6AM. It was too early for breaky so I hit the shower. After coffee and breakfast we headed into Pella. The pictures and captions will highlight most of what we did. We really enjoyed this Dutch town which was formed by about 200 immigrants who came here in 4 ships in 1864.
This would be the first time we would leave a town this late in the day. After finishing checking out Pella, we started for South Dakota at 1:30. Caroline went on her ipad while we drove to figure out where we would finish today; amazing technology we have that we can do this on the road! We chose a KOA as it had all the hookups (the State park in Pella only had electrical and we were running out of fresh water) we wanted and the reviews indicated excellent wifi (which it is). We were also reminded today of the dangers of the road; as we headed up I29 towards Sioux City, many red lights ahead brought us to a speed of about 30 MPH; we passed what appeared to be a pickup pulling what I first thought were two trailers back to back (in a number of states this is permissible) but realized the whole trailer part had been crumpled off its frame and was intertwined between the truck and frame, it was a real mess. Caroline thought she had seen two bodies laying in the grass but I said if they were dead they would probably had tarps over them (which they did not), so we don't don't if anybody was hurt or not. But it is a grim reminder that accident can happen. The other noticeable thing the last two drives were the number of deer killed on the side of the road, I counted 5! I haven't seen one yet walking along the side of the road so im guessing these kills are happening at night. I do keep my right hand ready most times to hit the trailer brake lever on my dash if I need to react to anything; stopping 10 tons quickly can be tricky; I have stopped from 60MPH quickly once for a stoplight, not nice!
So we made it through tornado alley with good weather.
A really good day, we're heading to Mt Rushmore area tomorrow and spending the weekend.

first look at the Mississippi

more construction :(

one of the nicest spots on our trip

the BBQ KING!!

the final result; yummy!!

the campsite was right beside a dam and river

the tallest working windmill in the USA; yup seems every State has something biggest, longest, best :)

some notes on the mill

a very nice recreate of Holland

Yes, Pella windows started right here; its privately owned by a local family

AWWWWWW :)

lots of Dutch business

and more

Mr Timmer was our private tour guide in the Dutch historical village and Windmill. This replica of Madurodam is apparently more well done than the one done in Holland according to Dutch historians