FE: It is 75 blog posts and over 12,000 miles in our trip…and we still are having fun. Mosquitos and moths pay the price, but still, no mammals have been hurt (as far as we know).

Today we visit the this planet’s only remaining Corn Palace, in Mitchell, SD. Its history dates back 1892, and it is the only serving example of over 30 such structures built. Basically, the building is a small sports/entertainment arena with an exterior that is entirely decorated with corn and some grasses. The designs change every year, this year’s theme is “Famous South Dakotans”. USA #722 is Tamakoce Te’Hila, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, is better known as Billy Mills, an Olympic great. “His Indian name means ‘loves his country,’ and it also means ‘respects the earth.’ Mills lived up to his name because after graduating from the University of Kansas, he was commissioned in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1962” (from defense.gov). He won the 10,000 m race in the Tokyo Olympic Games!

Here is what the exterior looks in more detail

and here is an introduction to the how it’s done

We drive through miles and miles of corn fields in SD.

Until we reach Chief Standing Bear Bridge (another sad Native American Story, I am getting depressed telling them) across the Missouri. The bridge was dedicated in 1998, before then folks had to use ferry or their own boats to reach Nebraska on the other side.

RN: As we stand at an overlook, admiring the bridge and surrounding landscape, a car drives up and a friendly man hops out and tells us about the ferry boats but that they can no longer be used because the river has filled up with sand and silt brought in by a tributary. Furthermore, he tells us, the whole landscape has been totally messed up by a dam built downstream simply to create a lake and recreation area for the nearby town. The back-up has created wetlands here and wiped out any land that could have been used for crops and necessitated the building of a bridge far longer than would have been necessary prior to the dam.

It turns out that this man’s name is Dennis and harkens from 3 generations of Dutch who immigrated to this area. We thank him for the information he gave us and he is delighted we are from Massachusetts.

We arrive in Verdigre NE where we will stay the night in a little inn about 3 blocks away from downtown. The innkeeper Leroy kindly lets us plug our car into an outlet in his garage. There are only 538 residents, so there is one restaurant (no alcohol), where we eat, and one bar across the street, where we decide to go to meet some locals. We also admire some local art…

At the bar we meet Dustin and a very nice bartender (whom we forgot to ask for her name). Both fill us in about the town and they have both worked for the local tribal office. Verdigre was settled by Bohemian immigrants and they are proud to be the Kolach Capital of the World. Dustin works for a lumber company and he sells and delivers lumber. He fills us in about the local Amish population, which seems to be quite substantial and actively involved in building homes the “traditional way.” We have a great time and leave our Nishistein cards with Dustin and the bartender…