From Chamberlain, SD, we continued our trek East into Minnesota. We made a small detour south into Iowa, strictly so we could say we'd been to the state (and put the state sticker on our travel map.) There really are miles and miles of corn fields in Iowa. We also found it very interesting to see live bait (worms) vending machines at the gas station - cool.
The southern part of Minnesota looked very similar to South Dakota - open farmland full of old homesteads and silos. We even spotted a few Amish buggies on the move. As we neared the Mississippi River basin, the terrain quickly changed to rocks and rolling hillsides covered in trees. Some colorful fall foliage was starting to peek through along the roads as well.
Just after sunset, we crossed into Wisconsin and stopped at Pettibone RV Resort right on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, the apple capitol of Wisconsin. Even though the sun had set, we loved the feel and setting of the campground right along the water. The kids spotted an ember in the fire pit and quickly gathered leaves and sticks to ignite us a popping fire to sit around. We enjoyed unwinding from two long travel days around the glow of the flames.
Monday morning was officially a school day, so after taking a walk to check out more of the river and campground, we all sat down to tackle some school work before taking off to our final destination.
It's almost like Mark Twain is narrating your adventures. Very enjoyable.