Day Three

After morning briefing, we decided that nothing was going to happen in our ‘doable’ zone.  The best chance of action would be Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the landscape starts to get too forest-y for good chasing.  As such, we left Aberdeen and headed east for I29, where we’re stopping along the way at one or two parks (a geology day).  Our eventual destination is Council Bluffs, IA, just east of  Omaha.  We’re hoping to be in a good position for Day Four potential activity.

Heading south on I29 one of the kids got very excited after spotting his first tumbleweed.

After visiting Palisades State Park and seeing pre-Cambrian (1.5B+ year-old) pink quartzite (see pictures below), we traveled through the bustling metropolis of Booge to detour briefly into Minnesota, but the rural roads we entered had no welcome sign (kids were bummed).  A quick trip south on MN23 hooked us back up onto I90 and back into South Dakota.  There was a beautiful MN sign on the other side of the highway (firmly and ironically planted in South Dakota soil), but no one could snap it quickly.  Onward to I29 and Council Bluffs…

Very sad sights driving through Sioux City…much too much water, many, many sandbags.

One more state crossing: Iowa!

Not sure how far we drove today, felt like forever though.  Many thanks to the good Dr. Autin for the single-malt prescription!