{"id":600,"date":"2015-05-24T01:18:10","date_gmt":"2015-05-24T01:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=600"},"modified":"2015-05-24T01:18:10","modified_gmt":"2015-05-24T01:18:10","slug":"homeward-bound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=600","title":{"rendered":"Homeward Bound"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Day 16 &amp; Day 17 (combo)<\/strong>-The journey is coming to an end. We spent the night in Mitchell, SD on Day 16, home of the famous Corn Palace. So, before hitting the road, we shot into town to see this interesting building. Mitchell lays claim to having the World\u2019s only Corn Palace. The entire outside (fa\u00e7ade) is decorated with murals and art made of corn cobs. It\u2019s been standing in the same place since 1892! Although it was getting a facelift when we there (birds are constantly munching the delicious corn on the cob artwork), we took 4 \u00bd minutes to snap a few photos.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CornPal2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-606\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CornPal2-208x300.jpg\" alt=\"CornPal2\" width=\"208\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CornPal3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-604\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CornPal3-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"CornPal3\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CornPal1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-605 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/CornPal1-300x132.jpg\" alt=\"CornPal1\" width=\"300\" height=\"132\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>These last days will be long driving days as we propel ourselves toward Pennsylvania. As we progressed across South Dakota and Iowa, we caught sight of some interesting sights, like a \u201copen gallery\u201d of large, unusual art standing in the middle of a farm field. We stopped asking \u201cwhy\u201d people display odd objects on their properties, several states ago. They just do.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/FieldArt.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"  wp-image-603 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/FieldArt-300x112.jpg\" alt=\"FieldArt\" width=\"319\" height=\"119\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>We chose to settle in for the evening in historic LeClaire, Iowa (just outside Davenport), along the Mighty Mississippi. It was a really cool, little, river town and we had a delicious dinner at the <em>Crane &amp; Pelican Caf\u00e9<\/em>, a restored brick Italianate-style house built in 1851 by a riverboat captain. The food and view of the river was very relaxing after a long day in Big Blue. As we were leaving, Theresa discovered that we were right around the block from the <em>Antique Archaeology<\/em> shop, from the <em>History Channel\u2019s American Pickers<\/em>, starring Mike Wolfe. Although the shop was closed, I peaked in to see what objects they were working on, including an old bumper car from an amusement park ride. Pretty neat stuff!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/AmPick1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-602\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/AmPick1-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"AmPick1\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/AmPick2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-601\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/AmPick2-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"AmPick2\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I woke up early this morning on our last day to watch the sun rise over the Mississippi River. As it got a bit lighter, I sat along the big waterway, drinking my coffee and watching some small fishing boats heading out to try their luck. Several White Pelicans cruised up and down the river and one landed just a few yards from my riverbank resting spot and posed for a quick photo. As the mayflies hatched from the water and flew skyward, I took a few minutes to reflect on what Theresa, Darby and I just did for the past 16 days. It\u2019s been a vacation to remember, and I\u2019ll try to summarize our trip back home in PA, after \u201cdigesting\u201d all of our experiences.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MissSunrise.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-610 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/MissSunrise-300x199.jpg\" alt=\"MissSunrise\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/WP1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-609\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/WP1-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"WP1\" width=\"300\" height=\"255\" \/><\/a>\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/WP2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-608\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/WP2-300x256.jpg\" alt=\"WP2\" width=\"300\" height=\"256\" \/><\/a>For Theresa and I it\u2019s been another wonderful adventure together, and especially appreciate the chance to share it with Darby. She was a real trooper with all our plans and was willing to try things she might not have tried if mom and dad were not leading the agenda! She was more patient than I could have ever been with the long days in the back seat of Big Blue and most of all, my sometimes scary, driving! Whether it was driving too close to a mountain drop-off, suddenly screeching to check out yet another bird, backing up \u00bd mile to see if those two Coyotes would get together, or hanging on for dear life as I accidently jumped over the raised curb (lane separator) at Mount Rushmore. You did great Darb, and we love you for joining us!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/20150519_153314.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\" size-medium wp-image-611 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/20150519_153314-262x300.jpg\" alt=\"20150519_153314\" width=\"262\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.til our next adventure begins, Thanks for following my Big West Blog!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Day 16 &amp; Day 17 (combo)-The journey is coming to an end. We spent the night in Mitchell, SD on Day 16, home of the famous Corn Palace. So, before hitting the road, we shot into town to see this interesting building. Mitchell lays claim to having the World\u2019s only Corn Palace. The entire outside &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/?p=600\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Homeward Bound<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=600"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":612,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600\/revisions\/612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodyoutdoors.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}