One day in Sioux Falls

Our day in Sioux Falls started at 8:00 a.m. Central time at Alternative Resources, our mail forwarding service.  The folks there are so helpful! We picked up our mail and actually saw our address "spot."  The Whale would definitely not fit.  We filled out paperwork to register to vote before driving downtown to the Municipal Building where we got our new drivers' licenses.  Three ladies handled a steady stream of customers.  They could give lessons on the right way to run a license bureau.  Then we went down stairs to submit our registrations to vote,  and we voted.  From beginning to end the whole process took less than 1.5 hours.  Just like that.  We are SD residents.  On the way out of the Municipal Building, we were stopped by two folks who were getting petitions signed.  "Are you SD residents?"  I almost said "No, I'm a resident of IN" but caught myself.  They were petitioning to have snow trucks not leave the mound of snow at the end of residents' driveways when they plow.  After years of dealing with those mounds left by snow trucks, I felt it was a cause I could join.

We spent another few hours exploring Sioux Falls.  My first impressions were that it's bigger than expected, and the city seems to be one continuous strip mall.  They claim to have over 400 restaurants.  I wonder if McDonald's counts as a restaurant? We discovered a bread shop, Harvest Breads, where bread is baked hourly I think.  All I can say is mmmmmmmm!

At 2:00 p.m. we headed south and drove from fall color to late summer green the further south we traveled.   Interstate 29 meanders down the west side of Iowa and Missouri until you get to Kansas City.  Because we are headed to Red Bay, Alabama to get the Whale serviced, we are now headed east on Interstate 70 out of Kansas City and will be taking various smaller state roads to get to Red Bay.  There's no direct way to get there (very small town) which means we will be seeing the countryside.

Our stop last night was in St. Joseph, Missouri - Wal-Mart parking lot at Exit 50.  Even though we have made several trips before in our motor homes, it's different when you know this is your place of residence, and establishing "ease of use" procedures is more important for the health of the marriage.  For example, when the slides (pop-outs / cheeks) are all in, there are a couple of "no passing zones" down the center aisle.  If you are headed in opposite directions, one person must back up.  We've also discovered when we pull into a parking lot for the night, RV etiquette is you only open slides on the curb side.  No blocking traffic flow.  We always park with  the driver's side against the curb as those slides give us more room to move around.  Thus, eliminating the "no passing zones."  We continue to figure things out as we go.