Rapid City

Abraham Kuyper, Dutch Prime Minister from 1901-1905, and theologian, once said when he visited the United States, that Europe was defined more by time and America by space, by which he meant that Europe was older with a deeper and richer history, but America was literally a huge wide open space. 

Yesterday, I make it to Rapid City, 766 miles in one day. That's roughly the distance from Amsterdam to Rome ( 810 miles to be exact ). By comparison, Amsterdam to Paris is 253 miles, Paris to Berlin is 527 miles, Madrid to Paris, 654 miles. Basically, in one day, you can drive from anywhere to anywhere in Europe.

The BMW K1200GT was designed for the German autobahn, so when I get to US Route 90 west of Albert Lea, Minnesota, and I encounter large traffic free stretches of road, I open it up. I have brand new Michelin Pilot Road 3s 'W' rated for 168+ mph.

The bike is stable as a train on rails as I work to keep it under 110. It wants to go. At 110mph, the engine is just getting into the base of the power curve at just over 6000 RPM and it feels like an after burner is kicking in. Peak horse power is around 9800 RPM and red lines at 10,500. The manual says not to exceed this speed with saddle bags, so I back off not wanting to discover the reason for the limit. At this speed, large bugs hit my visor with a loud crack and bugs hurt when they hit my bare hands prompting me to put my gloves back on.

The terrain was flattened by the Wisconsin glacier that receded 18,000 years ago, so there is not much to look at. I humor myself by reading wacky bill boards telling me that "Hell is Real!" or that Obama is bringing on 'Obamageddon!" This is what makes America great I think to myself...free to be stupid and display your ignorance to everyone. We even have talk-shows and reality shows for that.  I wondered if the authors of the bill boards ever read Richard Hofstadter's Pulitzer Prize winning book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. Probably not.

The early settlers found the Midwest from Illinois to the Rockies covered in six feet high grass. The prairie they called it which is French for meadow. I find instead corn...miles and miles of corn. The gentlemen manning the Minnesota Welcome Center asked if I had time to sight see in Minnesota. "Not much", I replied. He said I should stop and see the 55-foot tall Green Giant in Blue Earth. "A must for every photo album."

It's about half the size of the Statue of Liberty which is 111 feet from heel to the top of her head. The Statue of Liberty is also roughly the same height as Nero's Colossus.

Blue Earth was where the last segment of Rt. 90 was completed connecting Boston to Seattle in 1978. This apparently was completed as part of the celebration and was erected in its current location here at the Green Giant Headquarters in 1979. Minnesota was the agricultural capital of the world for a while and many of the big names have their headquarters in Minnesota.

But I'm not much of a flat lander and I feel a sense of relief when I see the Bad Lands and Black Hills of South Dakota come into view as I approach Rapid City. I resisted stopping at Wall Drug as I pass Wall, SD, at tourist stop much like South of the Border along Rt. 95. The signage approaching it is also much the same.


Well, here I am and I plan on seeing Mt. Rushmore today and tour some scenic by-ways in the Black Hills.