SIOUX FALLS, SD.  Last night we had a hard rain which brought cooler temperatures today (60s) along with strong wind turbulence on the highway.  This is the first time on this trip that I have had to deal with side winds.  Thus, I drove no faster than 60 mph, constantly steering against the wind.  And when we entered South Dakota, the speed limit on I-90 was 80 mph, which is common out west, but it really made me look like a snail.  The traffic was not heavy, so it was not a bad drive, just slow. 

We are camped for the night in the middle of a city, so no nature trails, no pool, etc.  Pretty Spartan RV park, but pricy none the less. 

Tower Campground

CHARLES CITY, IA.  Traffic was rather light on I-74 and I-80 today.  We traveled past very large farms with hundreds of acres of corn and beans.  We finished up today's trip on US 218, a quiet divided highway along more farms.  We stopped for diesel fuel at a Love's truck stop, and all the large trucks were hauling John Deere harvesting equipment and very large dump trucks.  It all appeared to be brand new, so there is likely a factory around here.  The degree to which farming dominates this area is evident everywhere you look.

The RV park we are staying at is a member of the Good Sam network with a high rating, but we were shocked when we saw it.  The entrance is dominated by a large liquor store.  The roads are very uneven loose gravel.  And there is no office to check in, only a laundry.  The host, who lives in a small trailer behind the laundry, was a pleasant and helpful lady, so we found our way to a long pull-thru site, though on unlevel loose gravel.  We share water with the RV next to us via a Y adapter, since there is only one faucet between us.  We managed to get set up well enough, so we got out the grill and had steaks along with some of the local corn on the cob.  I actually have tasted North Florida corn as good or better. 

Tomorrow we leave for a trip through the remainder of Iowa, then southern Minnesota and South Dakota. 

At This Angle, It Seems Like a Beautiful Site

Step Back a Bit and You See the Wider Context

EAST GALESBURG, IL.  We are at East Galesburg RV Park, west of Peoria.  The area is surrounded by farms growing corn and soy beans.  This RV park has a corn field on one side and a forest of tall trees with a nature walking trail on an adjacent side.  The nature trail loop is about a mile long but has several outer loops through the deep forest.  I have never seen a nature trail like this, with thick grass growing under thick trees.  In Florida, the grass would not grow without good light.

Notice the corn field to the right

Nature Trail Through the Woods

Betty Watching a Woodpecker in the Tree Above

Betty Along Nature Trail

Steven on Nature Trail

PROPHETSTOWN STATE PARK, IN.  This has got to be one of the very best state parks in the country.  It takes a while to get here, driving long winding roads through the woods, but unlike other similar experiences with state parks elsewhere, this is well worth it.  Well designed and maintained, this park has great places to walk, bike, and swim for all ages.  Very spacious.  No sense of crowding.  The RV sites are large, and the sites are marked with boulders that have the site numbers carved into them.  You will not find this in most state parks.  The large trees, the sounds of song birds, the odor of pine and other trees ...  A very nice back-to-nature experience.

The park is named for the brother of  Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnees in this area in 1808.  The area became famous for the battle of Tippecanoe in 1811 when William Henry Harrison was governor of the Indiana Territory.  When he ran for president in 1840, along with Virginian John Tyler, their campaign slogan was "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too."   Harrison won, becoming the 9th president and the first member of the Whig party to win a national election.

Large Pull-thru Site 100 at Prophetstown State Park, IN

Boulder Site Marker 100 for Our Site

CREATION MUSEUM.  This morning we attempted to attend a PCA Presbyterian church in downtown Lexington.  Our GPS led us to its address in an old church building that has been converted into a dance studio.  We thought it interesting that a stately old red brick building with white pillars out front might be returning to its original use as a church.  We were running late in the rain (again, more rain) and arrived after the service had started only to find the doors locked.  We even tried around back where the cars were parked.  No reply to our knocks.  I called the phone number on the sign out front and got the pastor's phone mail.  (He returned our call later this afternoon, perplexed that we were locked out.)  Needless to say, we got back into our car and drove back to the motorhome, a half hour's drive each way.  We ate, changed our clothes, and headed north for an hour's drive to the Creation Museum outside Cincinnati.

The museum is the production of the same organization that built the Ark Encounter.  The attention to detail was the same, both outside the museum where horticultural specimens were tastefully displayed everywhere, and inside the museum where multimedia exhibits seemed to have no end.  As with the Ark, the museum had numerous animated human and animal figures going through the motions of life.  The humans spoke, quoting the Old Testament in Hebrew.  There is much overlap with the Ark Encounter, since both move beyond Genesis through the remainder of the Bible.  The fulfilling of the Old with the New Testament is emphasized, with description of Jesus as the culmination of Biblical history as Savior and Second Adam (they say "Last Adam").  Much evangelistic explanation is provided in several exhibits.

Again a heavy emphasis is placed on their position that dinosaurs lived alongside humans before and after the flood.  They teach that dinosaurs were taken onto the ark and thus survived the flood.  Dinosaur exhibits are everywhere, inside and outside the building.  They even detail all the insects that were taken onto the ark, with glass enclosed exhibits of every conceivable insect on display.  I was a bit out of my element, since not only geology but also entomology are of little interest to me.  And I was never a great fan of dinosaurs, but the kids were fascinated.  (Betty wants you to know that she IS a fan of geology).

The attention to detail is amazing.  The detailed inventory of what went onto the ark to account for all living species was emphasized everywhere.  Again, much "artistic license" was used.  Again, many philosophical questions were addressed in the context of created innocence and peace followed by the tragedy of illness, violence, death, etc. after the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden.  These themes were carried into the present day, with the Bible presented as giving answers to these questions.  The theory of evolution is portrayed as removing belief in the Creator as the giver of life, meaning, and purpose, since man was created in His image.  Instead of looking at creation and seeing the handiwork of God, people today see only the result of a meaningless accident that occurred over millions of years.  If we are only just another animal, with no laws of right and wrong behavior given by the Creator, then we can behave like just another animal, with dire consequences.

The Burning Tree Mastodon Skeleton at Entrance

More Examples of Emphasis on Dinosaurs at Museum

Continuing the Dinosaur Theme

Emphasis on Teaching Children About Creation

  

Example of Detailed Focus on Inventory of All Creatures

ARK ENCOUNTER, Williamstown, KY.  We drove over to the Ark Encounter, 30 miles north of Georgetown.   It is a large operation, with a clear emphasis on crowd control.  Sort of Disney World for Evangelical Christians.

There was rain on and off all afternoon, and the crowds were heavy.  It would have been much better to come in the fall after the kids are back in school.  All the rain seemed appropriate around that ark.

One lines up to be loaded onto a bus, then is transported down a road through the woods to the ark facility.  There follows a great deal of walking, from the bus stop to the ark facility, then to the various exhibits (including a petting zoo), then up many ramps to the various levels inside the ark, then back out of the ark, then out to one of the eateries (one of which is a sort of Golden Corral), then back to the bus stop, then after the bus ride back to the original bus station a walk back to the parking lot to get your car to return home.  Good exercise and pretty tiring.

The actual ark is huge.  Once inside, one is amazed at its size, accommodating large crowds of people migrating up large ramps to several levels.  More upper levels are still in progress.  The detail of workmanship in all exhibits is of very high quality.  There are many cages where animals were kept for 40 days and nights.  Animal sounds are broadcast from the cages to simulate the noise that would have come from so many different animals.  Glad I was not on that trip.  Bags of grain and animal feed were displayed neatly stacked in large sections on the lower levels.  They even showed various dinosaurs in cages to account for them.

On the upper level were several apartments for Noah and his wife and his sons and their wives.  Work shops for tending to the mechanical needs of the ship were also provided.  A bit of "artistic license" was taken to show a ship well stocked and maintained.

There is a clear emphasis on evangelism throughout.  There are exhibits explaining the flood's impact on geological phenomena, even an exhibit explaining the forming of the Grand Canyon.  One large section was devoted to cartoon figures in conversation about philosophical issues that unbelievers historically have lodged against belief in God, things like "if there is a God of love, why is there so much suffering in the world."  It was actually handled quite tastefully.  That they sought to undertake so wide a breadth of focus in this already huge and complicated operation is a surprise.

A good deal of "artistic license" is taken in filling in gaps for details of the design and animal inventory of the ark.  The Biblical account does not give that much detail.  Some things were questionable, like Noah's prayer in what sounds like Hebrew when it is not likely he spoke that language.  They wanted details so much that they stretched things a good bit.

As for the huge size of the ark, it actually does follow the dimensions stated in the Bible.  One does not comprehend how large that is until walking around it, walking through it, and seeing all the bays and stalls inside, all of which are quite large.  How Noah and his sons managed it is a mystery.  The Bible says Noah was 500 years old at the beginning of the account and that he was 600 when the flood waters came.  That leaves 100 years to build the ark.  And that was in his spare time.  I hope I am that hardy in the unlikely event that I live to be that old.

The Bow of the Ark

Stern of Ark

Crowds Entering Ark on Ramps

More Ramps Inside Lead to Various Levels

Model of Ark Showing Levels

Animals in Pens

Small Animal Pens and Feed Bins

More Animal Pens

Bags of Animal Feed

Provisions for Noah's Family

Noah's Living Quarters

Noah Releases Dove

GEORGETOWN, KY.  Arrived in late afternoon just as (you guessed it)  a thunderstorm turned loose lots of rain.  Once again had to disconnect the Jeep from the motorhome in a downpour.  Otherwise we have a site in a very pretty setting behind the motorhome (see photo below).  Tomorrow we shall visit the Ark Encounter and on Sunday afternoon the Creation Museum.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

Today the traffic was far less hilly but still encountered an hour of construction bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-75.  Once we got to the end of it, all semblance of construction work was absent.  All obstructions had been removed and traffic was moving smoothly as if nothing had ever impeded traffic.  Very odd.

Just as we had seen in Greenville, SC, on I-75 in Kentucky we saw kudzu vines overwhelming whole forests of trees along the road.  Looked like something out of Tolkein's Middle Earth.

View Behind Motorhome Site

Not As Pretty Viewed from Front of Site