Dakota Days - Weathering the storm!

Day Fourteen.  Sunday 1 August 2004

"A day off today - the first lie-in since we reached America!  So I got up at 11 o'clock, it was so good to rest and catch up with some sleep.

Today was punishingly hot.  I spent the day in Mitchell town, escaping everyone else after lunch at the Dairy Queen to spend a couple of hours alone.  I went to the Corn Palace gift shop and bought some things, then went into the Corn Palace itself.  The interior is decorated with corn, just like the outside, and there's a definite aroma of popcorn.  Half of the space has stadium seats, and I think the local university uses it as a venue for basketball.  There was another Corn Palace shop in there too, so I bought some postcards.

After that, I went for a wander.  I found an interesting church and the cinema (not much worth watching though)...  I had a map of the town with me, although it's hard to get too lost on a grid-street system, so I wandered a different way back to the motel.  At one point, the road went under a railway.  A train with three engines was resting on the rail - it was great, really long!  On the way back to the motel, the sun was so hot and I probably sweated more than ever before (I passed some crazy guy going the other way who was out for a run!)  Anyway, it was great to finally get out in a strange town with just myself and a map!"

Day Sixteen.  Tuesday 3 August 2004

"We had a big storm whilst working today.  It was scary but also amazing.  I wrote about it onsite:

10.05am - in the Archeodome

The severe thunderstorm hit.  It was eerie.

The sirens sounded when Angie, Lins and I were outside sieving.  They were terrifying by nature.  At first I thought it was a car starting up.  Then a second siren sounded - people here have likened it to a nuclear holocaust siren like in the movies.  We rushed in with the wheelbarrows.  It was about two minutes after the sirens that the storm him.  People didn't know what to do, and fascination drew people to the windows.  As the storm approached during these two minutes, I got two photos of the sky.  

In the lab now.  Angie, Tris, Heather, Dan, Lins, Vicky, Alan and me.  The storm is slightly easing, but the thunder claps are getting louder.  And the rain still lashes down, but it's absorbing to watch!"