Cedar Pass Campground, Interior, South Dakota
I’m still, and will continue to paraphrase the relationship issues between Jacob and Laban. Yesterday, I shared that Jacob wanted Laban to give him the multi-colored stock, so he could separate himself and be on his way back home. We also learned that Laban, although he agreed to the deal, took all those and shipped them off a safe distance away, forcing Jacob to stay longer. Today we read about some strange ritual Jacob used to secure his promised flocks. He took fresh-cut branches from poplar, almond and plane trees and made white stripes on them by peeling the bark and exposing the white inner wood of the branches. Then he placed the peeled branches in all the watering troughs, so that they would be directly in front of the flocks when they came to drink. When the flocks were in heat and came to drink, they mated in front of the branches. And they bore young that were streaked or speckled or spotted. . . . Thus he made separate flocks form himself and did not put them with Laban’s animals. . . . (Gen 30:37-40) In addition, Jacob only mated the strong animals this way. For the weaker ones he took the branches away. In this way, the man grew exceeding prosperous and came to own large flocks, and maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys. (Gen 30:41-43) I’m not going to pretend to understand this. I’ve looked at several sources to try to get an explanation as to why Jacob’s reliance on such a thing was honored by God. The best thing I found was in Genesis 31:9, so we’ll jump ahead to that, and then backtrack tomorrow. “So God has taken away your father’s livestock and has given them to me.”
And I’m very sorry, but I’m at a loss as to what we could take away from this. Maybe when Blaine edits this post, he’ll have something for us. 😊 I’ve got nothing.
Today, we drove to Canton. It took a really long time – close to seven hours (between stops and a time change) and 317 miles. And we still haven’t left the state of South Dakota. Those of you from near Canton, Ohio were a little confused for a minute, weren’t you? 😊
It was a pretty easy drive, except for the wind. Do you suppose there are ever calm-breeze days in South Dakota? We’re beginning to wonder. . . .
Anyway, we drove uneventfully straight east on I-90 nearly the entire time. But while uneventful, it was still a very difficult drive for Blaine, as he battled strong headwinds the entire time. It also depleted our fuel tanks more quickly, as we dropped from 8mpg, to 7mpg almost immediately. We had to make an unplanned stop for fuel before we reached our destination.
As for me, I sat on the sofa and battled the mouse and keeping my laptop actually on my lap, as the winds rocked us, and the road bumped. Do you remember the old cartoons where the subject’s eyes would swirl around in their head? That’s what mine felt like by the time I quit computer work today. Lol At least there was WiFi so I could upload pictures. Yay!
At lunchtime, we made a stop in the town of Mitchell, SD. It’s home to the world-renowned Corn Palace. Well, maybe not the entire world, but it’s pretty famous. And they claim to be the world’s only corn palace. Every single year since 1892, when the city was only 12 years old and the 3,000-member population decided to build it as a way to prove to the world that South Dakota had a healthy agricultural climate (not sure why they felt the need to prove that), they’ve decorated the front and side of this theater with pictures (different themes every year) made of corn – cobs (cut in half, with the corn left on them), and husks, and silk. It’s pretty incredible actually. They count this year as their 100th anniversary, because this current building has been here since 1921. In 1979, an arsonist set the place on fire, but they had it completely rebuilt, adding more security measures by 1981. Anyway, we happened to show up when they were getting ready to celebrate for the weekend, with a carnival.
Everything was set up, but no one was around – not even workers.
It was really quiet.
A few of the prizes were blowing around in the street too. Eerie!
It worked out well, because we were there around noon, and the carnival didn’t actually begin until 5pm, but most, if not all, the food vendors were set up for lunch. We spent an hour here, walking through the Palace museum, looking inside their auditorium, and partaking our noon respite, which came from a church vendor. Blaine ordered a Hog Wild Dog (foot-long hotdog, pulled pork, baked beans, cheese, with bbq sauce and relish thrown on top). I had a pork tenderloin sandwich, and we both had cups of homemade macaroni salad. Everything was delicious!
There was a ton of information in here! We simply didn’t have time to read it all.
And no, I don’t know why the tables are sitting in front of the first picture.
This, the next and the one on the bottom 
were all in the same corner
Not only do they have to put it up, but the old motif has to come down first!
Note the gridlines.
If you’re interested, you can read how the design gets put together in the previous picture.
And now that our minds and bellies are full, we can get back on the road. We were glad to skip the crowds. Their website touts visitors numbering over 500,000 annually. But I wonder how many of those are people who come to attend the events they host. . . .
Before we left town, we stopped across the street to take a peek at a place called “Valtriroty – Shiloh’s Tabernacle”. They call it a ‘spiritual, educational, and recreational park’. It’s owned and operated by a family, whom we assume are Christian Jews. The name of the place was formed by combining the first three letters of the names of the founder’s three children (his name is never mentioned in the brochure they gave us) – Val, Tyr and Oty. Their mission, as they present it, is to “create a self-supporting and self-sustained ministry, to be a light at the crossroads for the local as well as the sojourner.” The place is filled with memorabilia from all over the Holy Land area, and there’s a walk-through Old Testament area. They also sell stuff like t-shirts containing sort-of Christian themes, but what kind of Christian would walk around wearing a shirt that says, “God loves everyone, but I’m his favorite”? Hmmm . . . . At any rate, we left a small donation in a box, since we walked through the place. I couldn’t find out how long it’s been around, but at least ten years.
Oh! I forgot to mention! Blaine parked us on a side street. Good thing their neighborhood roads are nice and wide! He had to drive around the neighborhood a bit to get us back on the expressway.
Newton Hills State Park, Canton, South Dakota
