Saturday we arrived around 7:30 pm at Sioux Falls. Night fell and a booming thunderstorm lit up the sky, followed by a downpour. I wasn't willing to go for the motel just off the Interstate, even though it offered free Internet. Independent motels across America have caught on to the "cable tv" of the 21st century.
Judy went into a MacDonalds and asked for directions to the historic downtown area. A teenage girl informed her that, although she had lived in Sioux Falls all her life, she had no idea where any historic center of town was -- she only went to the mall. A more erudite companion gave general directions and we were off. Finally finding the center of town and at least a block of interesting architecture, we realized the gas gauge was blinking. Following the directions of Staci, the GPS, we drove in circles for a bit and then, silencing her, stumbled upon a Howdy Pardn'r (or something like that) at $3.07 a gallon.
We needed to find a hotel but since we were hungry, noticed as we passed Taco Bell, Red Lobster, MacDonalds, Pizza Hut, Chili's, Cracker Barrel, Applebees, TGIF Friday's, Denny's, Starbucks, Bennigan's, Hoolihan's, Hooters, Hardee's, Olive Garden, Macaroni Grill, Taste of Chicago, IHOP, and on down the alphabet of franchise restaurants.
The clerk at the luxury hotel we finally came across sent us down the road to a "pod" of hotels fronting the east-west Interstate. We chose the pet-friendly Comfort Suites for $79.
Going back out to one of the 42 restaurants within a stone's throw of the hotel, we learned from a well-informed server that Sioux Falls has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the U.S.! It is also a center for financial institutions due to a laissez-faire attitude toward interest rates in this state - ever notice how many mail-in payments go to South Dakota for processing?
The next day we noted mile-long block after mile-long block of malls with every franchise store we had ever seen. Stopping at Panera's Bakery to get some sandwiches for the road and talking with the girl making our sandwiches, it suddenly struck us that Sioux Falls is the testing ground for franchises, and the teenage girl the night before was a perfect product of her environment - the mall certainly was where it was at here.
.................. Now knowing about hotel "pods" we easily recognized one outside Madison, Wisconsin the next night and checked into home away from home at Comfort Suites again. Hunger took us this time to nearby Middleton. It appeared to have a charming historic district, and the diner we stopped in was very cute - Hubbard Avenue diner. The chicken tortilla soup was thick and spicy, the greek salad was fresh and flavorful. The cashier informed us that Middleton had been named one of the best places in the U.S. to live.
Yet, after we drove around a bit, the downtown was just too neat, too perfect and Judy dubbed it "Pleasantville". Sioux Falls, on the other hand, was the sum total of the modern American way of life. jv
1 comment:
Judi:
You have NO IDEA what you are looking at regarding the credit card issue.
I am generally NOT a conspiracy theory guy; however, I know this to be 100% factual.
In 1981 or so Citibank realized there was a 1978 Supreme Court decision, little noticed by most people, that allowed credit card banking to cross state lines.
Citibank was then located in NY and in NY banks were NOT allowed to charge super high interest rates (known in financial circles as Userous rates).
HOWEVER, in South Dakota, the state said YES, banks could SCREW the public and charge interest rates up the butt-all the way up to 20% and even higher.
So, Citi moved their headquarters to SD in order to rape and pillage the population by providing credit that they know the people could not afford and would run up huge bills that would then have these userous rates charged.
This entire piece of financial history is a very sad chapter in the screwing over of the people.
Google search Credit Card History South Dakota for more details
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