Monday, June 25, continued

After hitching up the trailer back at the campsite, we headed West 60 miles to the town of Blue Earth, MN.  Blue Earth is famous for the packing of fresh corn and peas for the Green Giant Company.  To honor the opening of I-90 in 1978, Green Giant erected a 55-foot fiberglass statue of the one and only: the Jolly Green Giant.  He weighs 8000 pounds, wears a size 78 shoe and has a smile that stretches 48 inches!!  We were able to park the truck & trailer near a DQ so that we could stop in reverence to view this famous symbol that I use to watch on black and white TV as a child.  He looks as gentle and as happy as he did in the 60’s.  As we stood at the base, a constant stream of people parked their cars and completed their pilgrimage to the base of this happy symbol of our childhood.   Afterwards, we rationalized a chocolate shake at DQ (guilt soon ensued as we swallowed our frozen corn syrup & chocolate ecstasy with thoughts of hot slabs of SPAM dancing through our heads).  Soon we were back on the road headed towards Sioux Falls, SD surrounded by flat miles of corn fields only interrupted on occasion by fields of giant windmills producing wind energy, but no Don Quixotes.