47 out of 48

Today I crossed into South Dakota from North Dakota. Basically the terrain looked the same as I had imagined. It was a monumental day for me though because with my stay in Huron, SD tonight, South Dakota becomes my 47^th state visited out of the lower 48 states in the Continental U.S.

How many people can say that?!

This has been possible from the 5 years of work on the national PBS agriculture show Americas Heartland. Heartland has been to all 50 states and shared stories of farmers and ranchers and other characters from these places over the past 6 years. I have been fortunate to have told stories for 5 of the 6.

One thing that I have learned from being this far north is that we in the lower states probably don’t have much of a clue how important the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana are to our economy. There is great grazing land up here, fresh, fresh water and a variety of other crops different than that of corn and soybeans which dominates the landscape south of here.

Thank you Dakotas. For me, on to explore more of number 47, South Dakota.