Michael Portillo continues his journey from the northern state of Minnesota to the Deep South.

Steered by his Appleton's Guidebook, Michael travels along the Upper Mississippi to Red Wing, Minnesota, and the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of Little House on the Prairie.

Joining the Empire Builder rail service, he travels to Winona, where he finds out how in the 19th century the US Army Corps of Engineers made the Mississippi navigable. The river is maintained today not just for freight, but to host bald eagles and pelicans too.

Michael joins in the dancing at a tribal gathering of the Dakota Sioux, and in La Crosse learns about the Native American origins of a fast-moving, combative sport.

Michael is in Milwaukee, located on the shore of Lake Michigan and home of the Harley-Davidson. Michael learns about the history of motorcycles there, the first of which was made in 1903, and hitches a ride on the back of a modern version.

German gymnastics is Michael's next challenge as he joins the Ladies' Auxiliary Exercise Class, a legacy of Milwaukee's 19th-century German settler community which is still going strong today.

In Racine, Michael discovers a man who knew how to sort the wheat from the chaff and made a business out of it.