Week ending Oct 22, 2015 North and South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa

Thursday morning we left Regina early, stopping for our final Tim Hortons treat at Weyburn before  crossing the border. We carried on to Lewis and Clark State Park on the shore of Lake Sakakawea.. After setting up we went for a walk on the great trails in the park.

The Bakkan oil field is located partly down the Western edge of  both North and South Dakota, so we saw what an economic boom this field is to the Dakota's. We were very thankful for the website rvpark reviews because through it we discovered most of the private parks were full of oilfield workers. The state park does not allow full time trailers therefore was very quiet. In fact other than a tent in the tent area we were the only people in the park. 

Friday morning we hit the road early, by 7:00 A.M. The drive was quite scenic, including the Missouri river, the Little Missouri River,

and White Butte the highest point in South Dakota

which looks down on the town of Amidon, the smallest county seat in the USA. We also stopped at the geographic center of the  USA,  but the drive to the marker was closed, with a very nasty looking barbed wire fence.  We couldn't even cross it to walk up to the monument.  We were curious about how a location this far north could be the center of the USA.  This spot is based on balancing out the mass of Alaska and Hawaii, which makes it significantly north of the center of the 48 states, which is in Kansas.  We crossed  the Redwater River just out of Belle Fourche.  Our campground stop was Three Flags Campground in Black Hawk, South Dakota.  Despite the fact that the railroad ran just between the campground and the freeway, we did get a good sleep.

Saturday, our first stop was our primary reason for staying here; Mount Rushmore. While waiting in the line-up to pay our entrance fee we saw a couple of mountain  goats having a mid-morning snack on the grass by the entrance.

After walking through Borglum court, down the Avenue of Flags we arrived at the grand viewing viewing terrace, the second best place to get pictures of the the faces carved in the mountain. The first place is a viewpoint on the highway before you get to the national monument.

We then walked the presidents; trail, a nice trail through a ponderosa pine forest.  The next stop was Crazy Horse Memorial. It is less than half completed and has been a work in progress for over 50 years. 

The original sculptor has passed away and his kids (now in their 30 - 50 have taken over the project.
He created a model that is 1/34 actual size, that is the basis for the work.

See  the Crazy Horse Memorial website for details. We spent quite a while viewing the museum, watching the info video and enjoying the really nice day. We had a picnic lunch with a view of the monument. Enough education for one day so off to get groceries. We needed veg's, fruit and meat, since this was our first shopping trip since crossing the border. The battery on Joan's tablet had died before leaving Canada and after trying to get a new one we discovered it was both cheaper and faster to replace it. Joan now has a new tablet, hopefully it works as well as her old one, well better because the battery only lasted a bit more than a year. Back to the trailer to watch the Blue Jays sadly lose to Kansas City Royals.

Sunday morning we headed to the Sidehack Bar and Grille in Sturgis for what had been promised by the various reviews as the best breakfast in town. It was ok and by the time it was served we were hungry so fussy we weren't.  After breakfast we  headed to Deadwood of Wild Bill Hickok fame.

 It was an interesting town. We wandered down the historic main street, admiring the architecture. Check out www.deadwoodhistorylink.com. The drive back to the campground was along another scenic state highway. We can see why this area of South Dakota is so well liked by hikers, bikers and campers.

Monday  morning we left early for Famil-E-Fun campground a couple of miles outside of Mitchell South Dakota. On the route we stopped at 1880 Town, note the proliferation of the rabbit population.

Along the freeway, we were quite surprised to see many hunters in the fields hunting for pheasants. After setting up we went to the the Prehistoric Indian Village. We had a guided tour of the site which  was very interesting. The Prehistoric Indian Village is a 1,000 year-old Native American village being excavated by students from the University of Exeter and Augustana College.

 These people were farmers, not hunters, and had permanent buildings.

Mike Marshall is a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian and a well-known Lakota artist and historian.  See more information at www.mitchellindianvillage.com. On the way back to the trailer, we saw the corn palace

and picked up a few groceries. The evening was spent watching the election results.

Tuesday morning our departure was a bit late because we have not adjusted to yesterday's time zone change. We think this is the only one until we start heading home in the spring. Mid-afternoon we arrived at Oakwood RV in Clear Lake, Iowa, got set up and then spent some time perusing the travel information we gathered at the Iowa Welcome Center. This fall is quite challenging as we are finding most RV parks are closed, but there are a few open without water or sewer, just electricity.  We have discovered that the state parks are open with electricity only.

Wednesday we left Oakwood RV park at Clear lake by 8:30. Our destination was Dubuque, Iowa. After a fairly uneventful drive for a couple of hour until we arrived at Guttenburg where we got our first view of  the Mississippi River and the colourful trees, which are reminding us of our trip to Nova Scotia in October almost 30 years ago.  We arrived at the Dubuque Fairground where we have an okay site with good satellite reception.  As always we have adventures, we plugged in but had no power. The maintenance man was very accommodating and called in one of the directors of the fairgrounds who called an electric company to fix a "leg" which had been short circuited by a squirrel.

Rather than waste time waiting for electricity to be repaired we headed downtown to visitor information. We  found an exceptionally helpful visitor info staff member, although despite her best effects could not answer our obscure questions. We picked up enough info to keep us occupied for the next day or two and headed back to see if we had electricity. Back at the trailer yes we have electricity, so John aligned the satellite and Joan is happy. 

Thursday morning our first stop was the The National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. It covers the history of the river and describes the varieties of fish, turtles,and snakes that reside in the waters.

After a few hours and information overload we headed to Eagle Point Park. The park is beautiful, trees are an explosion of fall colours. 

We saw a bald eagle, just as someone on TripAdvisor had reported the day before.  We did manage to get a few shots of it soaring along the river.

 Bald Eagle

 We had a picnic lunch on a bench overlooking the river at Dam and Lock #11.  John noticed a barge approaching the lock, so we thought we would watch.  What a procedure. The tug was pushing a series of barges, which were too long for the lock. Interesting we thought what now. Once the tug pushed the barges into the lock, a series of three barges, which fit perfectly into the lock were unhooked.  The tug then backed the two remaining barges out of the lock. The lock was lowered, the front gates opened and the barges were floated out of the lock, using the current of the river for power, as far as we could tell.

Once they floated forward far enough to close the gates, they were tied up awaiting the final two barges and the tug to join them.  This whole procedure took at least an hour.

On our way back to the trailer we checked out an RV park on an island in the river.  The office was closed for a while, so we called them later and arranged to stay for 3 days, since we have to leave the fairgrounds tomorrow to make room for wedding parking on Friday and Saturday.