Williston, ND

On Wednesday, May 28 we left Hill City, SD and took scenic Hwy 385 through the Black Hills to Deadwood. We started at about 5000 feet elevation at Hill City, climbed up to around 5700 through the Black Hills, down to about 4500 at Deadwood. Then it was up over 5000 again across the last mountain and then down to around 3000 feet to I-90 at Spearfish. We were on I-90 for a short distance, then hit US 85 due north across the Great Plains to the Badlands of North Dakota. Here’s a picture of US 85 through part of South Dakota.



We checked into the campground at Theodore Roosevelt National Park (the North Unit) for 2 nights. This is about 15 miles south of Watford City, ND. The Little Missouri River runs through the park and it’s all down in a deep canyon with multi-colored canyon walls all around - looks like something an artist would paint. The campground is in the middle of a cottonwood grove by the river. Awesome scenery. Here’s a couple of pictures --




Yesterday, Friday May 30, we moved to Lewis & Clark State Park about 18 miles east of Williston, SD. We had stayed here back in 2006. The main reason we’re here this time is to visit some friends we made two years ago. Some of you have heard the story, but in case you didn’t -- Two years ago when we were here we were out riding the back roads looking for birds and came upon a man down in a hay field who’d had an accident. A belt had come off a pulley on the hay baler, and in trying to get it back on, he had his arm (up to the shoulder) up inside the hay baler and it clamped down pinning his arm. He had been in that situation for over an hour when we came along and got him out. We took him home and his wife took him to Williston to the ER. They kept him in the hospital overnight and even though the arm wasn’t broken, he had lots of nerve damage. It took him almost a year to get well. Needless to say he and his wife were very appreciative for the rescue. We have kept up with them for the last 2 years and they have invited us for dinner Sunday night.

Monday, June 2, we’ll be headed west - across the Big Sky country of Montana.

Hill City, SD

We left Mitchell, SD yesterday, Monday May 26, and drove I-90W across South Dakota to Rapid City. Here’s a scenery shot from I-90.



From Rapid City we went south about 30 miles to Hill City which is near Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park. We checked in here for two nights and woke this morning to at least an inch of snow on the ground.



We spent all morning riding around the area - The Needles Highway, Custer State Park, and the 18-mile Wildlife Loop. With all the snow it was like driving through a winter wonderland, although the roads were clear.





Saw an old high school buddy on the wildlife loop


We went to Mt. Rushmore, but didn’t stop - the mountain was all fogged in and the sculpture was invisible. Tomorrow it’s on to North Dakota.

Mitchell Corn Palace

Today we visited the main attraction in downtown Mitchell, SD - the world famous “Mitchell Corn Palace". The outside is decorated with all kinds of murals, diagrams, and decorations and it is all done in CORN! The really amazing thing is they re-do it every year with a different theme. I think the first one was back in 1897.

On the inside is an arena where they host basketball games and tournaments, shows, etc - plus when no events are going on the floor is used for the Corn Palace gift shop. High on the inside walls all around are more murals done in corn. Along the hallways are pictures of all the previous years in the Corn Palace history. An amazing place - here are a couple of pictures.

Mitchell, SD

After five days, we left Arrow Rock on Monday, May 19. Took I-70W to Kansas City and then I-29N to the Mound City, MO exit. Big Lake State Park is about 10 miles west of the interstate. Checked in at Big Lake for 2 nights. On Tuesday we spent most of the day doing the auto-tour at Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge. We were here in 2006 and it is one of our favorite places. We saw lots and lots of birds, but not as many as 2006. The guy at the Visitor’s Center said they have had a late Spring and a lot of the birds have not arrived yet. They do have one pair of Bald Eagles nesting with two chicks. Here’s a picture of one of the adults.




On Wednesday, May 21 we left Big Lake, hit I-29N through Omaha, NE/Council Bluffs, IA and got to Wilson Island State Park on the Iowa side of Missouri River at the entrance to DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge. Right across the river is Nebraska. In the afternoon we took a ride through the NWR - saw lots of birds and wildlife. Wild Turkeys are the most plentiful - must have seen a couple of hundred. Thursday was a cloudy, rainy day, but we rode through the NWR again early in the AM and also again in the afternoon. We also went to the Visitor’s Center and looked at all their displays. They have a great display of the goods recovered from a paddle wheeler that sunk in the Missouri River very near the Visitor Center in 1865. It was loaded with merchandise destined for the stores in Montana. Judging from the quantity of goods recovered, the “Bertrand” must have been a huge boat.

Today - Friday, May 23 - we left Wilson Island State Park, Hit I-29N through Sioux City, IA and on north to Sioux Falls, SD. There we took I-90W to Mitchell, SD where we stopped for the weekend. Lots of stormy weather - big thunderstorms last night with the works, lightning, thunder, rain, wind, and hail. We drove about 250 miles today and it was cloudy & very windy all the way, but no rain. From looking at the Weather Channel it looks like some more nasty weather may be headed this way tonight and tomorrow. Another reason to sit tight through the weekend.

This part of the mid-west is awesome to drive through - miles and miles and miles of flat farm lands. Some of the corn fields are so huge that you can’t see across them. They’ve had a late season and the corn in the fields is just coming up - rows & rows & rows of corn 2-3 inches tall as far as the eye can see. Also there is a lot of livestock - we’ve seen lots of huge pastures full of horses and dairy cattle, plus feed lots for beef cattle with several hundred head getting fattened up for slaughter.

As mentioned above, we’ll be here in Mitchell through the weekend. We plan on visiting the famous “Corn Palace” tomorrow (Saturday), plus we need a Wal-Mart trip. On Sunday we’ll find a local church to attend - and then be on the road again on Monday.

Arrow Rock, MO

Well, we’ve been waiting and looking forward to this trip for a long time. After 13 years of motorhoming we’re finally taking the ‘big trip’. We don’t know why we’ve waited this long - maybe just waiting until the gas prices went up - and right now they’re higher than they’ve ever been. Oh well! At least since we traded motorhomes in November we’re now using regular un-leaded gasoline instead of the really high priced diesel.

We left home Friday the 9th, but spent Mother’s Day weekend camping at the lake with some of the kids & grandkids. Then Monday the 12th, we went to Chatsworth, GA and spent the night and visited with LaVerne‘s sister Marilyn‘s family. We didn’t really get started on our Alaska trip until Tuesday, May 13th.

The first couple of days were just traveling - we took I-75 north out of Georgia, I-24W in Chattanooga, TN through Nashville to Gilbertsville, KY. We spent the first night at Kentucky Dam Village State Park at the north end of Kentucky Lake. On Wednesday we continued on I-24W through Paducah, KY and across the Ohio River into Illinois. Then it was I-57N to I-64W to St Louis where we picked up I-70W.

At the end of two days of driving we arrived at the Arrow Rock State Historical Site in Arrow Rock, MO - about 13 miles north of I-70 at Boonville. This is a place we stayed at back in 2006 when we followed the Lewis & Clark Trail and we liked it a lot. This place really has a lot of colorful birds - Northern Cardinals, Baltimore Orioles, Indigo Buntings, and American Goldfinches. They are all in their breeding colors and it is a techicolor show when several of them are on and around our feeders at the same time.

We will be here until Monday, May 19 and then we’ll head out again.

OUR CAMPSITE IN ARROW ROCK