My month in South Dakota

My take on South Dakota

where I went this month

You can see I missed some spots, but I think I did a fairly decent job of getting around this state, given that it ranks 17th in size among the 50.

Because nearly 2 weeks into my time here I was still trying to catch up on my blog posts from my month in North Dakota, I never completely felt like I was being fair to South Dakota.  But in many ways it is an interesting state, and I'll do my best for it here.

South Dakota's land

This state has a wide variety of types of land, and when I was in - say - northeastern SD, I found it hard to believe that the Black Hills were in the same state.  Without getting into geologic terms, which I'm not very familiar with anyway, I'd say SD is mostly agrarian, with the exception of the southwestern section - the Black Hills and the Badlands. 

Most of the eastern quarter of the state is in what they call Lakes Country.  Pothole lakes, of course, as are throughout this area of the US - SD, ND and western Minnesota (I'm told).  Also quite a few reservoirs scattered around the state.  It's pretty country, though not exactly lush.  A sort of arid version of east Texas.  

As I said, much of the southwestern quarter is the Black Hills and the Badlands - which are complete opposites of each other visually.  The Black Hills are genuine mountains coated with evergreens and deciduous trees (probably beautiful in the fall), and there isn't much flat land.  The Badlands are aridly beautiful early and late in the day but otherwise just look mostly flat and inhospitable.

Except for the Lakes Country, the Black Hills and the Badlands, South Dakota is mostly rolling hills, grasslands, croplands (for corn, soybeans and sunflowers mostly), grazing land and cows and not much else.  I can't say I was enamored with its beauty, because I didn't see as much beauty as I'd've expected.  And a likely result of all this is that SD doesn't rank high among the states in per capita income - maybe 16th from the bottom, I think.

South Dakota's people

Most of the folks I met were pleasant people.  All were glad to tell me how much they liked where they were living.  Almost all said they were still living in the town they were born in.  Almost everyone said they liked the town either because they liked the people who lived there or they liked living in a small town (which most of SD's towns are).

Most people were eager to give me travel advice about what to see in their state, although most tips were limited to the usual: the Black Hills, the Badlands, and the Lake Country.

SD isn't exactly multicultural: about 84% of South Dakotans are white, with more than half originally from Germany, Norway or Ireland.  On the other hand, 8% of the population is Native American, ranking SD #3 among the states (behind only Alaska and New Mexico).  With 86% of South Dakotans claiming to be Christians, the number of anti-abortion signs I saw is explained.  Odd religious fact: SD has the largest population of Hutterites in the US (they're a communal Anabaptist group that emigrated in 1874 from Europe).

Driving in South Dakota

The majority of South Dakota's license plates look like this.

I saw a lot of these - that start with W - and I think they're for tribal members.

South Dakota also has a fair number of specialized license plates - you know, for veterans and such groups.

The roads here are good, in general.  The roads through the mountains are well-constructed and didn't cause me much concern, despite the very rugged terrain in places.  They're mostly well-signed and I didn't have too much trouble trying to find the places I was going.

Drivers here are generally easy to get along with.  Few tailgate, most signal lane changes and turns in a reasonable way, and almost all were willing to pass when I moved over for them.

What I didn't see that I wanted to see

In my daily posts I mentioned quite a few places I'd want to see on a return trip through the state.  

Besides those, I was sorry to miss the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, down in the far southeast corner of the state almost on the border with Nebraska near Iowa.  I like to see the campuses of a state's major universities for some reason.

I'm also sorry I missed the state's history museum, which they call the SD Cultural Heritage Center.  I was misled by the name and didn't realize when I was in Pierre that this was actually the place to go for state history.  It seems a little spendy - they charge non-resident seniors $6.00, though they say there's a discount for AAA members - but I'd've been willing to pay it if I'd realized what was there.

My conclusion

I know that I'm probably not being fair to South Dakota for 2 reasons: I liked North Dakota very much so any state that followed my month there was likely to fall short of that standard; and I was so far behind in my blog posts for ND that I couldn't really put my full attention into SD for a good chunk of the month.

Those considerations aside, I can't say I'm a big fan of South Dakota - certainly not for living here.  My impression is that everyone is so wildly proud of having 2 memorable areas of their state (the southwest and the far eastern lakes), that they're a little smug about it.

I guess if I had to put my impression of South Dakota and South Dakotans in one word it'd be self-satisfied (I'm claiming that as one word).  And I guess that's not such a bad thing if it's deserved, but I felt like SD fell far short of being deserving.  The Indians living in Pine Ridge Indian Reservation say the racism in nearby Rapid City (for instance) is significant.  As an example, a police officer with the reservation (probably a reliable witness) says she's routinely harassed by Rapid City police when she goes to town for supplies.

South Dakota's apparently popular governor Kristi Noem (who has national political ambitions) regularly and proudly displays a willful refusal to become educated about issues like the COVID vaccines and the usefulness of masks in protecting against the disease, and displays speech habits that encourage people to hate fellow citizens who think or look or act differently.  My guess is that she's a good example of the general thinking of many of the state's residents.  And maybe that's where my feeling comes from that these folks feel self-satisfied.  Pleased with being this kind of person.

If I'm right, then it's a real shame.  Obviously because it doesn't help our nation for a big chunk of people to be intolerant of others.  But also because South Dakota might have a lot going for it if it were only able to take a clear look at itself.  As it is, my advice is go for the scenery (and the fishing), and then leave.

South Dakota - Day 31 - to Belle Fourche again

Rocky Point State Recreational Area, Belle Fourche

Tuesday, 31 August 2021

Not long after I got to my campsite yesterday afternoon, we had thunder and rain, then it began again at about 7 PM.  The dogs climbed under the table with each other.  And although the power didn't go out, I once again reminded myself that I need a surge protector.

When we went out for our first walk this morning, I heard an owl that I guess was a Great Horned Owl.  The bird book says it's common throughout North America and that its call is a "series of 3-8 loud, deep hoots, with the 2nd and 3rd hoots often short and rapid."  What I heard: "who-to-who who who."  No other owls, whether they're supposed to be in the area or not, has a call like this, which is why I'm guessing it was a Great Horned Owl.

This campground is on the Shadehill Reservoir, a pretty body of water.  Given the large number of people I saw at other state campgrounds, apparently to fish, I was surprised by the much lower number here.  Yes, it was a Monday night, but that didn't seem to matter much at the other parks.  I think it's because there just aren't that many people in this northwestern part of the state, and maybe people go to campgrounds closer to home.  Or maybe it's because Labor Day is coming up and people are saving up their off-time for a long weekend.

Then again, maybe it's the water level.  Near our campsite I saw this situation at a boat launch.

This is the boat launch, a study in contrasts -
see detail below.

This sign is on that pole to the left of the boat ramp
in the photo above.

These signs say the ramp is closed
because of low water levels.

today's route

On the road

I crossed the Grand River again.

I passed a sign saying if I turned right, I'd come to the Hugh Glass Monument.  I'd heard his name mentioned now and then but didn't know anything about him and didn't make the turn.  And now I've learned I probably didn't miss much by not seeing the monument, but I'd missed a lot by not knowing his story before now.  It's a remarkable story of how hard a person will work to keep himself alive.   https://www.roadsideamerica.com/Hugh-Glass

Signs told me I passed through the Grand River National Grasslands.  Land of Many Uses, they say.

I passed a sign that seemed to alert people to the Coal Springs Threshing Bee and Antiques Show.  I've looked it up (because a threshing bee?  really?) and learned that this event is coming up in September in Meadow, which is near the national grasslands (I saw the sign much farther down the road for some reason).  It turns out that these threshing bees are a big deal in South Dakota, and I found an article that lists the dates for 10 of them.  I'm not sure when this article came out but I'm guessing it was in 2018, based on figuring the dates would be on weekends.  Anyway, this article is well-written and includes a view of a past that I've never experienced.   https://www.southdakotamagazine.com/threshing-shows

I passed a field where one of the cows was slowly rubbing the top of its head on the side of a post.

The radio said there'd been an F1 tornado near Sioux Falls this weekend.

I was driving in some pretty steep hills - I was north of the Black Hills, not in them, but I imagine the upward land movement didn't just stop at some boundary line.  Anyway, once I went over the crest of a hill and found a very large piece of farm equipment in my lane not far ahead.  I was very lucky in having enough time to slow down and then enough space to pass it.  It was followed by a truck so closely that I guessed the truck was its escort.  But I'd've expected the truck to have its warning lights flashing, which they weren't, and that it'd be far enough back so other drivers wouldn't come over a hill unsuspecting of being about to smash into both the truck and the farm machinery.  Oh well.  Like I said, I got lucky.

I passed a flock of 8 wild turkeys by the road near a fence.

I saw a deer standing next to the shoulder facing me, except I didn't see it until I was almost right beside it.  Deer have a wonderful camouflage in that golden tan color - it blends in beautifully with the grass around here.  I was lucky again that it didn't decide to run into the road ahead of me, because I wouldn't have seen it in time.

I came to a sign saying if I turned left, I'd come to the Ben Ash Monument.  I didn't do that but I did look it up, and found one of those stories about early settlers that seem apocryphal.  But interesting.   https://www.capjournal.com/trailblazer-ben-ash

The farther west I go, the fewer crops I see.  This is hay-growing and grazing land: country for cows.  And a wind farm.

We stopped for a short walk at a park in Newell, pop. 675.  It was a full block of grass and large trees, with a few spaced-out pieces of playground equipment.  It also had several picnic tables gathered under a shelter, and as we were driving away I noticed an unusual sign:

   NO BIKES ON PICNIC TABLES

   NO STANDING ON PICNIC TABLES

   NO JUMPING ON PICNIC TABLES

   NO HANGING ON RAFTERS

      FROM THE PARK SHELTER

             THANK YOU!

Don't you wonder what on earth has been happening in the park to prompt this sign?

The City Hall was once Newell Garage.  The name is still visible above the door.  This town looks pleasant but poor and struggling.  I'm guessing it's primarily a farming town.

I passed a farm that had put a display of antique farm equipment in front of the house and buildings, strung out along the side of the road.

In Belle Fourche

I passed the turn for tonight's campground and went on into Belle Fourche, pop. 5,594, where I started my month in South Dakota.  Remember, this is the Center of the Nation.

Driving into town I noticed a building with a sign above the door reading: 

   Center of the Nation Wool.

   Wool.  Worth More.  Naturally.

I passed a business labeled New Generation Supplements, and the air around the building smelled just like baking chocolate-chip cookies.  The company makes "nutrient dense livestock supplements" for cows, sheep and goats.  Don't know where the chocolate-chip cookies come in.

In town I stopped at a grocery store and took the dogs to a park for a short walk.  I tried to find a laundromat, and finally realized it was disguised as a regular business downtown and I couldn't park anywhere near it.  Which means I'll be washing out some underwear at the campground.

The road to the campground took me past Orman Dam which, in 1911, was the world's largest earthen dam and designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.  I didn't know there were any civil engineering landmarks so I looked it up.  The list includes mostly dams and bridges and railroad stuff, but also on the list is Utah's Mormon Tabernacle, the Mason-Dixon Line, the Union Station in St. Louis, MO, and the Washington Monument.  Here's a link to the Wikipedia page if you're curious.   https://en.wikipedia.org/List-Historic-Civil-Engineering-Landmarks

South Dakota - Day 30 - to Shadehill campground

Shadehill State Recreation Area, Lemmon

Monday, 30 August 2021

I took my time about leaving Indian Creek Campground this morning because Google said I'd only need 2 hours to get to the next campground and I didn't know what it might be like there, whether there'd be a lot of dogs, that sort of thing.  At least here, I already knew what we had and it was comfortable.

When the dogs and I were on one of our morning walks, Dext and I saw a Mourning Dove sitting on the road by someone's campsite.  I stopped to give it a chance to fly away, but it just kept sitting there.  I was worried that Dext might upset it, so we kept walking but moved to the other side of the road.  When it still didn't fly I knew something was wrong.  Instead, it walked - walked - underneath the campers' car while we walked by.  I guessed that it had flown into the car window and stunned itself, and it was still recovering.

today's route

I drove back through Mobridge and back across the Missouri River.  Halfway across, a sign told me I was now in the Mountain Time Zone.  I'll be in this time zone until January, when I move into California.  It's a little disconcerting listening to Morning Edition being over by 8:00 AM.

Just on the west side of the Missouri, a sign told me: "Welcome to Standing Rock Indian Reservation."  Another sign told me this is land of the Sioux Tribe.  The pink area on the map above shows this reservation flows into southern North Dakota part way up to Bismarck.

Farther along the road I crossed the Grand River, and a sign told me it too was part of Lake Oahe.  That lake makes itself felt over an enormous territory.

I drove by folded hills that were high enough for climbing lanes to be useful.  I passed fields of corn, hay and sunflowers.

McLaughlin, pop. 663, is visibly a farming town based on the Farmers Co-op facility with huge silos along the railroad tracks.  I passed cows, horses - some with thick hocks - and lots of bee boxes.

Near the unincorporated town of Walker, I saw 10 or 12 huge silos sitting in a field.  I guess they were the property of some company but I didn't see a sign.

I passed a farm that harvested hay on a major scale and had what looked like hundreds of bales gathered in a paddock.  When I say "hay" I mean some kind of grain, like hay or alfalfa or whatever they grow around here and put in bales in the fields.  Actually, this grain is a big crop in this whole area.

We stopped at the city park of the tiny town of McIntosh, pop. 173, to take a leg stretch.  The park was a small area, but grassy with well-grown trees around the perimeter, a nice playground and 1 picnic table.  The only other thing in this park was a memorial for a local resident.

This is the memorial (see below).

A true and faithful friend.
A kind and skillful physician.
A beloved and honored citizen.

What an incredible epitaph.  I'm not sure I've ever known anyone this full of virtue, and I can't imagine having lived a life so good that people would want to say these things about me.  I'm sorry not to have known him.

I saw Goldfinches in town.  So beautiful.  This town - Home of the Tigers, by the way - seemed much larger than the 173 people their sign shows.

I continued to drive by scattered towns, scattered farmhouses, scattered herds of cows, scattered bee boxes.  I didn't see many trees, and many of the ones I saw were clearly planted.

For days I've been seeing LARGE numbers of grasshoppers, though I now think they must be locusts because they fly.  They're as prevalent as lovebugs in Florida, and make as permanent a mess on vehicles.  It's impossible to keep from being coated with these things as I drive, and they require a lot of elbow grease even on windows, let alone the bodywork.

Yesterday was the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and New Orleans celebrated that by being pounded by Hurricane Ida.  Apparently the newly-rebuilt levees worked this time, but the amount of damage was still devastating.  The good news (if you can call it that) is that Katrina accounted for more than 1800 deaths across its reach, while Ida's death toll is about 70, including the deaths in New York City among those who lived in basement apartments that flooded.  That situation raised some questions about the role of climate change in the severity of the flooding and about what steps to take to prevent that in the future.  Good questions.

I continued to drive through high but smoothly round hills.  The hills are a golden tan from the native grasses and look so smooth and soft it's like they're covered in velour.

The largest town I came to today was Lemmon, with 1,227 residents.  I'd expected to find gasoline in towns along the way, but I only found it in a few and the prices were so high I thought it might be because the towns were so small.  The price was a bit lower in Lemmon, $1.39/gallon, but that's a lot higher than it was a week or so ago.  I wonder if the oil companies have jacked up their prices because of the refineries that were hit by Ida - even though that hasn't yet had an impact on availability - just on perception.

I turned south from Lemmon and tried to find Shadehill State Recreation Area.  Neither Google's directions nor the highway signs were as much help as I'd've wished, but eventually I found it.

And this was yet another state park that was unstaffed, so I had to drive around a bit to find the waste tank dump station, and then to find my campsite.  South Dakota's state parks would be pretty nice if they'd just realize that not all users live here and go to the same places over and over - or that not all users have smart phones - or that not all users even have a good internet signal.  Would maps really be too expensive for them?  The few I've gotten aren't high quality - just the kind that are Xeroxed.  Oh well.  I'll only be in the state 1 more night after this.

South Dakota - Days 28-29 - in Indian Creek campground

Indian Creek campground, Mobridge

Saturday, 28 and Sunday, 29 August 2021

We were in Campground B, which was fairly small - only 39 campsites.  On Friday night, besides us there were only 2 RVs and 1 family in a tent.  On Saturday, the tent family was gone and only we and one of the other RVs were left - just the 2 of us.  On Sunday, 2 more RVs came in so there were 4 of us, which seemed odd since Sundays are usually very light.  And that was it.  I don't know how many people stayed in Campground A but I assumed there were a lot more than we had.  It looked like the other one had more trees than we did, but in ours, every campsite had a tree so we weren't complaining.

One reason the crowds may have stayed away was the weather.  We had terrible rain during Friday night, a sudden storm that started at 1:30 AM.  The rain was so heavy it actually sounded like hail.  It was complete with strong winds and lightning/thunder.  Actually, they've got some odd lightning up here.  I didn't look out but through the shades noticed the lightning was almost constant, like a cascade of lightning  There wasn't any thunder following the lightning, though, until suddenly we heard a sort of sonic boom.  It was as if the thunder couldn't keep up with the constant lightning and finally just built up such a head that it exploded into this boom.  After lying awake for a while with that middle-of-the-night storm, I dropped back asleep and didn't wake up until 4:45 - more than an hour later than my usual time.

When we went out, the rain had stopped but I saw lightning and heard thunder in the west and figured another storm was coming our way.  Sure enough, we again got that sudden rain, constant stream of lightning, sonic-boom thunder.  The thunder was so strong I could feel it inside me and it rattled things.  Even Lily got scared and started running around the RV looking for a hiding place.  I eventually found her in front of the driver's seat under the dashboard, as if it were an earthquake and she was getting under a doorframe.  I told her it wasn't an earthquake, but the sonic boom had given her different information so she didn't believe me.

Dext was too scared to lie down.  He sat under the table where Gracie had already crawled, and they both ended up shaking.  Of course I gave them both a CBD tablet and put Gracie's Thundershirt on her.  I don't know if those things help at all but I'm afraid not to do them.

In all that weather, the power to the RV got cut for a minute, at 2 different times.  It reminded me that I really do need to get a surge protector.  I've heard they're expensive, but so is rewiring the RV if the wiring gets fried.

I was surprised the tent family stayed much of the day Saturday.  They'd reserved their site for the whole weekend, but I noticed they were gone by Saturday evening, and it may be they checked the weather forecast and decided being in a tent for 1 night of storms was enough.  Beginning about 6:30 we once again got very heavy rain and wind strong enough to rock the RV.  It must have blown itself out by Sunday afternoon, because it was sunny and warm and there was no more rain.

On one of our walks, Dexter found a baby bird on the ground.  I'm sorry to say it was still alive and I pulled Dext away as soon as I realized what he'd found.  I think it was a recently hatched bird, and I'm guessing the strong wind might have blown it out of the nest.

I've been hearing a dove call that I'm not really used to, so I finally looked them up and realized what's here are Eurasian Collared-Doves.

Eurasian Collared-Dove

They're much bigger than Mourning Doves, and actually look a little like White-winged Doves without the white wing patches and with the collar.  These doves live year-round in about 35 states, including of course South Dakota.  Their song is described as "coo-coo-cup" in the bird book, which isn't what I hear but it does have the 3 syllables I hear.

I heard a bird that sounded a little like a very melodic Woody Woodpecker call. Woody sounded something like "heh-heh-heh-HEH-huh."  This bird, whatever it was, had the same rhythm but the song was really pretty.

There were gobs of locusts everywhere we went.  Actually, I thought they might be grasshoppers because I don't know the difference, but I've looked it up and decided these were locusts.  They could and did fly often, and some of them had very pretty wings - black with a yellow lower edge.  Several websites say grasshoppers have wings but they stick to hopping wherever they go.  Locusts are completely willing to demonstrate their ability to fly long distances.  These critters became Dexter's newest hobby.  He was fascinated with how they could be sitting on the ground, and then suddenly rise up into the air and fly away from him.  He kept trying to catch them.  It was pretty funny to watch him.

There were Russian Olive Trees here, and I was proud of myself for being able to recognize them and remember their name from that campground a few weeks ago.  Well, I knew they were an invasive species.

I had an internet signal here, but it was so very slow that there was no point in even trying to access my email or my blog program.  I tried to call both of them up and gave up after a couple of minutes.  If it took that long just to get the program on the screen, I'd never be able to do any work on them and certainly couldn't download any photos.  Instead I wrote posts in my computer's Libre program - 13 of them before I left the campground.  It's no substitute for my blog program, but at least the hard work of sorting through and writing about my notes and my photos and doing research on various points got done.  See, I could do the research and wait wait wait for results while I was writing about something else, instead of having the whole blog process being held up while I waited for something.  

I don't know why I couldn't get a stronger signal.  But the whole northwestern part of South Dakota is seriously underpopulated, and it may be there's not much signal because of not much need for it.

Campground B sits right on the Missouri River/Lake Oahe, making for some pretty views.

This is the inlet from the river to a small bay where the campground
had a boat launch to the right of this photo.

This is a close-up of that opposite side of the inlet above.
I was surprised at the height of the erosion from back when there was more water here.
You can see the eroded bank starts just below the solid line of trees.

This is looking downstream on the Missouri.  I was struck all over again about the accomplishment of the Voyage of Discovery. 
Paddling their heavy boats up this river that has a faster, more powerful current than the Mississippi.  Heading out where no Europeans were living and dealing with the sometimes hostile people who did live there. 
And then coming back to tell the story.  Incredible.

Early one morning when it was still dark, the dogs and I were walking along the river by these campsites.  The wind was blowing on-shore from the river, and it was strong enough to make waves in the current of water.  Feeling that wind and hearing the sound of those waves, it almost made me feel I was at the ocean somewhere.  All that was missing was the smell of saltwater and sea weed.

South Dakota - Day 27 - Hoven cathedral and Sitting Bull memorial

Indian Creek Recreational Area, Mobridge

Friday, 27 August 2021

In a rare example of perfect timing, when we went on our 4 AM walk we got sprinkled on a few minutes after we started, and it continued until we got back in the RV.  Then the heavens opened up and we got HEAVY rain and lightning and thunder for the next 3 or 4 hours.  Itmade me decide I wouldn't be going to visit Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge today either.  Sorry to have missed it, but traveling year-round in this RV has meant several such weather-related changes of plan.

On a different topic, according to South Dakota's Department of Transportation, 525,768 vehicles visited Sturgis over the 10 days of the annual Sturgis biker event.  Health officials reported that 38% of Meade County (of which Sturgis is a part) is vaccinated against COVID.  Neighboring counties are even less protected with 37% and 26%.  Over the last 3 weeks, the 7-day average number of cases in this area increased 3400%.  (Yes, that's three thousand four hundred percent.)  And I wonder how many of those visiting bikers carried the virus back to their homes in other states - I saw license plates from as far away as Vermont and Florida on bikes that stayed in the campgrounds I was in.

today's route

On the road

I saw 3 calves running full out towards a barn, with an adult also running right behind them.  Good thing I don't have to make my living raising cows, because I'd waste all my time watching them.

Heading west on US-12 toward Ipswich, I passed 2 large plants - one was Glacial Lakes Energy (it owns 4 ethanol plants) and the other was another Agtegra plant.  I wouldn't have thought enough people lived in this area to provide a workforce for these 2 large facilities.

The town of Ipswich (pop. 954 in 2010) has a sign proclaiming it to be the "Home of the Yellowstone Trail" which I hadn't heard of before but now have learned that it's a coast-to-coast road, established beginning in 1912 - in the early days of automobiles.  In that era, a trail was meant to imply a long-distance auto route, they say.  Over time, this road became a leading route for promoting tourism to the Pacific Northwest and for moving goods to market.  I wonder how useful it was in a South Dakota winter.

On its website, Ipswich claims to be "a community of progressive forward-thinking citizens."  So there.

We passed the town of Roscoe, pop. 329, which has a large plant for Adee Honey Farms - remember?  In Bruce, north of Brookings?

I passed many mostly-shallow ponds, filled with lots of wading birds both large and small and a lot of duckies.  I passed huge fields of corn, also some soybeans.  I passed fields where hay had been harvested and the bales were still lying in the fields.  I passed a field where corn had recently been harvested and cows were feeding and lying there.  I passed large cattle operations.

I passed the town of Bowdle, which advertises the state's tallest water tower.  And it is tall - 150' they say.  The town explains the water tower was supposed to have been delivered to another town but showed up here instead.  It would have cost too much money to move it, so Bowdle kept it.  I didn't see a sign for Bowdle but Wikipedia says the town had 502 residents in 2010 but only 63 residents in 2018.  If those numbers are accurate, something strange must have happened there to have nearly 90% resident loss in 8 years.

I turned south on SD-47 and decided it must be an old road, because the joints in the road were so prominent the road almost became a washboard road.

Hoven's Cathedral

I was taking this detour to see the church that's called "Cathedral of the Prairie."  It was clearly visible 4 miles away, meaning either (1) the land is really flat or (2) this church is tall or (3) both.  I'm opting for #3.

St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church

view from the rear

The only website I could find that seemed to have much information about this church is a Facebook page, which I can't access.  So if you want to know the size of the church or height of the steeples or even its age, you might check Facebook - and then let me know so I can add it here.  The church has celebrated its "125th," which I guess means the 125th anniversary, though they didn't say, and I'm not sure if that celebration happened this year or when.  How can there be so little findable information about this impressive and probably old church?

I understand that the stained glass windows make the inside stunning.

The town of Hoven has 522 residents and claims to be the "Home of 2018 SD Junior Snow Queen, April Simon."  The sign has a picture of her, and she is indeed very pretty.  Hoven looks like a nice little town, and it's clearly a town centered around agriculture.

Back on the road

I passed a sign telling me to turn left for "#1 Dams of Distinction," and I think there was a date on it that I didn't read.  I figured it meant a dam that holds back water and that some dam in the vicinity was built in some special way.  And maybe it does but I can't find any mention of it online.  Instead what I found was that the American Hereford Association has a Dams of Distinction program that "recognizes superior cows in the breed" because "efficient, fertile and productive females are the foundation of the most successful cow herds."  In light of Texas's newly passed anti-abortion law, this concept is resonating with me in a personal way.

A sign told me that 16 miles to the left I'd come to the town of Gettysburg, "Where the Battle Wasn't" (they really say that).  It's a sister city to Gettysburg, PA, and claims that, with 1,152 residents, it's "the epitome of small town living."

I passed the town of Selby, pop. 642, "Friendly City Where Highways Meet."  I really like seeing how towns conceive of themselves.  The highways Selby's referring to are US-83, which heads north to North Dakota, and US-12, which heads west through the Standing Rock Indian Reservation and eventually north into North Dakota also.

I passed the turn for the town of Java, and it's a wonder it has 129 residents because all but one road leading there are unpaved.  One of its early names was Coffee Town because railroad crews used to stop there for coffee in the early 1900s.  Clearly things were more casual then.

I passed through even smaller Glenham, with a population of 105, and then on into Mobridge, with 3,465 residents the largest town since Aberdeen, 100 miles to the east.  I didn't stop in town then because I was heading farther west.

I crossed the Missouri River on what seemed like a very lo-o-ong bridge.  And I was right - I now know it's only 200' short of a mile long.  It was only 2 narrow lanes wide and I hated it.  I should have expected a bridge here, because I knew I'd be crossing one of this continent's major rivers, but of course I wasn't and the bridge took me by surprise.  It crossed not only the Missouri but also Lake Oahe, and I now understand where the name Oahe Downstream Recreation Area (near Pierre, where I stayed a couple of weeks ago) came from.

Memorials

My aim was a memorial to Sitting Bull.  I didn't realize the same area has a separate memorial to Sakakawea.

Sakakawea Memorial

the medallion in the monolith at left

This tablet is visible in the background
of the monolith above left.
Text is enlarged below.

part 1

part 2

Less than a quarter-mile away is the memorial to Sitting Bull.  I'll show you what's there first, and then give an explanation for the circumstances.

The plaque reads:
Tatanka Iyotake
Sitting Bull
1831 - 1890

Nearby is another memorial.

The heading reads:
1834 - 1890
Sitting Bull
Tatanka Iyotake
(Note the difference in his birthdate from on the statue above.)
The text is enlarged below right.

from the memorial above left

And this is where these memorials stand:

That's the Sitting Bull Memorial in the photo.
The one for Sakakawea is off to the right a short distance.
And that's the Missouri River/Lake Oahe he's facing.

You can see that this area is completely undeveloped, and I found myself dismayed that both these people - who were so important in the history of our country - should be in such an unremarked setting, however wonderful the view.  But then I read the history of the Sitting Bull Memorial and it changed my mind.  Here's the link.   https://www.mobridge.org/sitting-bull-monument  He does have a wonderful view for his final resting place.

Back on the road

Tonight's campground was back on the Mobridge side of the Missouri, so back across that bridge I had to go.

This time there was someone at the entrance gate of the campground, who was willing to give me a partial map of the area, but only one for the camping section I'd be staying in.  The dogs and I had to explore the rest without benefit of knowing where we were going.  I'd planned to stay here 3 nights and assumed I'd be able to pick up a decent internet signal, being only a few miles from Mobridge - a false assumption, as it turned out.

The campsite I'd originally picked out had us on a fairly steep incline, and I really didn't want to spend 3 nights there.  It was the middle of the afternoon when we got in and there were only 2 other sites being used, so I thought I might be able to move to another one.  I drove around for a while, trying to find one that was both level and easy to access for the dogs.  We drove back to the entrance, where the staff person said sure, that site's available.  So we were finally settled for the weekend and the dogs were ready for a walk.

South Dakota - Day 26 - Aberdeen again, to Richmond Lake

Richmond Lake Campground, Aberdeen

Thursday, 26 August 2021

There must have been a herd of cows near the Lake Louise campground.  Though I couldn’t see them, I could hear them and sometimes smell them.  There seemed to be a sort of berm behind the trees across the campground from our site, and I think that berm was hiding – and probably containing – the cows.  Still, Dexter was confused a couple of times because he knew they were around but couldn’t figure out where.

Before leaving, I tried to take a photo of Lake Louise, but I found the weather was sneering at me.  A storm was coming up, the sky was overcast, and visibility was coming down.  Here's all I could get.

Lake Louise is much much prettier than this shows.
I didn't bother to crop Dexter out of the way because I couldn't get much of the lake anyway.

today's route

It was really lucky I decided to clean the front windshield before we left the campground, because we were no sooner on the road than it started pouring rain, coming down very heavy with very strong winds.  Trying to run the windshield wipers in that heavy rain through a windshield full of bugs would have been a mess, and I’d’ve had trouble seeing anything after it all got smeared around.

The rain all but stopped about 20 miles down the road, but then it started up again and was intermittent all day.  But the wind never slowed down and made a nuisance of itself.

We passed through Northville, pop. 143, “125 Years of Community Pride” as of 2007.  And through Mellette, pop. 210, which apparently couldn’t top that.

Somewhere along SD-20 I crossed the Chief Drifting Goose Memorial Bridge.  At that point I hadn’t looked him up and, in fact, had never heard of him, but as of my post a couple of days ago, I now know he deserves to have a lot more than a dinky little bridge named for him.

We came back into Aberdeen from a different direction – actually, Google’s directions weren’t very precise and I got lost.  But we got found again so no problem. 

I’d intended to head north to Sand Lake National Wildlife Refuge.  They have a driving tour there that I thought might be like the one I took at the Audubon Refuge in North Dakota.  But the rain’s continued off and on all morning and I thought, what with the bad weather and it being the middle of the day, I might not be able to see many birds.  The trip up and back and around the tour route would have likely taken about 2 hours and I just didn’t think it’d be worth it in these circumstances.  I decided to go on to tonight’s campground and, if the weather were better in the morning, I could go to the refuge then instead.

So I headed into Aberdeen and found a Taco Johns, the chain I mentioned a while back that advertises “West-Mex” food.  It was surprisingly busy, considering it was only a little after 11:00, but I parked the RV and managed to walk into the drive-in line when there wasn’t a line.

For this I ordered a "crispy taco" and a "street taco."
For the street taco they gave me a choice between chicken and beef, and I chose beef.

They were able to serve me this meal almost instantly, and both of these tacos were half-way cold.  Really cold.  I thought it might be because of the lettuce, but no, the “street taco” was actually cold on one side.  I guess they do a lot of pre-making their food.  Both these tasted fine, though I thought they were pretty bland. I can make tacos just as good using McCormick’s Taco Seasoning Mix.  Together they cost me just under $5.  Next time I want tacos, I’ll make them myself.  But now I know what West-Mex is, and I'll take Tex-Mex any day.  (Actually, I prefer the real thing, but Mexico isn't in my current travel plans.)

Even though it wasn’t long after noon, we went on to the campground, only 6 miles down the road.  Once again the gate wasn’t attended, so nobody cared that we were early, and once again there was no map of the campground.  In this particular campground, the layout was even more confusing than usual and I had a hard time finding our spot.  But for a while we were the only people in sight; though there were campers at several other sites, nobody seemed to be in them.  So I could walk my dogs around the campground with some confidence that we weren’t going to be suddenly confronted with some big dog that mine would insist on checking out.

Part way through the afternoon I noticed a half dozen folks in Parks Dept. cars that seemed to be inspecting the various facilities.  My site was by the bathrooms and, while they were checking those out, I went over and offered a suggestion.  I explained to one of them that this was currently my 9th state campground this month, but I had maps for only 3 of them.   I told him that we don’t all have smartphones, so some of us don’t have access to an online map of the campground.  I told him some of the campgrounds are laid out in a confusing way and a map would really help.  He said he’d pass the idea along.  Maybe they’ll listen and other people in my situation will benefit.

This campground is heavily wooded and pretty damp after today’s rain.  There were quite a few branches down, which I had trouble dodging when I drove in.  So when I walked the dogs I performed my community service chore and tossed them out of the roadway.

South Dakota - Day 25 - in Lake Louise campground

Lake Louise Recreation Area, Highmore

Wednesday, 25 August 2021

Yesterday we had rainspurts with thunder for a while – kept the kids on edge.

This section of the campground was small, with only 29 sites arranged in a rough circle on the edge of the lake.  Tuesday night we were literally the only ones there.  The only other site being used was for the camp hosts, and they never came in – at least, they weren’t there when we took our last walk at 6:15 PM yesterday, and they weren’t there when we took our first walk at 4:00 AM today, so I figured maybe they only came on weekends.  No other campers.

Then for a while during the day today we had the entire campground to ourselves – not just the camping area.  Nobody at the cabins, nobody launching a boat, nobody at the playground, nobody at the picnic area.  I know because we walked to these places.  It was really peaceful.

Of course, that didn’t last.  In the afternoon the camp hosts came back and started running around doing chores.  And an RV with Connecticut license plates came in and, luckily parked on the opposite side of the circle from us, hidden behind some trees so whatever they did, we didn’t see it.

We saw a whole flock of butterflies – or whatever you call a group of them.  Small white butterflies who were enjoying the wildflowers.  Including the dandelions, which surprised me.  (Actually, I looked it up and apparently a group of butterflies is called a kaleidoscope. Which I guess makes sense.  Sometimes it’s also called a swarm, but to my mind that’s what bugs do, not butterflies.  And to continue it, a group of caterpillars, which are the raw materials of butterflies, is called an army.  And a cluster of butterflies resting on a tree is called a roost.  And now we know.)

I heard a nuthatch and a kingfisher, though I didn’t see many birds.

When I knew I’d be taking Lily to the vet in Mitchell, I opened up her mesh carrying case – her crate – the day before and left it sitting around in hopes she’d get used to it before the traumatic event.  And it worked.  When it came time to visit the vet, all I had to do was zip the case shut because she was lying in it.

Since I knew she liked it, and since I was hoping to build her confidence back up for it, I left it up after the vet visit.  Today, she spent all afternoon there, so apparently it’s something she’s really comfortable in.

Here's proof.
(She looks sort of orange in this photo,
but I think it's the combo of her multi-colors with the black mesh.)

Did you know that some people believe that during WWII, the Nazis built settlements on the Moon and Mars?  I learned that in a footnote (and then looked it up to confirm it) to an amazing Open Letter that was written by the Maricopa County (AZ) Recorder.  He used a clever combination of humor, facts and common sense to explain why the 2020 election was properly conducted.  

Although he quotes both Jane Austen and lyrics from Frozen II in his text, the footnotes are some of the best parts, where he cites to Albus Dumbledore’s predicament and The Importance of Being Earnest.  He sounds like a hard-line conservative and I’m not sure how many issues I’d agree with him on, but based on this document, I might still be willing to vote for him, were I in his district.  You might want to take a look at it.   https://www.politico.com/Open-Letter  If I were still teaching English, I’d want to use it as an example of persuasive writing.

We had occasional sun this afternoon and I kept thinking I should take a photo of our end of the lake.  But it seems to be a long, meandering lake and we were only at one end of it and couldn’t see beyond the next curve.  I decided to wait until we leave tomorrow in hopes I could get a better view elsewhere in the park.

My arm is still hurting, even though I’m just 2 days shy of it having been 7 weeks since Dext dragged me across the ground.  I’ve finally decided that a physical therapist would be telling me to start using it again as much as normal, instead of babying it as I have been doing.  So I’m trying to stretch for things, for instance, with my left arm as well as my right.  And yes, it hurts, but the pain is nothing like it was some weeks ago.  I figure I’ll try to do what I used to do, but be willing to take my time about it, not reach for things suddenly, no jerking, but instead to slowly stretch out my arm.  I think that will make a difference over time.  What a strange thing to be living through.

South Dakota - Day 24 - to Lake Louise

Lake Louise State Recreation Area, Highmore

Tuesday, 24 August 2021

According to Google, today’s drive wouldn’t take more than 3 hours, so I finished my laundry before I left the KOA.  I’ve learned that, as long as I have enough quarters, it’s much easier to do laundry early in the morning (since I’m up anyway) than any other time, because there’s nobody else around and I have my pick of machines.  And that’s what happened today.  When I did a load yesterday afternoon, I spent a lot of extra time talking to – or actually listening to – a guy about my age from Oregon.  Even though he was traveling with his wife, he really wanted someone to talk to, so I listened.  Nice guy but much quieter this morning, and I didn’t have to wait for him to take his clothes out of the dryer.

today's route

The usual route would have taken me yet again through Mitchell, but I decided I’d already done that enough and took side roads that weren’t even highways – 413 Avenue and 250 Avenue.  They took me past fields of tall corn and short soybeans and scattered farmhouses.

Even once on SD-37, which was 4 lanes divided, it was still the same countryside.

I crossed the James River twice.

After turning west on SD-34, I drove through Woonsocket again, pop. 655, and on past Lane, pop. 59.  These were all clearly farming communities along here.  Just past Lane I saw a machine harvesting corn.  I would have thought it was too early in the year, but apparently the corn didn’t think so.

At Wessington Springs, pop. 956, we stopped at their City Park for a walk.  In one corner I saw a building with a historical marker on it, saying it was a 1936 Fieldhouse that was built by the WPA using stone hauled from local fields.  The sign went on to say the WPA was a governmental organization formed to create jobs during the Depression.  And I realized that the Depression, which happened before my lifetime but was burned into my parents’ brains so I know a lot about it, is now relegated to the “ancient history” category for a big chunk of today’s population and they need to have it explained.  Odd what time does.

I saw 2 cows in a field butting heads with each other and lots of other cows were running over to the scene.  I wished I could stop and see what those other cows were planning to do.

I passed lots of bee boxes, more fields of corn and soybeans, sunflowers, harvested hay, grazing land – all the usual South Dakota scenery.  I passed a herd of cows where all the adults were chocolate brown and all the calves were pale tan.  Genetics at work, I guess.

I heard on the radio that some Native Americans don’t speak English.  I’m very glad to hear that their own languages are being revived enough for them to use them daily, but I’m surprised that the elders have been able to escape learning English, especially with the old boarding school set-up.

I passed a sign saying” Welcome to Crow Creek Hunkpati Oyate Reservation, and then on to the town of Fort Thompson, pop. 1,375.  This town is the capital of the Crow Creek Reservation, but my route didn’t take me actually into town.  I was heading for the Old Ft. Thompson Recreation Area on the Missouri River.  I think when I was first planning this route I’d gotten it mixed up with Lake Thompson Recreation Area back over near De Smet.  This morning, when I’d looked online for more information about where I was going today, I found some very negative comments about the campground at this Old Ft. Thompson area.  People said it was a free campground but in terrible shape and not recommended unless desperate.

When I got there, I learned that it was a Corps of Engineers facility, which I would have expected to be in good shape.  But maybe they’ve shut this one down, at least partly.  For instance, there were restrooms, but the buildings were coated in graffiti so much that I’d’ve had to be desperate to go into them.  The Missouri River is indeed there, and there’re picnic areas along the banks, but the whole place seemed desolate and forbidding.  I’d planned to walk the dogs there but changed my mind.

Back on the road, I saw an unusually tall antenna protruding from a very small building in the middle of a field.  About a dozen cows were congregated around the building and I wondered why.  Was it a small TV station and the cows were waiting to go on the air?

I passed people selling “sweet juicy peaches.”  The Colorado peaches I’ve bought in a couple of grocery stores have been very sweet and juicy.  I don’t know if this is the perfect time for them or if these particular peaches are special – but they were really delicious.

Dexter used to spend all his time while we were on the road in the front passenger seat, but no more.  Now he goes fairly quickly to lie on the stack of beds I’ve stuffed between the 2 seats.  It doesn’t bother him that Gracie’s already there, but it bothers Gracie who always gets up, wanders around the cabin until Dext is settled, then comes back and crawls into the front passenger seat.   She’s much bigger than he is, and unlike him she sleeps stretched out instead of in a ball, so the front seat isn’t at all well-suited for her.  But that’s apparently her preference over sharing the center beds.

Today she did something I haven’t seen her do before.

Can you see that both her paws are pushed against the door?
I can't imagine how that's comfortable, but she rode that way for quite a distance.

At Highmore, pop. 795, I saw yet another branch of Agtegra Cooperative.  They’re all over the state.

I heard on the radio that the reason we shouldn’t put tomatoes into the frig is that it interferes with the chemical processes that give tomatoes their flavor.  I wondered why the ones from the frig always seem tasteless regardless of ripeness, and that’s why.

A small deer crossed the road in front of me and disappeared into a cornfield, reminding me powerfully of Field of Dreams.

I watched a machine vacuum up grain in a field and turn it into a round bale, which it then produced out its rear end.  (I could almost hear a sound effect for it: bloop.)  I wished I could stop and watch – or better yet, ask the farmer questions.  He saw me passing and watching his equipment, probably wrote me down as the ignorant city person I am.

And then on to Lake Louise, tonight’s campground.  Once again there was no one at the entry gate and, once again, there were no campground maps there, so I had to just wing it when trying to find my campsite, which I did of course.

South Dakota - Days 21-23 - in the Mitchell KOA

Mitchell KOA, Mitchell

Saturday, 21 through Monday, 23 August 2021

Seeing as how it’s the middle of August, I was surprised that these mornings were really chilly.  The temps were in the 50s and there was a very strong breeze/wind to make it feel chillier.  The afternoons warmed up and were very pleasant – or would have been if we hadn’t gotten sudden rain/thunder/lightning each day.

All three nights we had a beautiful big full moon. I was seeing it near moonset – early in the morning – so it was pumpkin-orange and amazing.

The last time I stayed here, I noted that the campground rules include as #1 that this is NOT A GUN-FREE ZONE (they say), which I thought was weird and intimidating.  And unnecessary: they didn’t need to say that for it to be that.  Not even mentioning guns would still have meant those with guns would keep them, just as they do in all those zillions of campgrounds that don’t say anything about it.  To me, even mentioning it was sort of in-your-face and very strange.

As far as I can tell, this KOA is run by 2 – or possibly 3 – men.  There are no women involved in the operation in any way, which I don't think I've seen before at a KOA.  On the pickup owned by one of the men is a bumper sticker that says: “Republican Because Everybody Can’t Be On Welfare.”  Both pickups have bumper stickers that say: “God Bless John Wayne.”

The campground information sheet has a note saying, “YES, it’s always windy here!”  And “Largest wind turbine at KOA in North America.”  Actually, I don’t remember a wind turbine at any of the other KOAs I’ve visited, but that’s probably just my leaky memory.

This is the touted wind turbine, and it is tall, as advertised.

Most campgrounds designate the office or a bathroom or other building as a storm shelter.  This one has 6 storm shelters noted on the campground map, but it took me a while to realize what exactly those shelters were.

a close view

Here I'm trying to show how small they are.

I have to assume these lead to an underground shelter because they're so small that no more than a half dozen people could cram in there at a time.  The only other time I’ve seen an underground shelter was in Alabama, and that looked so spooky I’m not sure I’d trust it to be a safe shelter in a storm.  I think if I’d stayed in this campground more than another day or 2 I’d have tried to open the door of one of them to see inside.

I spent all day Saturday and Sunday trying to catch up on my blog.  I’d come into South Dakota being 20 posts behind, so I’ve been feeling somewhat schizophrenic – trying to enjoy South Dakota while I was still writing about and reliving my time in North Dakota.  I really want to avoid doing that with my time in Wyoming and worked hard here.  I didn’t get at all caught up completely but I did make progress.

Early Monday morning I drove into Mitchell because I’d made an appointment at a vet to get Lily’s claws clipped and flea medicine applied.  They were nice folks and agreed with me afterwards that she really doesn’t like this process.

Mitchell, pop. 15,254, seems like a nice town.  It has a surprisingly well-stocked grocery store for a town this size – and it even gives stamps.  You know, like S&H Green Stamps, though these seem to be something regional.  I couldn’t believe it when the clerk handed me my receipt and a bunch of stamps with it.  I gave them to the woman behind me in line, who was happy to get them.

I passed a business called Home Instead, which I think is a national program that helps seniors keep living in their own homes.  I mention it because of their sign: “To Us Its [sic] Personal.”  I passed them several times and was about ready to stop and let them know about their spelling/grammatical error.

I found a nice park called Dry Run Creek (which seems redundant) where the dogs and I took a walk.  Like I said, nice town, but I can’t help wondering whether the KOA owners’ political philosophies match those of the town.