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.