Campground In The Middle Of Nowhere (SD)

Check in is at 4:00 p.m. at Corps of Engineer’s Left Tailrace Campground, Fort Thompson, South Dakota. With less than 4 hours drive on this Travel Day, we had plenty of time. The other day I decided to do grocery shopping this morning in Sioux City, IA. It worked out great! Since we will be in the middle of nowhere I did deep menu planning and grocery list. The closest Walmart to Fort Thompson is 64 miles west in Pierre. The second closest is 94 miles east to Mitchell. I thought that so funny. The closest grocery store, very small, that I can find is in Chamberlain, about 40 minutes away. So, I wanted fresh stuff and we went to the Hy-vee again. Not a lot of people this morning. We were able to get everything on my list except they didn’t have Food Saver bags. That is fine. This campground, Scenic Park in South Sioux City, Nebraska, is excellent. We would definitely stay here again. We pulled out around 10:00 or so. 

Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD 07/26

Last evening on the way home (footnote 1) from the ballgame I mentioned that we would be going past Mitchell, South Dakota, and the Corn Palace. He talked about how he was always so surprised how much his mom talked about and enjoyed visiting there. Both of us have been there when we were growing up and then we stopped there back in 2023. I wish we had video of us and this chat because all of a sudden, at the microsecond same time, we both said, ohohohoh! This is 250 year USA birthday; the corn designs must be about that and, we want to see! LOL

Look Close At What The Pictures Are Made Of, Corn Palace, Mitchell, SD 07/26

So we stopped there today. There was plenty of parking and they even had a lot for RVs. We didn’t go inside, as we did that before, but so neat to see the pictures made out of corn on the outside. There was We The People, flag and bell, we can do it, we want you, 1776, US Mall in DC, and a covered wagon. The artistry is fascinating to see. What a fun stop! 

Left Tailrace Campground, Big Bend Dam, Missouri River @ Fort Thompson, SD 07/26

We turned off I-90 at Reliance and headed north on Hwy 47. This is very hilly being the river bottoms and land around the Missouri River. Soon we were on the Crow Creek Reservation. Wide spaces, no houses, hills. Then we headed down to the Missouri River. Across the Big Bend Dam was our campground. We found the few water spigots; they are like at the CoE campground at Clark’s Ferry. Water spigots along a few sites. So you pull over on the road and fill up. It takes quite a while to fill up the huge water tank. Our site, oh my goodness! I picked the best one when I reserved this place. We are on the end, have a huge yard, and river on three sides of us. I read reviews and they all said this is the best site. It is even a pull through, has a concrete table, a bench, and a wood-slat shader. Plus a fire pit. A few tall trees for shade. When I did the RV Emergency paper, I notice the closest hospital is 40 minutes away in Chamberlain. Be safe and healthy! Always.

We sure are enjoying the views around here. Missouri River on 3 sides and we can see with no trees blocking. This morning we saw a few pleasure boats and quite a few fishing boats.

Seaman Wishes Lewis & Clark Expedition Had A Motorboat Back In 1804! HA Fort Thompson, SD 07/26

After work we drove around the area. We saw the spillway for the Missouri River and discovered with the dam right here, too, there is no way for a boat to get past. Interesting. The CoE has done a great job in the area with lots of picnic tables, fish cleaning stations, and pull offs for boat launches. At an overlook we got out and read signs. We learned that Fort Thompson was the reservation where Native Americans were sent from Wisconsin.

Sourdough Starter: I decided I wanted to make an Artisan Sourdough bread loaf. That includes the pulling and stretching of the dough, every 30 minutes, 4 times. It was a blast! And the dough was fun to work with. Then it needs to be in the fridge for at least 12 hours so overnight. In HOWE (footnote 2) I don’t have the Dutch oven with a lid to cook it but will try just my round Pampered Chef dish. We thought about putting a pot lid on but it sits low and might impede the rise. Experiment! HA As you can see from Kevin’s expression, it was outstanding!

Bad River Joins Missouri River Right Behind Seaman, Fort Pierre, SD 07/26

We drove 64 miles to Pierre, SD. This is the capital of the state and has a population of only about 13,000. The drive, still on the Crow Creek Reservation, wound through prairie. The land is flat and then gentle rolls sometimes dropping into coulees. Very few trees and you can see a long ways. Some places have corn or soybean fields. Not a lot of people/houses the whole way but we did see a tribal high school at Stephan. We traveled along the Missouri River and saw the Big Bend. At Pierre (pronounced peer) we first went to Bad River Encounter Site. The site has a boulder, mounted plaque, and exhibits Lewis & Clark flags. Bad (Teton) River meets Missouri River here. This is where Lewis & Clark first met with the Sioux Nation. There was a confrontation between the groups but it was worked out. Black Buffalo’s Campsite doesn’t have a marker so we didn’t see it. It was really hot out so we were glad to get the outside exploring done first. 

Excellent Words At South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center, Pierre, SD 07/26

Next we went to South Dakota Cultural Historic Center. This place literally just opened a few days ago, and, only 1 section of it is done. The building is in the side of a hill and quite large. We felt it was done very well, well enough that if we come through this town again, we will definitely stop to see the rest of it completed. As we entered the room we saw the sign, above, and really appreciated the words. Fantastic!!!

Along the walls for South Dakota America’s 250th, they had signs about America. For example, one explained how we are a democracy (the people run) and a republic (“organizes the power through elected leaders who make decisions on the public’s behalf.”). And we learned South Dakota was the first state to have initiatives and referendums and propose or repeal laws and amend the constitution. Way to go, South Dakota! We learned more about Code Talkers and how they came from 33 tribes, including the Dakota, Lakota, and Lakota speakers. We read that late in WW1, an officer overheard two “American Indian soldiers” talking in their language. The officer realized he didn’t understand a word and then got to thinking about how that could be a way to send code. It was first used in June 1918. The codes were never broken. They had one film and it was captioned so we made sure to thank the employees at the desk and to please make sure all films here will be captioned, as work continues. They thanked us for our feedback. 

We stopped at a full grocery store in Pierre; now remember, we are 64 miles from our campground and this is the closest one to the west. We had some refrigerator things that needed to be cold so we used our portable cooler. At checkout we said we wanted a buy a bag of ice and the cashier said they don’t sell ice bags. That was shocking! Especially because this is the closest Walmart for hours away. Every person I saw in the parking lot had a cooler. And, most every cart had at least one of the big tube packages of hamburger. If you live a long way, you have to stock up! So, we went to Circle K down the road for ice bag and drinks. As soon as we saw the drink machines we saw a sign, “no ice.” Did they have ice bags? Only large bags; almost $8. We bought it and used about 1/2 the bag. Then drove back to Casey’s because we wanted our Diet Coke and Diet Dr Pepper with ice. As we headed in, a guy standing next to his truck asked if we were getting ice. He said they only had large bags. He got some cups of ice because he only needed a little to get back to his trailer. Kevin said, “OH man, I wish you had just been at Circle K with us because we could have shared a bag!” 

Drove home the same way. We usually like to go on “new to us roads” but this was the only way without adding a couple of hours. HA We discussed my idea that I had last night. Since we will be done with literally everything around this entire area by tomorrow, (Sunday) it doesn’t make a lot of sense to drive 40 minutes east on Saturday for laundry. How about we leave a day early on Saturday, get full hookups, do laundry, and go to the Costco there in Bismarck, North Dakota for one night. Yes, he said. This is because we will have another 2 weeks with only electric hookups, with water spigot and sewer dump nearby but not at our site. At home Kevin called a campground but they were full. So we booked KOA Bismarck for the Saturday night. Later Kevin sat outside. Probably big mistake – he has quite a bit of bites all over him. Glad I stayed inside. 

*The blog posts are taken from my daily travel journal. Would you believe – it takes me a 1/2 day every week to whittle down a week’s worth of journal so it won’t be too long for the post each week. HAHA Thank you for reading!

1. “Home” is where we park it. Home is our 2022 Alliance Avenue, 36 ft, 5th wheel.

2. “HOWE” is what we named our Alliance Avenue 36-ft 5th wheel. See: Home On WhEels and we pronounce it Howie. We live and travel in it full-time around the country. HOWE has stayed at least one night in all 48 continuous U.S. states.
4. Seaman – this is a toy dog we bought at the start of Lewis & Clark Trail. He is like the real dog that Meriwether Lewis had and took on the Trail with him. We thought it would be fun to take pictures of our Seaman as we travel along the Lewis & Clark Trail.