Day 11: Mitchell, SD to Storm Mountain Center with a stop at Wall Drug

April 25, 2014

This morning was beautiful in Mitchell.  No wind and bright blue sky.   

We walked the perimeter of Cabela's for some exercise.  We saw this snow stick on the fire hydrant and decided we didn't need to move anywhere where the snow poles are taller than either one of us.  

We were told that the poles were really that high so the snow plow operators would easily see them with having to strain to look down on them.  Not sure we want to move where they have to have snow plows anyway.  We slept a little late and actually were about an hour later leaving than we planned.  Then – while driving down the road we crossed the time zone line to Mountain Time and – we were no longer running late.   Nice!  If it were only that easy on Sunday when we are running late for church. 

We continued on I-90 West driving across South Dakota.  The speed limit on much of I-90 is 75 mph. In construction zones where they re-route the east bound lanes to the west bound side so there is head-to-head traffic, they drop it to 65 mph. Makes it interesting on windy days. We also thought it humorous that in these stretches of head-to-head traffic where they had red posts between the lanes they thought it necessary to post "Do Not Pass" signs.

Killed a lot of bugs today

Sign frequently seen at SD rest areas (also, good idea everywhere)

Also seen at SD rest areas

We stopped at a scenic overlook for our first real view of the Badlands.   

We plan to take a drive through the Badlands National Park and get our National Park Passport stamped before we leave this area.  We also saw the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands.  In Wall, SD we stopped at the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands Welcome Center – the only National Grasslands welcome center in the US.  It was very good and the staff very helpful.  From there we went on into town to the infamous Wall Drug.  It is really just a big collection of tourist shops much like those in Gatlinburg or Pigeon Forge.  It  does have very good ice cream.   

Downtown Wall, SD

After leaving Wall  and making a stop for fuel for the motorhome and the truck we headed on toward Storm Mountain Center. We arrived about 3:00 pm and were met by Ashley, one of the full time staff.  Later Steve, another staff member, came over to assure we got the rig parked and utilities connected.  We were then invited to dinner as well!  What a treat to visit with and get to know Ashley and Steve.  We look forward to meeting others at this camp and are anticipating a fun week of work. This is a really beautiful place!  We hope to be of some benefit to the camp as they are preparing for their summer camp season.   

Road into Storm Mountain Center

Our home for the next few days

We will have more pictures and information to share over the next few days.   Wild life for  today – 2 pheasants and many more geese and ducks. 

 

Day 10: Leavenworth, KS to Mitchell, SD and the Corn Palace

April 24, 2014

Today was another travel day – a longer one – and anything but boring - mostly in a good way.  This morning we left Leavenworth, KS about 6:30 with hopes of reaching Mitchell, SD by late afternoon.  We had very light rain, with temp of 69, and minimal winds. 

Geek-traveling from Kansas

Forecast for this afternoon in Mitchell, sunny with 15-25 mph winds and a low tonight of 39. We were hoping for the 15mph.  We re-entered MO and before reaching Iowa we hit heavy rain but it really didn't last long.  We entered Iowa about 0840 and about 10 miles later had our first exciting wild life sighting in several days.  Our first bald eagle of the trip!!  That was fitting since we have been watching the Decorah, IA Eagle Cam for the last few years. We just never tire of seeing eagles.  Yes, we see them in Alabama and we get excited when we see them there, too.  About a mile on up the road we, spotted the large nest of the eagles.  Yea! – Now maybe we will be adding more wildlife to our list.  Sorry – no picture because we didn't have a camera out.   

The trip today was primarily through acres and acres, miles and miles of what we think were corn fields.  Most were still showing the stubble from last year's harvest but some had been turned revealing the very rich looking black soil. 

 

Unusual cloud over fields

Road signs indicate we are in a different culture – signs for stetson outlets, stores with 18,000 pairs of boots and guided water fowl hunting trips.  We saw a lot of the water fowl at a nature reserve at a rest area a few miles north of Council Bluffs.  

As we were leaving Sioux Falls, we saw our first herd of buffalo.  There were feed lot buffalo – the kind they make buffalo burgers from. The sign advertised "skulls, hides, halves and quarters." They don't really count on our wild life tally since we didn't count all the black Angus cows we saw at feed lots.  Also as we left Sioux Falls, there was this bizarre sculpture garden with huge metal sculptures of a strange assortment things – a hammer, a longhorn, a rocking chair, all brightly painted.  Strange to see on the side of the interstate.  Unfortunately the entire drive from Sioux Falls to Mitchell the winds continued to increase.  About 20 miles out it was gusting 40-42mph.  

Whitecaps on small pond

If we hadn't been so close we would have just pulled off the interstate and found a campground, but since we were so close we just slowed down and continued.  We arrived safely in Mitchell and unhitched the truck and went to “The Word's Only Corn Palace.”  

What is a Corn Palace you ask?  Well, the first Palace was build in 1892 where settlers displayed their bounty on the building's exterior to prove the fertility of the soil and to attract immigrant farmers to settle in South Dakota.  Each year a new decorating theme is chosen and the outside of the Corn Palace is stripped and redecorated with new corn and grains.  Roughly 275 THOUSAND ears of corn are sawed in half lengthwise and nailed to the building following patterns created by local artists – sort of like a paint by number but with corn.   

The area above the stage inside the building is also decorated with a corn mural.  It is really something to see.   

The pictures can not do it justice.  It is considered “around the world as a folk art wonder.”   

Corn shuck dolls

We then returned to Cabela's where we had left the rig and are overnighting in their parking lot.  Cabela's really caters to the RVers.   The Mitchell store has a separate parking lot just for RVs.  The trucks are in another lot.  They even have a dump station and water.  Right now there are 5 other rigs here with us.  I wonder if any of them are going to Alaska?  This Cabela's is known for its wild life exhibits inside the store.  They have a polar bear, caribou, elk, moose as well as stone sheep and long horn sheep – very well done.   We plan to go on to the Storm Mountain Center, south of Rapid City, SD tomorrow if everything goes as planned.  See – we told you it wasn't a boring day.   

Day 9: Travel Day - St. Louis to Leavenworth, KS

April 23, 2014

Hello from Leavenworth, Ks.  Today's blog may be a little boring.  Today was a travel day.  We drove from St Louis to Columbia, Mo, to Kansas City, Mo, to Kansas City, Ks to Leavenworth.  Not a very aggressive driving day but we got up this morning and spent some time evaluating the forecasts for this area as well as the route on further north.  We left about lunch time and then stopped in Columbia at the Camping World.  RVs are like boats.  You always need something.  Today we wanted to top off the propane tank because we are going to have some cold weather when we first arrive at Storm Mountain.  Other than that we made one stop for fuel.  It was an uneventful day which is what we want for travel days.  We had forgotten that Kansas City was a huge railroad town.  Our route took us by the largest rail yard we have seen.  We also drove through a lot of farm country.  Hundreds of acres.  BIG tractors with BIG discs turning the soil readying it for planting.  Other than that it was a lot of long straight highway. 

What we saw today

Oh, we haven't been giving you a wildlife count because we haven't seen anything but one more wild turkey and some buzzards.  We will resume that count when we actually see something interesting.  Thanks for all the nice comments and emails.   

Day 8: St. Louis Zoo

April 22, 2014

Hello again from Babler State Park.  We extended our stay for another night first thing this morning.  For those of you who are not very familiar with RVers one of the favorite sayings is that “Our plans are written in jello.”  Pretty often RVers “shake up the jello” and change their plans.  That's what we did this morning after reviewing the weather forecasts for areas west and north of here.  Our next major stop is planned to be Rapid City, SD where we have arranged to do some volunteer work at a Methodist church camp.  However, after reviewing weather forecasts last night and again the morning we decided we needed to delay our arrival there by a few days.  We don't like driving the rig in strong winds and the predictions indicated 30-45mph wind gusts along our route.  So, we spent most of the day at the St. Louis Zoo.  

It was great!  We are so glad we got to really spend some time there rather than rushing through everything.  One of the best things about the Zoo is that it is free! Parking is $15.00, but as we were driving up we saw cars parked beside the road.

So, we were able to find a free spot less than a mile away and walked back to the entrance. What a deal!

The zoo has 18,000 animals, with some animals we had never seen or heard of before, like a bush dog.  Randy, we tried to get you a picture of the Red Panda, but it was up in a cave sleeping.  

It was a beautiful spring day and St. Louis is very pretty right now.  The tulips at the St Louis Art Museum are in full bloom and just gorgeous.  Hope you enjoy today's pictures.