Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Left Onawa, IA out to Sioux City, IA at 8:45am, 55 degrees, sunny, blue skies and flat as a pancake land. We intend to visit the Sergeant Charles Floyd Monument and Overlook and the L&C Visitors and Interpretive Center, both sites in Sioux City, IA. We also wanted to do a "drive by" Dordt College in Sioux Center, IA and then drive up to our Mitchell KOA campground in Mitchell, SD. 

How are we doin'?

We're doing well, enjoying the country and the history and the people. But, we do find ourselves asking very simple questions to each other like, "what state are we in?" or "was that yesterday?" or "what did we do yesterday?" It does appear that tonight we had the perfect campsite; clear sky, cool temps in low 70s, no humidity, shady campsite on level ground ... but for the next few hours we smelled smoke ("oh, we're just burning some old stumps out back") and at 8:30pm quite a few bulls next to the campground started a'holler'in and moo'in and a'gruntin', quite a racket.

Weather:

Again, no humidity, sunny, blue skies and comfortable temperatures:  at 11:30 am, 68 degrees, at 1:45 pm, 74 degrees. Tonight, a beautiful sunset and temps in high 60s tonight. 

Sergeant Charles Floyd Monument and Overlook in Sioux City, IA

He was born in Kentucky, recruited at Camp River Dubois in MO and 21 years old when he died; highly regarded by both Captains and members of the Expedition.  He was one of the 3 Sergeants.  His daily journal of only 99 days was discovered in the records of the State of Wisconsin archives in 1893 and his journal was published in 1894.  He was re interred twice, once in 1857 and again from near the Missouri River to the present monument in 1900, due to the changing river conditions.  Floyd's was the only fatality of the 44+ men of the Corps of Discovery, probably due to acute appendicitis and sepsis. 

The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center, Sioux City, IA

An excellent museum focusing on Iowa's contribution to the Lewis and Clark Expedition as well as the Sioux Indians. The painted murals and dioramas were very well done and exhibitions of the Corp's daily life and Sioux Indian experiences were presented very well. 

Dordt College, Sioux Center, IA

We planned a slight detour north to do a "drive by" Dordt College campus.  Friends Dan Steenstra and Dawn and Mark Van Denend were graduates. 

The Great Plains

Wilma noticed the dark, rich soil and large steer farms and corn fields on our drive west on Rt 90. The South Dakota speed limit was 80 mph.  We arrived at Mitchell KOA 3:30pm and leveled the camper, set up power, the crapper and water in 20 minutes.

Keel boat pictures

Yesterday, we stopped at the L&C State Park in Owana, IA and got to step on board a working replica of the keel boat.  Quite an experience to visualize and actually stand on the boat and think what it might have been like.

 

Tomorrow, Wilma's birthday, we're planning to head west and north towards Chamberlain, SD then due north towards our campground in Akaska, SD. We've got quite a few sites to see in and around Bismark, ND including the North Dakota L&C Interpretive Center in Washburn, ND (Ft Mandan), Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site in Stanton, ND, the Three Tribes Museum in New Town, ND and Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site in Williston, ND.

One of our dilemmas coming up soon is whether we want to go the southern Billings, MT Bozeman, MT route along the Yellowstone River or the actual L&C northern route following the upper Missouri River to the Great Falls. 

We Proceed on....