Long Long Ago

Sunday, September 20

Today is a day of looking back into long ago. Moments after leaving our KOA in Yankton, I see a familiar sign in front of a beef slaughter plant - Cimpl Meats. Back when I worked at J&B Meats, this was one of the plants we purchased beef from. This blast from the past seemed to set the tone for the day - one of remembering and reminiscing.

We are in the midst of Lewis and Clark history. Their excursion passed through this area and their legacy is strong here. We stop at Gavin's Point Dam which holds back the waters of the Missouri River to form Lewis and Clark Lake. As dams go, it's pretty ordinary but the lake is quite picturesque, nestled between steep, wooded bluffs. But our group is just as fascinated by little things, and our short stop finds us peering into a fisherman's cooler admiring his bass and crouching over a road-killed snake.

Our van brakes for anything we find interesting, and road signs lead us to our next two destinations. A nice little aquarium and fish hatchery features local aquatic life; the aquarium's turtle sculpture features us striking stupid poses on its shiny metal back. (Thanks, Dawn and Tiff for making us look stupid.) We whip a U-turn at a shrine sign, and find the lovely House of Mary Shrine. It has the requisite bathtub Mary, but also much more. The peaceful garden has a cascading stream, a heart-shaped pool, sculptures of the saints and a walking rosary. Shrines and grottos are almost always worth a look, and this one certainly is. We thoroughly enjoy the stop.

This is cattle country! Wide open grasslands and rolling fields that seem to go on forever surround us; it is so flat we can see for miles and miles in all directions. Crops are like we grow at home - corn and beans, plus vast quantities of hay in big round bales. The wind buffets the car and we talk about stories we've read of pioneer women who went crazy from the constant wind. Every farm we see is almost completely surrounded by trees - rows and rows of trees. Some houses are almost completely obscured by trees. We can only assume that this is protection from the relentless wind and wind-driven snow. One farm has 5 or 6 rows of heavy board fencing lined up in parallel rows in its pasture - it looks like these too are for wind protection, this time for the cows we see standing in the fence's shade.

There are quite a number of abandoned houses and farms; each time we see one we shout, "Abandoned!" and discuss the potential for exploring. "Too close to that farmhouse." "Locked gate." "Too much traffic." It seems we all have a fascination with these abandoned places but haven't worked up the nerve yet to stop and check one out. They give us a lot of topics for discussion though, about early settlers' hardships and difficulties, their determination and strength. The miles pass, lively with conversation.

We drive to Scotland just to take our picture in front of the sign and say we've been to Scotland, then cruise along the pink roads to Mitchell. We are greeted by a far different Corn Palace than the one we visited 2 years ago. The large crowds of summer are gone, and so are the displays and gift shops inside the palace. It is now being used as a basketball

arena, and the outdoor facades are being torn down and readied for the new corn murals. Only a few tourists stroll the streets, and the souvenir shops have sold much of their stock for the season. Traveling out of season is an unusual experience, but we decide we like it - a lot!

Visitors centers are like shrines - always worth a look. The visitor center near Chamberlain is one of the best we've seen so far. Set high on the bluffs, we have a superb view of the Missouri River. Inside, we are treated to a fabulous museum of the Lewis and Clark story. A replica of a keel boat and the stacks of provisions needed for their long exccursion make it clear just how difficult it truly was. I recently read "Undaunted Courage" and the displays here are the visual counterpart to the book, bringing it starkly to life. Lewis and Clark were badasses!



Ghost riders in the sky!

Past Chamberlain, the terrain changes once again. The land starts to become hillier and the crops are different; instead of the corn and beans we saw earlier it is now sorghum and sunflowers. But there is still a lot of hay - and when I say a lot I mean so much hay that it boggles the mind. The quantities are simply staggering. We pass the time telling all the stories we know about Dad, Grandpa Wilfred, and Great Grandpa Carl. Dawn and Tiff are fascinated by the stories they've never heard before, and enjoy learning more about their own history.

As we enter Custer State Park, we have a dilemna with the route. The park map is not at all clear about the best way to get to our campground. The pink dot on the map that marks our campsite appears to have a couple routes that will take us there. We pick the one we think may be shorter, but long story short, we're wrong. The roads that the map says are thru roads are not; twice we reach dead ends and have to backtrack. By now it's dark, the roads are winding and hilly, we are tired and hungry, and deer are taunting us at every turn. Finally, finally we reach the elusive pink dot that represents our cabin and realize that damn pink dot was in the wrong place entirely! We won't go into how it got on the map in the first place. ;-) It's too late to start a fire to make dinner, but we have sandwich fixings and pasta salad so are able to eat something before crashing into bed, exhausted. In spite of the unexpected problem finding our campground, we had a fun day sightseeing and looking back at our country's history and our family's history. Goodnight, South Dakota!