Traveling to Bismark, ND

Sunday, May 31, 2015
Today we were up early to take off in Group 1 at 8:00 am and head north to Bismark where we will stay for a couple of days.  It was a grey overcast day with some spit in the air and a real chill though it finally got up into the low 60s by midday.  There were a couple of suggested stops but both had little in the way of parking for big rigs towing cars so we opted to simply drive straight through.  That meant we arrived too early so had to hang out at a nearby rest stop for awhile before coming in and getting set up (we are told each time we move the two hour time period when we can come in)

There was time to wash clothes, clean up the RV and car (covered in mud from all the rain and dirt roads) and just relax for a bit.

We will be back to touring again tomorrow

A Visit to Pierre, South Dakota

Good morning!  And good it is!  The sun is streaming in the windows and while it is only 40 degrees there is a promise of a high of 65 and absolutely NO RAIN!  We are at a beautiful state park in Ft. Pierre surrounded by lots of beautiful trees and wide expanses of very green grass,

parked around a circle that is so wide we can just see glimpses of each other.

And just a short walk to the end of the road reveals this beautiful view of the Missouri River.

 Most of us had our GPSs tell us we had crossed into the Mountain Time Zone but our phones and watches presently still are giving us Central Time which is what we are living on at the present. Apparently the time zone line skims the area - at least it appears to do that on the map.  (Our guide today told us we are in the Mountain Time Zone BUT the people in this town work in the capital city next door, Pierre, so prefer to remain in the same time zone as it is.

Today a bus tour took us over the Oahe Dam which now controls the Missouri River in this area and uses its power to create electricity for the area.  This camping area is the first thing below the dam so it is very close by.

From there we drove into the city to the South Dakota State Capital Building for a tour.

The building is basically a copy of the Montana capital as back when they were going to build it Montana offered its architectural plans for a very low price which saved them alot of money.  But because they used some different techniques they have been able to preserve things like the glass floor inside while Montana had to remove theirs.  This is what the front entry way looks like

The center dome is absolutely awesome

Along one hall there was a series of showcases with miniatures of formal outfits worn by each of the Governor's wives

One of their governor's, George Mickelson, was killed in a plane crash along with several government officials.  This Fighting Stallions memorial was put up in their honor on the mall area surrounding the capital.

Looking down the lagoon in front of this memorial you can see this beautifully done WWII memorial that now has special walls also honoring those who fought in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

I stood behind the statues representing each of the armed forces to shoot toward the flaming fountain in front of the walls memorializing those who died in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts

 And here is Ken by the eagle between the two walls

The bus then took us a few blocks to the Cultural Heritage Center for a self guided tour.  The museum covered everything from early American Indian cultures to the arrival of white settlers, river boats and railroads and life in the area. A peek into a full size teepee on display showed some of the items we'd seen at the Lakota Museum the day before including decorated boxes and "chairs".

We've seen lots of these tobacco twists before but I've never shared a picture.  This is the way it was carried by the men and how it was traded with the Indians

There was a small sod house which you could go in and listen to memories of people who had lived in them.  They were typically 8 X 10 and might house a very large family.  They leaked alot and snakes were known to come crawling out of the walls or ceiling.  I'm sure glad I never had to live in one!!!

There were displays telling of the growth of ranching with this picture of a sheep herders home on wheels.  He would need to move every six weeks while taking care of the sheep and moving them from one pasture to another.  It doesn't look quite as comfortable as our home on wheels.

I was intrigued with this granite post outside of the museum.  It is a sample of the posts set every half mile along the border between North and South Dakota.

After lunch on our own in town, a step on guide joined us to take us to a couple of interesting spots in the town.  The first was in Lilly Park where the Bad River and Missouri River join.  It is here that Lewis and Clark had their first encounter with the Teton Lakota Chiefs.  It came close to being a disaster as the meeting took place before their interpreters could join them.  (The Bad River is flowing in from the left of this picture--note the muddy water)

This is our group gathered to listen to what Geraldine was telling us

She then took us up to the Verendrye Monument on a hill overlooking this spot where we are standing. It is here that the French buried a metal claiming this land for France back in the 1700's.  It was found by a couple of teenagers recently.  They were going to recycle the metal for cash when someone found out about it - it is now in the museum.

From this point we could better see the full length of LaFamboise Island in the Missouri and how the water flowed on each side of it.

Looking up river you can see the tip of the island on the left.  This shot also gives a feel for how "lumpy" the hills are in this area.  It tends to look like mounds bumping into mounds.

We returned to the campground where she continued to tell us about the bad flood of 2011 when the whole area was under water.  She pointed out the trees with their white marks showing where the water came to.  Luckily it didn't kill them.  They feel it is because the water was moving so rapidly that it actually brought oxygen to the roots.  Usually it is a lack of oxygen from being in standing water that kills the trees.

 We then had a travel meeting

Then we joined our friends Bob and Glenda Christian for supper at the local marina where we watched lots of fishing and pleasure boats coming in for the night and getting loaded on trailers as well as the variety of people coming for the wedding reception on the patio in the back.  It sure provided lots of local color!!!

Plains Indians and Rainy Plains

This morning we woke to our beautiful view of the Missouri River with I-90 running by between us and it but just a bit lower so the view was not marred by the road.  However, the skies were heavy and the predictions were -- you guessed it, rain and wind.

We had an unusual start today as we all pulled out of the campground following each other to the Akta Lakota Museum

on the campus of St. Joseph's Indian School in Chamberlain, SD just under four miles away.  We parked along a circular drive on the edge of the Missouri River and walked over to the museum for a tour before setting off for our next destination.

The Akta Lacota Indians were part of the larger group called Plains Indians that lived through out what we now refer to as the Plains states.  They were nomads who depended on the buffalo heavily for their food, tools, clothing, housing, and just about everything else.  Every part of the buffalo was used for something - this display board just begins to touch on some of the items

One of the items that intrigued me was the use of the bladder.  It and the stomach were both used as a cooking pot as well as a container to hold water as they were water tight.

Even some of the kids games were made from bones and hide.  All of the games were developed to help the children gain excellent hand eye coordination, gain skills in swiftness and prepare them for everyday life. (in this case it was deer bones)

The girls made dolls, their clothes, teepees, etc. learning all of the skills necessary for womanhood when they would be the owners of and in charge of creating, putting up and taking down the teepees, making all of the clothing, cooking, and rendering the buffalo once it is killed into all of its various parts so it could be fully used.  

The boys by the time they were six were already accompanying their fathers on nearby hunts and doing small chores in the camps.  Grandparents did much of the everyday child care.

In the above picture you'll notice the miniature leaning chair on the left. This was apparently their "Lazy Boy".  Two adult sized ones were set up for people to try if they wished though none of us had the agility the Indians did to get down and really enjoy it.

They used paints made out of various flowers to decorate their clothing and blankets often telling a story in their designs. Bones were used to paint with

Lovely boxes and envelopes made out of hide carried their belongings.

Between a film and the displays we were able to get  a real good feel for their way of life.  It was amazing to hear that a woman could get a teepee put up in ten minutes with the assistance of another woman and take it down in three minutes.  Since they were often on the move this would have been a necessary skill I guess.

The clothing as we all know from pictures was decorative first with paints, shells, hair and bones and then when trading began lots of tiny beads.

Even the horses had decorative wear for special occasions

The popular headdresses were made up of eagle's feathers attached to a leather bonnet - each feather signifying a courageous deed.  The goal was 36 feathers - equal to 3 eagles worth of tail feathers.

The rain was coming down hard when we finished at the museum so our drives had to begin with very damp bodies in the seats.  The winds were quite strong as well so the drive itself was not what had been hoped.  It followed the Missouri River to Ft. Pierre first traveling two lane roads through plains with only an occasional home to be seen but horses and other animals were spotted along the way.  Then the plains began to become hills and by the time we finished we were at a higher elevation still very near the Missouri River.  In fact the name of this campground is Oahe Downstream as it is near the Oahe Dam.

I don't think the temperature ever got any higher than 55 but the winds did die down as did the rain and by evening we were getting patches of sunshine.  Hopefully a sign of a good day tomorrow.

Following the Missouri River Through South Dakota

Early this morning we left North Sioux City and continued to follow the Missouri River all the way to the tiny town of Oacoma and a camping spot facing the Missouri River.  The weather was gorgeous though the skies did start getting a bit more threatening shortly before we pulled in for the night.  In fact, we were still hooking up when the rains came including lots of thunder and lightning.

We started out with plans for a couple of stops along the way but ran into disappointment at the first spot - The National Music Museum  - which was on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion, SD.  We drove around and couldn't find a place to park so continued on.  Our friends, Frank and Bette, were lucky enough to find a spot later and told us it was a wonderful museum filled with an amazing collection of instruments from virtually all cultures and historical periods.  The museum itself owns over 15,000 instruments!!!  For the tour they were given a player that provided a self guided tour providing information about the instruments along with how they sounded.

They shared a couple of pictures with us.  This one is of a Glass Harmonica which was invented by Ben Franklin.  We had an opportunity to see one played when visiting Williamsburg, VA with our granddaughter Rachel a couple of years ago.  It has a beautiful sound.

And this one shows a variety of horns.  The one on top is an echo horn and the one below it is a double bell euphonium.  Certainly not your everyday instrument!!

Meanwhile we continued on to Mitchell, home of the famous Corn Palace.  They are in the midst of a huge reconstruction project both inside and out so it was not at its prime but we still enjoyed both the inside and outside murals completely created from varying colors of cobs of corn.  We were told that one farmer provides all of the corn used each year growing a variety of colors on his 100 acre field. Each year in the fall, all of the outside murals are changed to fit that year's theme. This year is a American Pride

The murals on the walls inside remain the same though they are refreshed every few years as the corn dries up and starts to fall.  The building itself is the towns auditorium and basketball court but becomes a "store" filled with rolling shelves of tourist stuff when it is not being used for either of those things. As you can see in the picture below there are lots of murals on the walls above the stage and each end of the building.

All of this started when a couple of business men decided something needed to be done to attract more people to the area - to settle on the end and "grow" the area.  This is the second building as the first one was simply too small once they had achieved their goat of attracting many.  This is a picture of the first decorated palace back in 1894

And this was in 1937

While there, we enjoyed lunch with one of the other couples on this caravan, Ted and Mary Kerr, before heading back out on the road.

Our final stop was at a "Lewis and Clark" Rest Stop and Visitor Center.  They had some interesting displays inside including the prow of a keel boat with hatches opened to display items taken on the trip (covered in glass or course).

And on the outside balcony we could look out at the Missouri River.