Pompey's Pillar, Pictograph SP

Today's adventure was to go to Pompey's Pillar and view Cpt. Clarks signature in the rock. Cpt. Clark and his party were making the return trip of the Corps of Discovery. I had planned on taking a short cut via some local roads but I was driving off the lower half of the Jeep's tank and decided that I needed to gas. Their aren't any fuel stops between Hardin and Billings. We finally we were able to fuel up in Huntly.

When we arrived at the park there were about 6 bikers paying their fee. I think each was using a credit card because we waited quite a while. One of the rangers finally came out and looked at our Seniors pass and waved us through. We took a look at the displays in the visitors center and watched part of the film they show. Since we had been at several Lewid and Clark stops the film and displays were not much different from what we had seen. So it was out to the Pillar.

We climbed to where Clark's signature which is protected by plexiglass.

The views from the top are fantastic.

Once we had spent a few minutes talking with the volunteer at the top we left to get some lunch before going to Pictograph Caves SP. It was a neat drive into the state park. It is $5 for non residents. A couple of the caves were closed due to rock slides but we found it interesting.

7th Ranch & Little Bighorn

Leaving Rapid we made our way to the 7th Ranch RV Camp where we would  be staying for 3 nights. After we got set up we headed out for dinner and hoped to beat the storm we knew was coming. Just as we were finishing dinner the storm hit, what a storm. Golf ball size hail and high winds. Our jeep now has aerodynamic dimples which we hope will improve gas mileage. No broken glass. We returned to 7th Ranch to see a lot of debris and some damage to rv's.  Vent covers broken/cracked, at least one broken window and one awning. Our coach suffered no damage.

The next day we were of to the battlefield. We had a very good ranger talk and drive thru the park. Quite impressive. Back to the RV for lunch before heading out to Garryowen MT. which consists of a gas station, Subway, gift shop/trading post, museum, Federal PO and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. It is a very interesting museum. After our time there we took a little ride into the boonies to see what was over the hill, another hill.

Back to the coach for dinner and a great sunset.

Rapid City

This was our next stop on our way west. Our friends Herb and Ginger, the spices, are staying in Hill City about a half hour away. They came to visit and see the changes to our coach. We had a very nice visit and then went to lunch at the Firehouse Brewing Company. After a find lunch went Prairie Edge which is as much a museum as it is a store. We visited a few more shops and visited with the Presidents that were on the corners we passed. I fist bumped a couple and gave a high 5 to Jimmy Carter. You do know that Rapid City is the city of Presidents, don't you?

We then took a walk down Art Alley and visited Call of the Wild and the Visitors Center Neither of which Herb and Ginger had been to. Art Alley seemed a little depressed, more graffiti than art.

The next day we got hair cuts and did some shopping. Once back at Americas Mailbox, AMB, we picked up our mail. Even though there was quite a bit of mail it did seem like we were missing something. But I didn't go back an argue with them.

After we took care of our mail we went to Hill City to visit with Herb and Ginger before going to dinner at Alpine Inn. We went to town early because we knew that there would be a line. The girls did a little shopping and Herb and I went to see if we could get our name on a list. Well there is no list. When the dining room opens form a line and go in. Herb and I decided to have a Dunkelweizen. Good Beer. When the girls finished shopping they joined us in the bar which by now was full and it was still 15 minutes until the dining room opened. Great dinner, great desert, great friends.

Easy travel day

Today we traveled to Plankinton SD which is west of Mitchel on I90. To get to I90 we drove on a section of the Pan American Highway, US 81https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_81. At one time, WABAC, this road linked Canada with Mexico. As with most "mother" roads the Interstate has taken its toll. The southern terminus is now Ft Worth and various interstates, I35 for instance, have taken over the road. Click the link above to read more on this highway.

There is a nice little camp ground, Hills, just off I90 and that is where we are staying. This is a PA park so we get a good deal. 50A FHU.

WABAC II

As we were returning from our last trip in our WABAC machine we passed by The Dakota Territorial Museum. So that would be our next WABC trip. This is a small but very interesting museum. There is a replica of a Gatling gun as well as many Native Peoples, WW I and WWII items as well as many household items from the area.

What I found most interesting was the log cabin that was lived in from the time it was built in the 1800 until the decedents moved into a new house in 1953. There is also a one room school house that was used from 1900 to 1970.

View their online album here.

On our return to Nebraska Tailwaters CG we pulled off to take a look at the Meridian  Bridge. This bridge is a local Icon. It was built to allow traffic across the river. Before the bridge was built there was a ferry and in winter they drove across the ice. When the bridge was built the cars of the day could pass by each other. As cars and trucks got bigger they could no longer pass by each other. A system of lights was installed but people were impatient and caused a few problems. A second deck was added for North bound traffic. The bridge is now a foot bridge and used by a lot of folks. Suzette and I walked about as far as the NE SD state like and following are some of the pictures.

WABAC Machine

Suzette is very good at finding unique things we should visit. In small print on the state map was reference to a museum in Freeman SD. The Heritage Museum looked interesting so off we go. We have the address plugged into the GPS and think we are golden. We see a sign for the turn for the museum, blinker on, slow down, oh shit, road closed. No Problem we have a GPS. We follow the directions and find ourselves at the Freeman Academy. No sign of the Museum. We drive around looking for something that might lead us in the right direction. We give up and ask for directions. It turns out we were in the right place, kinda, the museum is in a build behind the gymnasium. So we take the ladies directions and arrive at the museum. Looks closed. But it isn't we are just the only folks to be visiting at that time.

Wow what a place, truly a rare find. Go to the link above for more information but put this on your Yankton SD list. Following are some pictures and there are more in our online album under Links sidebar.

Indian 4

Yes there is farm equipment

1927 Lincoln Page BiPlane

Hosiery knitting machine

Centrifuge

Phone booth

Stuff, that display in the foreground is buttons

There are several buildings also open for viewing. I think we spent the most time in the Deckert House. This house has a unique Russian Oven and chimney. You can learn more about the oven and heating system here. There is an area of the chimney that is used to smoke meats.

Why a Russian Oven in South Dakota? This area was settled by Russian Germans. I had no idea. Do an internet search for much more information.

After 2 or so hours in the museum it was time to eat. So off to the Prairie House Restaurant. We just had to have Chislic a local favorite. This reminded us of Spiedies that you find in the Binghamton NY area,.

The Chislics are all gone. These are BBQ Pork and BBQ Brisket. GOOD

Oh for those that don't remember Mr. Peabody's WABAC machine, click the link.

Scenic Drive, Outlaw Trail

After leaving the Music Museum we went for a quick lunch and then headed out for a scenic drive. We took SD 19 south to Nebraska and shortly after crossing the MO we turned into a scenic overlook. It was an overcast day but...
This section of the Mighty MO is claimed to be the last untamed section of the river. It lies wholly below the Gavis Point Dam and is not managed for navigation. This 100 mile section is free flowing with sections managed by the National Park Service. You can read more here and here. The following pictures are a couple of views of the river.

Looking up river

Down river

 We continued South on NE 19 to the intersection with NE12. Sections of this road are known as The Outlaw Trail and we headed West thinking we might to to Devils Nest. Jesse James is said to have had a hideout in Devils Nest. This was a scenic drive on mostly good 2 lane road. It could be driven in a motorhome with no problem. We made a few turnoffs to investigate little towns along the way. Upon reaching US81 we turned North to go to the Discovery Welcome Center. We picked up a few pamphlets and saw that in Crofton there was a Pulley Museum. We drove along NE12 to Crofton went up and down the main streets, no museum that we could see. We went back to 12 and continued West, no museum. We came to the junction of 121 which would take us back to the campground. So we made the turn and headed "home".

As we approached the Gavins Point Dam, Lewis and Clark Visitor Center we decided to turn in and see if we could go on the last Dam tour of the day. We could just go to the Dam lobby and sign in. With about a half hour to kill we decided we would see one of the movies about Lewis and Clark.

Unfortunately you can't take pictures on the tour. Not only that but you can't bring you cell, any pack or purse, nada. So you will just have to trust that we went on the tour. When you get a chance go on one it is quite interesting.

National Music Museum

Another wonderful find. As we were coming up I29 we saw several signs for National Music Museum. Humm would we be near it? Sure enough when we were traveling west on SD50 we saw a sign that pointed to the university.

A day or so later we went to Vermillion and found the Museum. There was some parking on the streets but not near the museum so we pulled in the parking lot. Sucks, it's a metered lot. Takes only quarters, we don't have any. We were able to get some from the museum and put in enough for 2 hours.

The museum is free on Friday's and they loan you iPod's so that you can get information and hear the instrument at the numbered displays. This made our tour so much better. There some very rare instruments in the display. Some are 1 of 2 known. It is really something. We used the 2 hours we had on the meter.

This is a must stop when you plan your South Dakota trip.

  

Nebraska Tailwaters

We are just south of Yankton SD on the Nebraska side at Nebraska Tailwaters Campground. This is an electric only campground with the dump station on highway 121 above the campground. When we arrived yesterday we were greeted with a Bald Eagle fishing over the river. By the time I got my camera and put on the telephoto lens he was gone.

Our first order of business after setup was to again go to the visitors center. There are good views of the Lewis and Clark lake as well as downstream below the dam. We talked with a work camper and got some of the lay of the land. and a suggestion for our trip to Glacier NP. The road over the dam is closed during the day while maintenance is being done. When they open the road it is limited to vehicles less than 9' wide. Since we are 8'6", not counting the mirrors, I'll not attempt this with the MH.

Raining today, 6/11, so we took a ride to town and did a little shopping for lunch. Tomorrow we plan to go to Vermillion to the Music Museum, that will be another entry.

Our campsite

The spillway and Lewis and Clark lake beyond

A view down river from the visitors Center

Since this was once an inland sea there are sharks teeth to be found

A view out our front window.

Lewis and Clark State Park Onawa IA

This was an overnight stop but it could have been much longer had we done a little research and changed our schedule but ...

Lewis and Clark SP is a nice park, we had a full hookup pull-thru site. There was no one at the check in station but one of the folks told us where our site was so we didn't have to spend time going in the wrong direction.

As soon as we were setup we headed for the visitors center and museum. They had very nice displays and the State Park is located where Discovery camped.

Replica of a keel boat

The actual outboard motor used to power Lewis and Clark up river. All that business with oars and ropes was just for show. I didn't know they had outboards back then.

Replicas in the museum, Visitors Center

BLOOMINGTON EAST, KS

A little out of the way for a visit to Kansas City but Bloomington East on Clinton Lake south west of Lawrence KS worked for us. Our GPS took us on a more scenic route than was necessary but that was really a function of settings. We use Rand McNally RV7720 and I put in the RV information, length, height, weight, width etc. and the Rand should not route us on roads we would be illegal on. Hence the more scenic route. One route had a weight limit of 40,000 #'s and I have the GPS set for our Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, 43,000 #'s.

The CORPS park had 50A and water at the paved site which was easy in and out. The park is known to get busy but it was mostly empty when we were there. The sites are very level side to side and front to back.

Our main reason for this stop was to go to KC and visit the Arabia Steamboat Museum. WOW what a story. After some initial presentation by your tour guide there is a film about the Arabia and its discovery. After the film, on the day we were there, David Hawley who made the discovery was available to answer questions. The Q&A went on so long that our tour guide had to kick us out because another tour was waiting.

What a great museum. It has taken time to write this post because I am adding links and when I find one I begin reading it and have to remind myself to get back to this post.

After we had spent as much time as we wanted in the museum it was time to eat and we found Winslows BBQ there in City Market. We pondered the menu for a while and then ordered figuring a large late lunch would last well into the evening and we would find something light for an evening snack.

After lunch we browsed thru the City Market but didn't see anything we wanted to we decided to go to the WWI Museum. Well this being June 6 there was a lot going on. We never did find out just what was happening at the museum but there was NO parking without an uphill hike. So we looped around for a photo op and then headed back to the campground.

 Our next outing was a tour of Lawrence which we started at the visitors center where we saw a film on Quantrill's raid. Mom had said that some distant relation was a survivor of the raid by hiding in a cornfield. But I don't have the Genealogy work she did and what I could find on Ancestry.com did show that a branch of her family was  in the area.

Lunch in Lawrence. I had been told that the place to have lunch in Lawrence was the Free State Brewery. So that's what we did. Great food and excellent beer. 

Arabia Steamship Museum

Arabia Steamship Museum

World War I Museum

Travel time and St Louis

Our next stop was "Bo" Wood campground which is a very nice CORPS park. The weather wasn't all that good but we did take a tour of the dam facility and drove thru Shelbyville IL but it was Sunday afternoon and there wasn't much to see or do.
On our way to the CG we had a warning indicating a problem with the exhaust particulate filter. So when we left Bo Wood we went to Decatur IL to an international dealer to have the coach looked at. It turned out to be a fuel delivery problem, meaning fuel filters were restricted. Perhaps we had some bad fuel or the service we had done in April was not correctly done. Anyway after about 4 hours we were on the road and headed to St Louis MO.

We stayed at a very nice county/city CG, 370 Lakeside Park in St Peters just west of SL. We wanted to visit friends from Sun-N-Fun as well as see the Arch. We got it all in as well as a walk thru St Charles where the Journey of Discovery set off from. St Charles, aka St Chuck, which was also the first capitol of MO. The Lewis and Clark visitors center had a nice little display and there were to  be 3 replicas of the boats used. They were not there, they were in Calgary CA to be used in a documentary. While on our walk of St Chuck I did buy a little over a pound fresh fudge.

We did get downtown to see and ride to the top of the arch. In looking for parking I found that every place close was a parking garage so off came the kayaks and bikes. The J bars still hit the floor above but they rotated down enough that they were no problem. We purchased our ride tickets in advance so that made live a little easier. There was a lot of construction around the Arch so we didn't see much more than the arch.
More pictures are here.

Focal Wood and beyond

When we left Duncan we went to Napannee to get our cabinets from Focal Wood. Once they were installed we were on our way to Mississinewa Lake State Park near Peru IN. That would be our base from which we would go to Kokomo.

On our way we were buffeted by strong winds and heavy rain. The Malfunction Indicator Lamp, MIL, started flashing but I confused it with the High Exhaust Temperature Light, HEST, and figured a Diesel Particulate Filter, DPF, was doing a regeneration. We were running right along and things seemed fine. However when I had to slow and then accelerate I noticed that the power was way down. I checked the turbo boost pressure and it would not go above 23#'s. Damn another problem in the middle of nowhere. I called the last dealer I had been to for the reprogramming of the ECM and they could provide no over the phone help. Take it to a shop. There was one on the way to our next destination so I figured I would go there when we left.

Our main reason for going to Kokomo was to take a tour of the Kokomo Opalescent Glass factory as well as see a couple of museums and find the Vermont covered bridge that is in a city/county park.
The tour of the factory was very interesting. It is hard to describe so a couple of pictures will speak the words I can't find.

They "hop" the molten glass, about 80# I think, over to the mixing table and pour it out.

Once the molten glass is on the table it is "mixed", basically folded like dough, then thrown into the forming rollers

After it has cooled it is cut into panels and off to packaging.

The tour guide said that they have orders that fill shipping containers. Many to Europe, Japan and ...

After lunch we went to a museum, oh crap closed on Monday. Then it was off to find the Vermont Covered Bridge in a local park.

Patience Patience Patience

When you have a home that is on wheels you need a little patience, well a lot of patience.

We left our winter home at Sun-N-Fun April 12 and had an appointment at Alliance Coach in Wildwood FL. for annual service and a couple of warranty items. We were in the shop on the 13th for a few hours and they addressed some of the issues and determined that one of the hydraulic leveling jacks needed to be replaced. So that gets ordered on Tuesday I think. Nope they have to wait for warranty approval from ARG.

Places we've been

This shows the places we've been since joining rillage.com.