Iowa and Nebraska

Stone Park, Sioux City, Iowa
This is an interesting, old time park, with an even more interesting history. The entrance immediately sets the tone.

Throughout the park there are beautiful red stone buildings, some are offices and some are available for large group gatherings.

The campground, in spite of all the space, is fairly small and cramped. It was clearly laid out in times when everyone camped with a tent or very small trailer, so getting today's rigs shoehorned in is "interesting". Several of us managed, and it turned out, we were all here because of the need to make reservations at the last minute over a holiday weekend. . . everything else was booked up.

In spite of the space constraints things worked out pretty well. There's lots of green space, and some extra parking available.

This park is a good example of how experiences can be very different depending on the time of year.
Another blogger reported that during their stay here in August the mosquitos were so bad they had to stay indoors the whole time they were here. Now, in September, we only saw 2 mosquitos! Bugs in general weren't bad at all. We had a different problem.

There are trails everywhere, which a month ago would have been perfect for exploring with the dogs. However, as it's fall now all the weeds/wildflowers are busy ripening their seeds, walking a trail is a hazardous proposition. We took one of the 'nature trails' our first day here, and the dogs brushed a few plants as we were walking. They got such horrible stickers in their coats that the fur was being pulled into little bunches. Watch thought he'd been attacked and jumped around, in the weeds, like a rodeo bronc, making the situation much worse.

I finally got both dogs back to camp and it took Steve and I, working together, about 30 minutes to get the burrs out of the dogs and their leashes. No more trail hiking while we're here! Half way through the de-burring process this tussock moth caterpillar landed in my lap, presumably from the tree I was sitting under. As some of these soft-looking critters are irritating to touch I just shooed him off with the dog comb I'd been using. That was enough 'Nature' for one day for me!

Two days later we decided to visit the Nature Center that is part of this park. It's at the edge of the park, out on hwy. 12. It is a wonderful experience, especially for children. Lots of hands-on fur, feather, fossils and live creatures, etc. We even watched a kestrel as he ate his little mousie breakfast. . . not everyone's cup of tea, I know!

Our neighbors in the campground turned out to be the friendliest folks. 'Dairy farmers from MN, she's a quilter and a sped teacher so we had lots in common. The second night some of their relatives were there too and they taught us a new card/board game. As we don't play games like that often I'm sure we were challenging students, but we all had a good time.

Rain the last couple of nights made a bit of mud, but we were ready to pack up and go anyway, so no biggie.

Monday, September 5
We departed shortly after 9 AM and bucking rather strong, gusty headwinds made it to our destination, Beatrice, Nebraska, by about 2:30 PM.

Chautauqua is the name of the campground. If you've never heard the term, here's the story behind it.  It's a really nice city-owned campground on the river.

The park is large, with multiple features. We found tennis courts, a duck pond, several playground areas, restrooms, and large group shelters. The camping area has 20 spacious sites, most with picnic tables, all with concrete pads, and the grass is beautiful! The dogs loved it! ($18 a night for full hook-ups didn't hurt the experience one bit!) Beatrice has an interesting history, and this whole area bears a repeat visit.

The campground has lots of green space, much of it devoted to a frisbee golf course. The wind made frisbee golf a bit difficult, so we had no conflicts walking the dogs along the shrubby river bank.

There's a little stream next to the campsites too, that feeds into the river. The geese seem to like that area. It's called a duck pond, but we never saw a duck! There are several benches along the water's edge, so there's always someone feeding the birds, whoever shows up.

Movin' on to Kansas. . .

album here

Union County and environs - South Dakota

It's a leisurely drive from the Snake Creek Recreation area to Yankton, where we're booked for four days at Cottonwood, an Army Corp of Engineers campground on the Missouri River.

Monday Aug 29
Enroute to our campsite we toured the little town of Geddes, (pop. 208 in 2010) where my Great- grandmother Martin was living when she died in 1924. There isn't much left there as far as active businesses.

The old bank is still standing but empty and vandalized inside. I've no idea where her farm was, but it's interesting to see the area nonetheless.

We also looked into Avon, another little village where there were brief family connections - not much going on there either. This is the story of most little agricultural communities these days.

We meandered around the surrounding area to get a feel for the environment. All the little burgs are focused around a grain elevator, on the railroad. The sole reason for the settlement obviously being to help the farmer get his crop shipped out. Farming is still the main industry, with field after field of corn and soybeans being the primary crops in this area.

The campground we're staying in is nice. Huge spaces, right on Yankton Lake, just off the Missouri River, below Gavins Point Dam.. There are large areas where dogs can be off leash or play in the water, and plenty of 13 lined ground squirrels popping up all over the area to provide entertainment otherwise.

Tuesday Aug 30
We spent the morning checking out Utica, (pop. 65 in 2010) another little town where my dad's family lived for a few years. It's just north of Yankton and, again, there's not much left from those days.

There were more homes than we had anticipated, but little in the way of original buildings. This interesting little brick structure caught our attention though.

It looks as if it might have been a bank vault. It now sits in a vacant lot across from a lumber yard. If it was the bank vault, this would have been part of the main street business district. You'd never know that now!

Next stop, the big city of Yankton (pop. 14,591 in 2013) for a quick trip to a quilt store - they were out of license plates! Yikes! I guess that's a risk when shopping this late in the summer. I did pick up a couple of bits of fabric, so it wasn't a wasted trip.

This is the biggest city for several miles so business is booming and there are some very nice neighborhoods, especially along the river.

We've followed the Missouri River off and on for much of the trip, sort of doing the Lewis and Clark Discovery Expedition in reverse. Believe me, everyone takes advantage of the "Lewis and Clark were here" bit of history. The visitor center here at the recreation area is especially nice, with large, unique windows especially designed to frame two views of the river.

Wednesday, Aug 31
Today we visit one of the main reasons for our visit to this part of South Dakota - Elk Point. This is where my paternal grandmother and my father and his sister were born.  We drove around the little town (pop. 1,963 in 2013) to see if we could find a match to four photos I have of relevant buildings.

Columns and other decorative items from the old courthouse 

I'd already pretty well determined the old courthouse was gone. It was the setting about 1910 for the photo of my grandfather and all the other letter carriers gathered on the front steps.

That courthouse has been demolished and a portion of the entry has been incorporated in the entry to the new courthouse.


The train station, where my uncle was a conductor, is gone, replaced by grain storage silos and other agricultural equipment.

My great grandfather's meat market, which was a wooden building, is also gone. I can picture it though, tucked somewhere in between the existing brick buildings on Main Street.

We drove through residential areas hoping to find his house, where my grandmother and both her children were born, but couldn't locate it. At the suggestion of a deputy Sheriff we stopped on the street we stopped in to an antique store to talk to the owner. 'Turns out he's head of the local historical society. He couldn't help us with a location for the old Strobel house, but was very friendly and interested in the family history. He connected us with an 80+ year old history buff, Fern, who offered to meet us at the Union County Museum, where she is the curator, when it opened in just over an hour.

We hurried down the street a block or so and had a great Mexican lunch at Los Amigos (who would guess, in a little town in South Dakota?) and then headed to the west end of Main Street where the Union County Historical Society Museum is housed in the beautifully restored Charles Murtha House.

With Fern's help we searched an antique map and found Great-grandfather Abraham Strobel's homestead, in Civil Bend, which is just a smidgen east of Elk Point. She was so enthusiastic about seeing the few photos I had on my iPad I promised to send her the files of those and several others.

A quick visit to the cemetery was all it took to locate great-grandfather and great-grandmother's marker, and then we headed back to our campsite in Yankton to rescue the dogs from the trailer. I think we woke them up, but they were happy to see us.

All in all it was a successful visit. 'Good to see the little town still surviving, and many of the older homes and business buildings still standing. I'm glad to find a place to share many of the photos and documents I have too, as they consider my great-grandfather to be one of the really historic residents, and he was!

This area wasn't a state yet when he settled here in the 1870's. I can't imagine the hard, primitive lives the farmers lived then. Folks here are still farming, as the silos everywhere attest to, and all the fields are full of good-looking crops . . . the great American Heartland at its best!    

A few more pics here

Exploring South Dakota - The Badlands

Those old everyday chores have to be done some time, so we headed back to Rapid City to take care of them. We'd enjoyed the Elk's club there as a one night stop, so moved in again, and had another friendly pub-style dinner while chatting with other members and travelers.

The next day, errands and chores completed, we took drove south into Badlands National Park. There's a nice loop tour, which suited the situation pretty well. As it was very cloudy, and slightly rainy, we weren't in the mood to do a lot of sightseeing on foot. So we spent some time checking out the visitors center.

This is the BEST visitor center we've seen on this trip. Not only are the displays really well done (kids will love the way they depict the dinosaur era animals that lived here) but they also have a fossil lab open to visitors where you can watch technicians clean specimens, and pack them for shipping. There are several specimens on display, and we discovered while talking with the ranger who was stationed in the room at the time that she was a graduate of the University of Oregon. We had a nice chat with her before moving on to drive through the remainder of the Badlands .

The formations in the park are amazing. Dramatic spires topped with dollops of whipped cream, mesas with unbelievable erosion, and stripes of colorful soils. Even with little sun the shadows created by the many layers are fascinating. It's rugged country and one can only imagine the challenge of navigating it on horseback or in a wagon.

As the afternoon wore on the clouds thinned a bit and by the time we reached the park boundary we actually had a little sun. Good timing.  It's an impressive area in spite of the clouds, and bears further exploration.

The Badlands under stormy skies

Beautiful downtown Wall

We planned to spend the evening at Sleepy Hollow Campground in Wall, which is only about 8 miles from the park boundary. As it turned out the location was perfect. We did a quick tour through the Wall Drug area of the town, and a couple of other shops, sampled a local brew while chatting with a couple who are full-timers and had just recently been in Eugene, OR. We returned to camp just in time to fix a quick dinner and walk the dogs before a fairly blustery thunderstorm hit. (No, we didn't get a free glass of water, but yes, we did get donuts!)

Hoping he'll tell me where his mine is!

It's that time of year. Days are noticeably shorter, evenings cooler, and overall it's beginning to feel like winter. Time to head south!

Aug. 28 Saturday - Sunday
Guess I spoke too soon! The sun is out, so we decided to make a swing through The Badlands again, so we could catch it in a different light. The sun does make the colors a little brighter, and the shadows sharper. It was good to take a second look.

For two days we're camped at Francis Case Lake, Snake Creek Recreation Area, on the Missouri River, and the weather has turned to summer again!

We had a great view of the lake

It's a beautiful area, and the lake is huge, as is our campsite. We've got plenty of room for the dogs to play, privacy as we're in an end site, and there are areas on the beach where they can play in the water. What a find!

We drove both camping loops to look over the layout and sites, and they are all large, though some have better views than others. The little cabins are mostly right along the shoreline so have excellent views of the lake.

It took some doing, as things are pretty overgrown this time of year, but we found a couple of trails around the edges of the campground. Signage is a little on the short side, but you can find a map of the area on line. There are four different maps at the bottom of the page I linked to above.

Now for the remainder of touring in South Dakota, on to the little towns where some of my family settled and lived for many years.

We had beautiful sunsets most nights at the lake

The album is here.