June 2nd Chamberlain, South Dakota

It rained all night, hard enough to keep me awake at times, and even in the morning it still drizzled steadily. We found that the screen house had a nicely waterproof roof, but not waterproof sides! But there was enough dry space in the center to arrange our camp table and chairs, so we could have a nice dry pancake breakfast. However, packing our gear afterwards was a pain because both the tent and the screen house were wet and cold and our hands became numb. Being highly motivated not to spend another day in that park, we forcibly stuffed everything into the truck and started our drive northward along the Missouri on Interstate 29 by about 9:15.

Our first stop was the Lewis and Clark State Park near Onawa, Iowa. This state park was along an oxbow lake, a remnant of the original Missouri River at the time of Lewis and Clark. So finally we were walking on ground that they had once trod. They had, in fact, camped on the shore of the lake across from the park. An enterprising group of history buffs had constructed a replica of the keelboat and the two pirogues that the Corps of Discovery had used. Every year on the weekend after July 4th they have a reenactment in this park with hundreds of re-enactors in historic camps. I thought it would be fun to participate, especially in 2004 which would be the bicentennial of the historic trip

We had a nice talk with one of the re-enactors who goes by the name “Buffalo Bill”. I threatened to bring our dulcimers next year and sing old tunes from the early 1800s. I asked if anyone had actually taken trips with the reconstructed boats on the Missouri and found out that another reconstructed keelboat had gone down river for a small distance, but only using a motor and that didn’t quite seem to capture the spirit of the original journey. Otherwise no keelboat had actually tried to duplicate the feat of going up the length of the Missouri River or even any sizable distance along it, as far as I can tell. Buffalo Bill’s group had, however taken the pirogues both up and down the river for short distances starting in Yankton, South Dakota. That struck me as a lot of fun, depending on the weather and the company!

The weather for our drive continued to be cloudy with intermittent rain, but we found an “oldies” station and rolled north to Sioux Falls and then west to Chamberlain. There we stopped at an AmericInn where we had reserved a room because it was cheap (we had a coupon) and boasted a complimentary breakfast, indoor heated pool, and spa. You can’t beat that. As soon as we arrived we took turns taking thorough showers and then donned bathing suits to enjoy the spa and pool for an hour or so. The sensation of being surrounded by nice warm, clean water was wonderfully relaxing, so much so that it was hard to gather the energy to walk back to the room. But I did manage it and we had a quiet evening and early bedtime.