Traveling through Missouri

Leaving Omaha, we headed off across the northern part of Missouri, for Big Lake Campground. This state park was visited by, drum roll, Lewis and Clark, on their return from the Pacific.  It was created when the Missouri was rerouted by dams, but when Lewis and Clark were there, it was part of the river.  The campground today is quite luxurious, with its own store, a motel, a cafe, and a lot of campsites.  It was badly flooded this spring, but has been reworked extensively by the state and is now quite comfortable.

The purpose of our visit was to do some birding at the nearby Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge.  This is a fabulous refuge, one of the best managed that I've seen, providing huge resources for migrating birds.  It routinely hosts more than a million Snow Geese in migration, and there were tens of thousands of birds there when we toured the refuge.  The creek provides water for an enormous network of marshes and bays to in an intricate system of channels and dikes, to provide habitat for the central flyway.  Local folks that I met are justly proud of the refuge and are active in taking care of it and encouraging its use.

We had a couple of good days of birding on the refuge.  There is an auto loop road about ten miles long that travels all around it, and Ivy and I drove that on the first day.   I went back and bicycled the whole route the next day while Ivy did some painting back at the RV park.  Both days were beautiful and sunny, and we saw thousands of birds.  Many were far away and difficult to identify because the refuge is so extensive, but it was a wonderful trip and a lot of fun even if I couldn't be sure of the identification of all the birds that I saw there.

We left Big Lake Campground in the rain, and headed  across the state  to the town of Hannibal, where Mark Twain spent his boyhood and where many of his most famous stories have their roots.  This is still a pretty small city, right on the Mississippi River.  The whole town is totally devoted to the Twain heritage, with tourist attractions and businesses using the Twain name wherever they could.  There was even a Huck Finn Shopping Center next to the WalMart.  All the hype was a little much, and one has to wonder how the curmudgeonly Twain would view it all if he could see it today.

But Ivy and I just dived into the tourism and had fun with it. We took a ride on the riverboat (The Mark Twain or course), visited the museums and the old houses of characters in his stories. It turns out that there really was a Becky Thatcher character, a Huck Finn character, and so forth - all have been identified as the sources of his childhood stories, much modified of course. There was a real cave, located in the campground where we were staying, and the museum gave you a feel for the Twain childhood and the influences that led him to build the classics that he did. But the best part was all the Mark Twain quotes that were plastered all over the museum and everywhere else.  That man sure could write!

While we were there, we took a bike ride along the river, exploring some of the country, and Ivy did some painting on a bluff overlooking the river.  The country was lovely, weather perfect, and we picnicked and did a bit of birdwatching.  I saw my first cardinal there at the Mississippi, which I took as a sign that we are really reaching the Eastern side at last.  There was a local parade, duel of the high school marching bands, and a good quilt exhibit.  All in all, a thorough mid-western experience. 

Next we were off to the city of St Louis. This is a real city, bigger than Omaha, and got us back into freeway traffic in a big way. But the city was quite congenial, in the little that we saw of it, and we had a good time visiting a sampling of its treasures. We took the Metrolink downtown, to take advantage of the rapid transit options - quite nice - and visited Forest Park, a huge space set aside after the World's Fair of 1904. We went to two large museums, constructed for that event, and explored some of the history of the area. At the history museum there was an exhibit on women's history, some of which originated in Puget Sound, so we had a bit of nostalgia there. There was also a section taken from the World's Fair history, with photographs and samples from the exhibits of that time.

 

The Art Museum was very enjoyable.  The star of their show was an artist of the Depression Era who worked in St Louis and was an activist for workers and the poor.  He did a number of WPA murals around the area, and many of his paintings were on display.  His name is Joe Jones, and I had not heard of him, but his work was quite striking and Ivy and I enjoyed the exhibit greatly.

We toured some of the areas downtown, including a sculpture garden and the old courthouse, which has been made into a national monument, much of it devoted to exhibits built around the Dred Scott decision and the role of the city of St. Louis in the history of race relations.  We toured the Arch area down by the river, and visited a wax museum in an area near the waterfront - rather a disappointment.  But the area itself was jumping - it was the weekend and there were bands playing all around and lots of action. 

The next day we visited a nearby park called the Global Bird Sanctuary. They were having an open house/fundraiser and we were able to tour some of their facilities and talk to some of the staff. They started out as a raptor rescue operation, and still keep a lot of emphasis on raptors, but they had a number of exhibits and captured birds and we got some advice on birding the area and followed up with a picnic in a nearby state park.

While we were in St Louis, we took advantage of the movie options.  I have been missing movies greatly, as our trip takes us mostly to small towns and places where choices are limited.  We had seen The Social Network in Hannibal, but we added on two others in St. Louis, one called Catfish, a documentary about the consequences (intended and unintended) of the Facebook world, and another called Nowhere Boy, a treatment of the young pre-Beatles years of John Lennon.  All were excellent films, and satisfied somewhat my film shortage. 

From here, we're off to Kentucky and further East. 

On to Nebraska

Our first stop after the Black Hills was in the town of Oacoma, right on the Missouri River, or rather, on one of the many lakes that have been created by damming the Missouri at multiple points.  South Dakota refers to this as their version of the Great Lakes, because these lakes are so long, backing up for many miles, and there's a lot of recreational use on them.  But they're not very comparable to the real thing.  Our campsite, however, was excellent, right on the river a few feet from the lake. 

Across the river, in the town of Chamberlain, we found a little treasure - a Native American center and museum built around the St Joseph School, a school for Indian children that has been in existence for many years.  The school has always been focused on teaching only Native American kids, and on emphasizing their culture and history in ways that are glossed over elsewhere. We saw a whole group of the kids, and they seemed so happy, healthy and energetic, and the campus was tranquil as well as beautiful. Likewise the museum.  It's called the Akta Lakota Museum, and the collection was great, the layout very well thought out, and they combined historical artifacts with current work, with an emphasis on quality that we  really appreciated.  We couldn't take pictures, so we can't show the work, but if you ever get here, you should check it out.

At this site, we were mostly doing planning and computer work, and we ran into a problem that is frankly epidemic in these RV parks - that of poor or barely functioning wi-fi service.  Time and time again, we get to an RV park that claims that it has wi-fi and internet service, only to find that the service is intermittent, poor, or available only at a few of the sites.   Then we have to go through all kinds of rigamarole to get our work done.  This site, fortunately, had an arrangement with a motel and resort that was on the same property so that we could use their lobby to set up our computers and go online there.  So we spent a lot of time camped in their facility.  They had a pool, too, so that was fun sometimes.  And there was a nice bike trail nearby, too.

From  here, it was on to Nebraska for a couple of stops.  On the way, we stopped in Mitchell, South Dakota, to visit the legendary Corn Palace, a large community center in the area that is redecorated with corn cobs in various colors every year.  It actually turned out to be a very interesting stop.  The history of the building was fascinating, and there were photos from its first iteration in the nineteenth century up to today, And we found some lovely kitschy items to buy for the grandkids and others.

It was in Mitchell that we discovered a Native American archeological site in a very interesting location.  There was apparently an Indian village near the river here that existed many thousands of years ago and was discovered recently.  The local colleges have cooperated to get a grant to erect a building over the most central part of the site; they have put in a museum nearby and allow tours of the building as well.  The building allows them and their volunteers to work on the site year-round, and provides office space and storage for the work, as well as permitting tourists and visitors to observe and tour the site without disturbing it.  A very clever piece of work.  Ivy and I took the tour and were duly impressed. 

Our stop for the next few days was at the Niobrara State Park, located at the confluence of the Missouri and Niobrara Rivers, on the Nebraska side of the border.  The area is magnificent, with huge river plains on all sides, and the park has a tall bluff with great views.  There are cabins there that are very luxurious for this type of park, and there's a lot of wildlife all through the park.  But we were interested mostly in migratory birds, and that proved quite a disappointment.  I've never seen so vast a plain of waters and marshes with so few water birds on it.  It was surprising to find so much habitat so scarcely populated.  We still are not sure whether the migration was not happening, or whether there was just so much habitat available that the birds had disappeared into it.  Local folks were not knowledgeable and didn't have much to say - that's primarily a hunting and fishing area, like many around that part of the world, and birding knowledge is hard to find.  So after two or three days of wandering around, we moved on. 

We moved on to Omaha, Nebraska.  It was our first really big city stop in several months, and we'd forgotten all about freeway traffic, congestion and smog.  But Omaha refreshed our memory.  It is a lovely and prosperous city that has largely escaped the Great Recession.  Its unemployment rate is about the same as before it all began, so something is going right in this area.  It's a big change from all the For Lease signs that we've been seeing everywhere else.  Its location, right on the Missouri River, makes it a lovely spot, and the city has built up its riverfront and downtown to take advantage of the situation. Here's the bridge between Iowa and Nebraska.

I had remembered a visit to their art museum over forty years ago, and being impressed at that time with what it held.  We visited the same museum today, and it's even better.  A new building has been added to the old one, and  a plaza has been constructed with a sculpture park all around the complex. There was an exhibit of a local artist with a big reputation, Kent Bellows by name, who more than lived up to his billing, in our opinion.  He produces what are called hyper-realist works, paintings and drawings that are almost like photographs, but with greatly increased drama and intensity.  It was fascinating stuff.  Here's one done in pencil.  The photo doesn't do it justice,


We looked around for a steak restaurant, but most of them either had mediocre reviews or were only open for dinner.  So we went to a popular Indian restaurant, Mother of India.  It was tiny, but I loved the opportunity to return to a little Indian food after a long hiatus.

After a short stay, we headed out for Missouri.  We have updated our itinerary map once again, so refer to that for our planned route through to Florida.

The Black Hills and the Badlands

We headed off to South Dakota to visit the Black Hills.  Our first stop was the town of Spearfish, where we rested for a couple of days and caught up on Internet and such.  At the same time, we explored the northern part of the Black Hills, including Spearfish Canyon and the towns of Deadwood and Lead.  It was some great country, and the town of Spearfish was quite cute as well, with a nice bike trail by the river, and a pleasant little shopping area.

The Spearfish Canyon drive was quite spectacular.  The small river has cut a dramatic narrow gorge through the limestone cliffs, which tower above the road and only allow a couple of hours of sunlight in the gorge itself.  The cliffs are hundreds of feet high in places and  loom over the road,  looking as if they should collapse at any moment onto your car.  But you know that they've been there for thousands of years, slowly deepening each year.  It's one of the more dramatic canyons I've been in.

The town of Deadwood was very touristy, but an old and colorful place, with some history.  We had some lunch there and looked at one of the museums.  The town is steeped in Wild West history, but has turned most of it into kitsch or rowdy bars.  The buildings are lovely old sandstone, and it's nice to imagine the past there, but hard to see it in the movie-set image that they've built from it.  We moved on.

 Next we were off to the town of Custer, in the heart of the Black Hills.  It is located very close to Mount Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument, and Custer State Park, one of the largest state parks in the US, with the largest herd of buffalo anywhere.  There is also a Wild Horse Refuge nearby, which we particularly wanted to see for our granddaughter Kate.  So we had a busy stay.  We discovered, shortly after we arrived, that the annual Buffalo Roundup in Custer State Park was scheduled for the coming Monday.   So we rescheduled our stay and visited the Badlands in a day trip, returning for the roundup.

First, Mount Rushmore.  We took a drive there through the Needles Highway, a spectacular drive through some great formations in the Black Hills.  It is famous for its tunnels, some of which are barely wide enough for an ordinary pickup truck, though tour bus drivers have apparently learned to negotiate them with inches to spare.  The formations along the highway were just as dramatic as the monument itself, and we enjoyed them thoroughly.

The Custer State Park has a lot of wildlife to see along its roads.  But one form of not-so-wild life is a herd of burros who have been turned loose to wander the open country  Many of these critters  have taken to highway robbery and will hold up passing tourists for treats.  The two that we encountered had their noses jammed so far into our car that I had trouble focusing the camera enough to get this shot.   We paid the toll in Wheat Thins and were allowed to continue.


The next day we were off to the Wild Horse Refuge, some fifty miles south of Custer out on the open range.  We had a very amusing and bumpy bus ride tour there, hosted by a chatty and elderly woman from the area who had a lot of stories to tell.  It turned out the refuge was loaded with old movie sets from the films Crazy Horse and Hidalgo, which were partially shot there, as well as Native American sites that are still in use for annual ceremonies, such as the Sundance ceremony held in the traditional way.  And there were even some wild horses to see, though most of them have been there for years, and many are less than wild.  One even tried to climb onto the bus when we got out.
And there was the George Michelson Bike Trail, running over a hundred miles through the  Black  Hills - one of the first rails-to-trails achievements.
One morning we took a bike ride on the trail, which was quite lovely and peaceful.  I would love to ride the entire trail some day.  Our host at the Spearfish RV Park was doing that over the weekend, taking her two young boys with her for a family bike ride of three days.  What an adventure for some young kids!

We spent a day driving to the Badlands National Park for a visit.  The country is spectacular, with elaborate patterns of erosion where the nearby river has scoured the soft earth of the plains over thousands of years.  The formations are amazing, and there is apparently a lot of wildlife there, though we didn't see much in our whirlwind tour.  There is a long scenic drive through the park with a series of overlooks and viewpoints that we enjoyed.  We took a couple of short walks through the formations.  There have been a lot of fossils found here, from the inland sea that used to be here millions of years ago.

But we had to get back to attend the annual Buffalo Roundup at Custer State Park.  This event draws over 10,000 people every year, and this year was no exception.  The people outnumbered the buffalo by a factor of ten.  There were probably more cowboys herding the buffalo than were absolutely necessary, but it was fun and we got some good pictures and video, as well as chatting with other visitors who were waiting for the show.  The buffalo in this large herd are rounded up at this time every year.  They are checked for health, vaccinated, and some are selected to be sold off to thin the herd.  Most of the bulls are left out in the field, as they cause trouble when rounded up, but the cows and calves are brought in.   It was quite a  show. 

From here we are headed east and south, moving inexorably toward our winter in Florida.  We hope to stay ahead of the bad weather as much as we can.