#7 Lewis & Clark X Two

First of all, the emoji above is all wrong. But try to find one where we are sitting in a big honkin’ truck and Pam is driving. Imagination comes in handy here. This is the portion of the trip that is a necessary part of our expedition. There aren’t any fancy shmancy places to go and no exciting historical or hysterical sights to see. We are simply driving and stopping and driving some more to reach a destination which in our case is Mitchell, SD.

Lewis & Clark Campground #1

Here we are at our first Lewis & Clark Campground stop. If you are from Missouri, I will apologize now for saying this. There really isn’t much to see in Missouri except for land. If it weren’t for the whole Louisiana Purchase thing, poor Missouri wouldn’t even have the Lewis and Clark team to brag about. Missouri is the “Show me” state and I’m still waiting to be shown. I researched why they are called the “Show me” state and the answer is that nobody knows. Albeit, I didn’t research all that hard.

Finally, in 2018 congress declared the St. Louis Gateway Arch a National Park. It stole the distinction of being the smallest National Park away from Hot Springs and the Hot Springs folks aren’t all that happy about it. But now Missouri has something to show.

I’m saying all of this to let you know that I don’t have much to show you. We (Pam and I because Lucca’s hiking privileges were revoked) went for a hike expecting to see a lake, maybe a place to kayak. There was a sign.

We did not see a lake or any water near or far, not a trickle. Back at the campsite we asked the park host about the lake. He told us of days of yore when there used to be 3 lakes and swimming and boating. He’s hoping for a lake someday again. But for now, they’re all dried up.

Chug Chug Chug Through the Night

I’m lucky, I am a sound sleeper. But during the night I did hear the distant sound of trains beating across the tracks. At least there weren’t the coinciding whistles. The next day as we rumbled down the bumpy road out of the park I saw the train. Our road paralleled the track and it seemed like the longest train I had ever seen. About 2 miles later, another long train was following right behind first.

I couldn’t help myself, I counted the cars. Anybody want to guess how many cars? What sounds like a lot of cars to you? 50? 100? 150? How bout 158 cars and 3 engines? I know, exciting stuff, right?

Lewis and Clark Campground #2

Welcome to Iowa. As we pulled into the entry of the campground, Pam and I both realized that we had been there before. We overnighted back in 2022 on our way to our western caravan trip. This time we were staying two nights. We needed a day of relaxation from driving.

Again, not much to see or do except relax. I was doing my best to enjoy the outdoors but the gnats, flies and humidity were intruding on my enjoyment. We took a bike ride through the gnats and stumbled upon another campground. It was packed with RV’s; but it was eerily quiet and there weren’t any visible humans. Seriously, the campground was huge and all we saw was one guy on mower. We both got the willies and hightailed it back through the gnat swarms and into the comfort of our RV.

I woke up early the next morning and caught a glimpse of this beautiful sunrise over the lake. Yes, this Lewis and Clark Park had a lake with water.

Lucca has the entire backseat of the truck and she chooses to travel on the floorboard. We are back on the road again headed to Mitchell, SD where we will meet up with our caravan friends. Come along. When this group gets together, it’s a party.