The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Detour!

It was a bit of a late start from the town of Faith as we didn't head out until almost 10:30am. And as we were leaving town, we saw that there was some kind of horse event going on at the arena. So we stopped in to see what was happening.

But we had to walk across a field to get to the side of the fence to get a better view. We really didn't want to walk around to the actual entrance, and we're not big horse people so it's not like we were going to pay to go in. We just wanted to see what was going on.

Well, we got across the field and I looked down at my legs. They were covered in mosquitoes! Okay, not literally covered, but bad enough that when I wiped my legs down to get rid of them I killed at least half a dozen in one swipe that were biting me. That was enough of that. I took one photo and pretty much ran back to the motorhome!

Some kind of horse event going on in Faith, South Dakota.

Back in the motorhome, we started heading due east. The most direct route took us through the Cheyenne Indian Reservation which is a huge chunk of land in South Dakota. Yes, we saw the sign that said COVID Checkpoint Ahead, but didn't think it would be an issue since we were driving straight through without stopping.

It was only about 4 miles on, so we didn't really waste much getting to the checkpoint. However, we were told that because we have out of state licence plates, we were not allowed through the property. Okay. Whatever.

So we had no choice but to bypass the reservation which meant a detour south and then east.

Not a real big deal from our perspective because everything we are seeing is new to us anyhow. It added a few more miles, but that's okay. And, the attendant at the checkpoint told us that the area around the state capital of Pierre is quite scenic. So off we went.

A whole bunch of nothing.

But there were some pretty areas.


Kind of reminds us of the area around Cabri Park in Saskatchewan.



More nothing.

Pierre, SD is located right on the great Missouri River and was on the route of the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition. On the west side of the river is the town of Fort Pierre, and the east side of the river is the state capital, Pierre.

We stopped at a town park in Fort Pierre to get our bearings and decide where we would find a place to overnight.

The fire department came out and hosed off the kids!

In Fort Pierre, the brown water of the Bad River meets the blue water of the Missouri River.

Looking north, from the west side of the Missouri River.

We had some lunch and then drove over to the city of Pierre. Considering it's the state capital, it's  a very small city with a population of only 14,000 people.

We had scoped out a causeway that led to a big island in the river and had read that some RV's had overnighted on the causeway. We actually found a parking area nearby that didn't have any signs about staying overnight, so we got ourselves parked up there. 

Then we went for a walk.

It looks like a storm coming.

But it only rained a few drops and then it passed.

The city of Pierre, and the state capitol building.

We will get a closer look today.

American goldfinch.

This original log cabin was built before 1889.

And it was used by the Girl Scouts from 1912 to 2012.

Yesterday's drive

We're going to take the bikes off and use some of the biking trails this morning. We'll probably stay here another night and do our grocery shopping tomorrow morning before we leave.

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The Viair 400P-RV Air Compressor Kit is back at the low end of the pricing range.

And in Canada...



8 comments:

  1. The event you saw in Faith, SD was a 4-H rodeo.My niece’s 3 daughters participated in the rodeo. And, I’m sure you have discovered by now, that Pierre is pronounced “peer”, not the French pronunciation.
    I enjoy your travels, thank you for taking me along!
    Peggy in Buckeye, AZ, originally from western SD

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    1. Thank you Peggy for letting us know what that event was. We hope that your niece's 3 daughters did well at the event, no matter what, we are sure that they would have enjoyed themselves. If it hadn't been for the mosquitoes we may have found ourselves a little spot with no one nearby and watched the event for a little while.

      Thank you also for setting us straight on the pronunciation of Pierre, we did not know that it was pronounced as "Peer". As we are from Canada we were pronouncing it as the French would but we did wonder if that was correct or not, lol. :-)

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    2. I remember American marathon runner, Joan Benoit, saying her name was pronounced 'Benoyt'(lol).

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    3. Yep, it sure is funny, isn't it?! There was also a NASCAR drive called Jerry Nadeau and pronounced it "Naydo".

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  2. The Covid rules make no sense when put into the hands of the states. Here you were told to detour only to get to Pierre and they have kids playing in groups without protection and encouraged by a city department. The Americas as a whole is paying a much bigger price than the other continents.

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    Replies
    1. It is rather weird how they are enacting the rules due to COVID here in the US. Most places in this area though it is back to normal, except on the reservations. It will be interesting to see what things are like as we head further east and into more populated areas. No matter what we will continue to travel as we have, sticking to ourselves and only going into a store when absolutely necessary and taking all the precautions that we have been doing. We haven't been having a difficult time at all doing this.

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  3. I have been following your blog for a few years. I was born in Pierre and grew up in Highmore, SD. My g grandfather had a homestead around Faith, SD. After much research in locating the homestead, we think he never proved up on it, as there is no record of it. My grandfather was 14 when he left home in Nebraska to go to the homestead where he was frequently alone. He and maybe his father, were escaping his not so kind step-mother.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Rita, thank you for following along and taking the time to comment. :-)

      We really enjoyed our time in Pierre, it is a really pretty town. It's a shame that you couldn't find your grandfather's homestead and that it looks like he never registered it. He was very young when he left home but in those days 14 was almost like being a man, with all the chores and work that they would have done by that age. Growing up was so different then to what it is now.

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