Thursday, July 21 Valentine to Yankton, SD

I got up early, couldn't get a rise out of Brandon, so I went on out to the Visitors Center for Niobrara in search of an elusive error stamp, found the VC, but the stamp had been fixed with the proper spelling. 

Got back and went to McDonalds for Brandon's breakfast, then hooked up and headed 212 miles or so down the road to Yankton SD, our next venue. 

We were in the heartland of America, miles and miles of wheat and corn fields, lots of rolling stock on the highway, including several teams of custom harvester groups, with their large combines and other equipment, heading up the road to their next job - maybe on up to Canada to start their work. 

The scenery for a couple of hundred miles was roughly this:

Brandon got bored pretty quickly, so he disappeared behind his I Pod ear buds.

We stopped once for fuel, found it a 3.92 a gallon.....  stopped at a Subway for lunch, then made it to Yankton about 3pm. 

The GPS gave me a bum steer, so we had to stop and phone for directions, which we got, and backed up in a driveway, turned around, and found the campground just up the road a piece. 

We are in the Chief White Crane Recreation area park, which is a very pretty but sparsely populated park along the banks of the Missouri River...  The River is having a 500 year high water mark, and the local dam is doing all it can to keep things under control, but there is flooding evident here at the park, but they say it is controlled. 

We are high and dry in our pretty spot, but it is only 50 amp, period.  No water, no sewer... OOps...  we also can't get Sat, because we are in the trees too much. 

Oh well, it's better than a Wal Mart. 

After we set up, I couldn't get any riders to go along, so I went 5 miles back into town to the Administrative offices of the Missouri Scenic River and got several stamps, then back across the river to Nebraska to the Lewis and Clark Visitors Center for 2 more stamps, and a pin.  Beautiful Center, nicely done, beautiful view of the Gavin Dam....

Here's the view from on high of the dam and locks, and the spillway.... 

According to the VC, the volume of water passing over the spillway today broke all existing records for such, and the locals say this is a 500 year event for the Missouri River.....  Flooding is evident as you drive alongside the river, for sure.  Omaha and I-29 may still be flooded as we try to get there, we were told, so we may take an alternate route. 

We are camped on the South Dakota side of the river, and here is what the spillway looks like close up....  It reminded me of Niagra Falls with the sheer volume of water passing through.....

It was an angry river, to be sure......

The Missouri Scenic/Recreational  is our 151st park to visit......

We're in for the night, a good night to rest and enjoy.... 

Tomorrow, we head just down the road to Sioux City, Iowa for a couple of nights, baseball and Lewis and Clark Stops are on the menu.