West Whitlock State Park, SD - July 27 - Aug 5, 2009

After driving through several dusty construction zones we arrived at West Whitlock State Park in the late afternoon.  The park is located on a point that juts into Lake Oahe on the Missouri River.  There are 100 spacious campsites with 30 and 50-amp electrical service, but no water or sewer.  However, there is a dump station and potable water available.  In the ten days we spent at West Whitlock it probably never reached more than 15% occupancy.

Unless you are a fisherman, there isn't much to do in this area of the state.  Gettysburg, population 1,500 and 21 miles from the park, is the closest town.  There are a few resort communities and marinas with restaurants on the lake.  On Saturday we enjoyed a very good steak at Bob's Steakhouse and Marina - but don't order the 'sautéed mushrooms'.  They are canned and totally gaggable. 

We got the kayak out on the lake one day to practice our skills and do our usual daily exercise.  But we were here to work.  We had a lot of chores to do and this was the perfect place to do them.  We had absolutely no distractions - including no phone service and very slow Internet service.  We detailed the rig, did paint chip repair, resealed and re-weatherstripped, inventoried everything we own and assessed our insurance coverage, and caught up on paperwork.  It was a total bore - but at the end of the ten days we had a grudging feeling of accomplishment.

On August 6, we headed for Aberdeen for a one-night stay at Wylie Park Campground, a lovely park but it rained and hailed all the time we were there.  On the 7th Bill would renew his drivers license and we would start our 1,500 mile trek to Ottawa, Canada via Thunder Bay.

……Continued through August 9th

OK, so renewing Bill's license on the 7th was the plan.  What happened in reality was that we discovered that one can get their driver's license exactly 180 days in advance - not six months.  180 days in our case was Monday, August 10th.  That was when we discovered there are only two places in the State of South Dakota for license renewal on a Monday - the closest being Sioux Falls.

Wylie Park had no vacancies for a longer stay so we went in search of a place stay for three days.  We selected R & R Campground, a Passport America park in Mitchell.  While there we both got a hair cut and spent time seeking shelter from yet another tornado warning.  The repeated radio warning was rather unnerving, "If you are in a mobile home get out and seek shelter."  It was starting to feel like, "Another day another tornado or hail storm."

After two nights we moved to a park just east of Sioux Falls so we could have a quick get-away as soon as Bill got his license.  Finally on Monday morning we had success and could get out of the Dakotas and their tornadoes and head for the cooler climes of Lake Superior.