Closer to Home We are slowly making our way east and south towards home. South Dakota roads are in fair condition, with some one-lane traffic on I-90. The joints where the highway meets entrance and exit ramps have significant elevation differences, 2 to 3 inches, creating tire problems for wide vehicles when venturing too close to the edge. There are also significant elevation differences where the highway meets bridge abutments, pounding the motorhome as we go on to and as we leave the bridge. Kay took a turn driving this segment of our trip, as expected, did a great job. We stopped at the rest area at Chamberlain, SD, on the east side of the Missouri River, and were surprised that it had a great Lewis and Clark exhibit, as well as a nice overlook of the Missouri River valley. We drove further east to Cabela’s in Mitchell, SD, and were astounded in the emptiness of both the parking lot and store; we’ve heard that they are in serious financial straits. After we shopped a bit, we realized that neither of us needed or wanted much; we walked out with a vest for Kay and a couple of packages of large strike indicators for me. We drove another 45 minutes or so to Camp America RV Park in Salem, SD, and were pleasantly surprised at how nice it was.

Kay’s Take This is one of the nicest RV parks we’ve stayed in. Clean, nice bathrooms and beautiful treed sites with grassy areas. I had tried a new technique as we traveled. I put a crockpot in the sink and plugged it into a plug in connected to our inverter and cooked a casserole while we were driving down the road. It was our friend, Ray Minardi’s Louisiana Jambalaya recipe and it turned out fine. We had enough to share with our friends, Dick and Carolyn. We played “Aw Heck” for a couple of hours as it rained some more. I came out low man! Donald was the high man.

Our Recommendations Enroute to Salem, SD The rest stop at Chamberlain, SD, is not necessarily a must see, but we’ll stop there in the future when traveling I-90 in South Dakota. It has ample parking for motor homes towing a dinghy, has clean restrooms; there’s a nice overlook onto the Missouri River Valley, and a decent Lewis and Clark Exhibit. Anytime we’re in an area with a Cabelas retail store, we stop, and the one in Mitchell, SD, has been one of our favorites. However, the amount of merchandise looked a little thin, the parking lot was near empty, and the store had few customers. It was an eerie feeling as we have stopped there before when it was so busy you could hardly move—another sign of hard economic times.

Campground Camp America, Salem, SD, was a very pleasant surprise. We were parked in a large site among tall trees, with full hook-ups, and could pick up a number of television stations using our antenna. The restrooms were clean, but did charge a quarter for a 6-minute shower. We’ll add this to a list of good RV parks in which to stay when traveling this route.

Driving Statistics
Beginning Mileage: 18,238.0
Beginning Time: 9:30 AM Mountain DST
Ending Mileage: 18,495.1
Ending Time: 5:00 PM Central DST

TOTAL MILEAGE FOR THE DAY: 257.1
CUMULATIVE MILEAGE: 9,103