On the road with Mike and Tina: Travel To Oacoma

Saturday the 20th

We got up to a nice day, it was about 70 degrees at 7:30 AM. After breakfast and cleanup we decided to move on rather than stay another night in Sioux Falls. With huge celebrations going on in the central park and two regional sporting events going on, it looked like it wouldn't be much fun in town, especially since we had to move to a different campground. So with a final run for the dogs and taking the trash out, we got on the road headed west.

Today we decided to follow I-90 since most of the countryside will be pretty muck like the past several with farmland, cattle and rolling green hills. The only drawback was that it was really straight with lots of traffic. Oh yes, one other thing. Billboards. Lots and lots of billboards. It reminded me of days gone by when you could see four or five every mile on Hwy 99. At first it was interesting but after a while it was an ugly contrast to the beautiful countryside.

Eighty miles into the drive we decided to pull off and go to Mitchell to see the "Corn Palace".

Turns out the city of Mitchell is a pretty thriving community with lots of tourist attractions, a booming historic district and several busy business parks. We got to town following the signs and with a little luck drove right to the RV parking lot a block away. After walking the dogs and starting the genset for A/C to keep the kids cool, we locked up and walked over to Main Street where we found the Corn Palace (http://www.cornpalace.com/index.php). This is a huge building and serves as a multi-function facility for the community. After taking some photos outside we walked in past a turnstile to read about the history of the place. Turns out the exterior is redone every year. After looking at photos of prior years we waked into a large auditorium, with theater seating, a basketball court and stage. This is where the gift shop was located. The basketball hoops were pulled up and the floor of the court was covered with displays of all things corn. We wandered around and bought some postcards, corn chowder in a package and a package of corn bread mix.

After getting our corny fill I followed Tina outside and back to the coach. We had a nice lunch then wound our way out of town stopping for gas just before getting back on I-90. Within a few miles we encountered another construction zone, twenty-five miles worth of one lane travel at 65 mph against oncoming vehicles. Turns out they are entirely rebuilding the two westbound lanes.

After getting past that stretch we had three more sections of one-lane travel but at least we didn't have people coming at us in the other lane. Amazingly, two lane highways in the country where speeds aren't much lower feel much safer, even with lots of semi's coming at you.

We reached Chamberlain and pulled into the campground only to find out it was full. Fortunately the staff person called another place and found us a spot. So we got back in the rig and went back into Chamberlain, turned right and crossed the Missouri River on a one lane (one way) bridge that looked like it was ready to fall in the river at any moment. But we made it safely across and found the Oasis RV Park, registered and got set up.

On the way in we saw a classic car show right across from the RV Park and just down the street what looked like an old western town. So as soon as we got settled we set out for the old time car show. There were about 45 to 50 cars, trucks and motorcycles on display. The oldest was a 1938 Ford Street Rod and the newest was a 2009 Shelby Mustang with swing up doors (see photos for all the cars we liked). I really liked the 1948 Diamond "T" Pickup Truck but my favorite had to be the 1938 Ford Street Rod.

After oooooohing and awwwwwwing for an hour we walked over to the old western town which really turned out to be a false front for the local grocery store. Next we walked across the street to look at a large bison and read a Lewis and Clark Historic Marker.

Then we walked back through the grass over to our coach for dinner. Thus ends another day on the road!!