We spent the night at Lewis and Clark State Park in Onawa, Iowa. We have decided only to stay in places with sort of rhyming names: Illini Illinois, Onawa Iowa… We wish we could spend the coming night in Kadoka (South) Dakota!
Anyway, Lewis and Clark State Park was lovely. Our campsite was on the shore of Blue Lake; the lake was once a curve of the Missouri River but geological changes stranded it where it is and separated it from the river. Geese and other waterbirds were swimming and flying and honking , and we saw an osprey hovering over the water as well. What a wonderful morning – sunny and windy and warm but not too warm. We took Molly for a walk on a nature trail that winds through the park, and then we gave Molly a bath to remove the black mud from the lakeshore.
Some have asked how Molly is enjoying the trip. She seems happy - she plays inside and outside of the van before we leave each morning, then sits in the passenger seat lap and puts her head out the window for a little while. She sleeps for most of the rest of the day, and has her walk and whatever frantic running she can squeeze in sometime during the day. Several flies that seem to be traveling with us have been keeping her entertained during the rest of her time in the van.
We enjoyed seeing replicas of boats in which Lewis and Clark traveled up the Missouri River.
Iowa is beautiful, with flat, flat land interspersed with small rolling hills and decorated with small clumps of trees. Clark wrote in 1804, “Musqutors verry troublson” and we can all sympathize with that problem, but “musqutors” haven’t bothered us much on this trip.
We drove north through Iowa and into South Dakota, and then west across South Dakota. South Dakota is another beautiful state, with endless flat and rolling fields and occasional lumpy areas. Tonight, we are camped outside the lumpiest (how’s that for a word?) area of all – Badlands National Park. We promise to take lots of photos tomorrow!
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