4th of July

We made it to Kennabec before the rains set in... and boy did the rains set in! The first site looked to be a nice site until after the evening down pour. The rain sounded like it was dropping Volkswagens on us, with a mixture of hail and 60 mph wind gusts. The next morning I looked out to see the damage, and I knew I should have put the pontoons on the trailer the night before.

 

The campground owners were kind enough to let

us move to higher ground. We pushed the barge to shore and moved to a site up front in the same row, with a nicer view. This is a KOA campground recovering from a massive flood that took out all their tent sites, damaged buildings, washed away all their site materials. They found their washed away cabin over a mile downstream from the campground. We didn't go looking for fireworks, they came to us, in the form of residents near by firing them off.  

We did venture out to a couple of places in the area. We tried to visit the "Sioux Museum and Cultural Center, but it was closed for the 4th of July weekend, who da thunk? We were determined that the day would be a success, and it was, we visited the "Destiny Monument".

The idea of the monument is to echo the interaction between the earth, sky , and people. This monument can be seen at the Chamberlain rest stop Tourist Information Center in South Dakota. The information center talks of the Lewis and Clark expedition through this portion of the territory.

This bridge is the Lewis and Clark Memorial Bridge across the Missouri River. The expedition traveled up and down the river, sometimes having to carry their boats around rough water. At one point while the team spent many days working their way around a large bend in the river, I believe Lewis walked 2,000 yards across the bend to their agreed camp. Anyway, we left here and went home to pack up, and head for Minnesota.