Usually our road trips are fairly spontaneous affairs, but maybe out of fear of traveling on the Labor Day weekend, or the uncanny attraction of planning trips online, we had our Missoula - Sheridan - Chamberlain - Northfield itinerary all set weeks ago.
Chamberlain had several things going for it. First was consistency - it was the third 480 mile day in row. Second was scarcity - there aren't that many options in central South Dakota. Third was geography - instead of being up against a soy bean field along a flat expanse of I-90, this place is actually down on the Missouri River. Fourth was contrast - there are no shortage of Hampton Inns, Comfort Suites, and Wingate Hotels, but they are all pretty much the same. Usually nice, usually predictable. But I wanted something more local, more memorable, and frankly, more interesting.
"A Bridge View Inn" had favorable reviews and was right in town on the riverbank. Our room opened on the river. It was just a motel, but a perfectly nice one and exactly what I wanted. We watched the sun set shortly after we arrived, then I got up and explored this morning with the sun at my back. D was happy because he got his own room and his own TV.
The Missouri was a river on September 16th, 1804, when Lewis and Clack rowed upstream past here. Now it's a reservoir, one of many strung out along the river's course through the plains. I tried to imagine what it must have looked like, meandering among sand bars beneath the current lake. But reservoir or river, it needs bridges, and it has several very nice ones.
1 comment:
Good morning. I went to grad. school in Iowa and lived there for nine years. So far, you are tracing my usual route back and forth between Gig Harbor and Iowa City. I think at this point is where our paths diverge. I usually turned south at Sioux Falls. Enjoy your trip. I am enjoying your posts.
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