Cabella’s, Mitchell, SD – May 3 – 4, 2014
The nightstand drawer has been fixed, the gaping hole in the middle of Big Guy’s camp map has been filled and EJ came out ahead at the casino, the Element runs normal again, the sun has actually shown itself so it’s time to roll out of here while our luck is holding.
It’s time to save a little money on camping fees so we set our destination for Mitchell South Dakota where there is a Cabella’s that reportedly allows over night camping.
Coming up US 81 from US 20 we came across a Welcome Center out in the middle of nowhere just before the South Dakota border. We asked the manager about it’s location and found out the local landowners were concerned about this area being the center of a lot of illegal activities. So they bought the land the Welcome Center is located on and convinced the government to give them a $100,000 to build the roads and building with the understanding the Welcome Center would be entirely self sufficient once completed.
This guy was keeping a watchful eye out for lunch as we approached the Welcome Center.
We learned that the road we had been driving on was a very special road. It’s 17,000 miles long and connects Winnipeg in Manitoba Canada to Tierra Del Fuego in South America. Original known as the Meridian Hiway until 1926 when it became US 81. That same year, an international congress meeting in Buenos Aires Argentina decided to build a Pan American Hiway meeting US 81 in Laredo Texas. That is how we came to be driving on the Pan American Hiway.
The views from the Visitor Center looking into South Dakota.
Leaving there we drove across the Missouri River on this really odd looking bridge. We guess the posts sticking up in the air are just for decoration. Or maybe they just never finished it.
We arrived in Mitchell, SD a little later and checked into the Cabella’s campground. Well, actually it’s parking area reserved exclusively for RVs and it had a pretty good slope to it. We circled 3 or 4 times like a dog settling into its bed before we found ‘the’ spot with the least amount of slope. We walked into Cabella’s and asked security what their policy was on overnighting in an RV. It was an interesting answer. Sort of don’t ask and we won’t tell. But their response was “ we neither encourage or discourage it”. Good enough for us, so we feel comfortable staying a night…..or two. We also tried really hard to give Cabella’s some money but they didn’t want it. They didn’t have anything we really needed.
We’re dragging our feet a little, making up our minds about mail delivery, and killing time waiting for weather up north to warm up a tad. We decide to make reservations at Three Flags RV Park in Black Hawk, SD and contact our Fox Valley friends and ask them to forward some important mail to us. We also ordered some parts for the tire pressure management system. All will be delivered to the RV park in Black Hawk.
We had dinner at Whiskey Creek and caught a movie at Wal-Mart, (they had a RedBox). That was about a mile round trip walk from Big Guy and it felt good to get some exercise. The next morning we repeated the exercise to return the movie except we substituted Hardees for Whiskey Creek. And Wal-Mart was more than happy to take the money that Cabella’s didn’t want.
No visit to Mitchell is complete unless you visit “The Corn Palace”. This is a multi-purpose arena for high school and college games, rock concerts, plays, and young ladies recitals. But, the best part is….It’s decorated with corn!!!
The building is made of standard construction, but the exterior covering is made of corn and grass. The design on the outside of the building changes every year. Once the old exterior is removed, scene sketches are made on the bare wall. The corn and grass is carefully chosen for color. The corn cobs are cut in half length-wise then, along with the grass, glued and nailed to the wall. The effect is quite amazing.
And one more ‘corny’ picture and ‘kernels’ of knowledge!
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