Across the Wide Missouri - Mitchell, South Dakota

I tried to get a picture of the Missouri River as we crossed just past Oacoma, South Dakota today. It's a very wide river at that point. This is the best I could do, stitching 3 photos together:







We also crossed back into Central Daylight Time today, so I'm an hour behind myself. We left Wall at 8:20 (MDT) and arrived in Mitchell about 12:30 (CDT). We traveled about 220 miles and got 8.6 mpg. We stopped for fuel in Oacoma and paid $4.549 per gallon. There's a station across from the rv park we're staying in here in Mitchell that has diesel for $4.479 per gallon.



We are staying at R&R RV, a Passport America park in Mitchell, South Dakota. It's not a bad park with free wifi, cable tv and a pool. We're parked on a concrete pad and have plenty of grassy space. We only have one neighbor because we're at the end of a row. Our neighbors have a 2008 Alfa which they bought in Tucson at the same time we were buying the Castle. Once again, I am a happy camper that we decided against the Alfa, which was on our short list! John and Sue are also our neighbors on Rainbow Drive.



Once we got set up and washed the bugs off the front of the Castle, it was time to go explore. The main reason to stop in Mitchell is the Corn Palace. Well, there was a secondary reason, a doll museum, but that has closed, and the building is for sale. Bummer.



Before the Corn Palace visit we stopped in a bar & grill called Jackpot Gamblin' for a bite to eat. On one wall, shown below, are several props and pictures from the movie "Dances with Wolves".

On another wall is a picture of Mt. Rushmore, which is labeled as the first Kodak ad.

On to the Corn Palace. The murals are changed every year in the summer. Different plant materials are used, depending on harvest times. Right now there is quite a bit of wheat, but when the corn comes in, it will replace a lot of the wheat.

The 2008 theme for the murals is "Everyday Heros". The picture below is for our brother in law, Bob, who is a retired firefighter.

This is for Speedy, (Somewhere in Time) for being such a good sport about Beetle Bloomers!

The corn theme is everywhere, even on the floor!

After checking out more of the town, we headed back home for a quiet evening. It's been a good travel day. We'll be here one more day before moving on.