Headin' South for the Winter!

   We have been finishing up on some campgrounds we had scheduled late, that needed to be done before we headed south for the winter into New Mexico, Texas and Arizona. When we left Wyoming, we were to do a couple parks in Nebraska, then back to South Dakota for a new KOA Campground that had not had Guest Guides before because they had only been opened one previous season and other reps. had not been able to work them into their schedule, so we decided to run 150 miles north of Grand Island, Ne., and get their maps coming to them for the next season. Boy, are we glad we did!

   Yankton, S.D., is a beautiful little town of 14,000 pop., nestled on the Missouri River. It is an encampment site of the Lewis & Clark Expedition on their travels through the Missouri Valley, and the town is very proud of the fact and have many monuments and points of interest in the area to show where the expedition went through.
   A hydroelectric dam, Gavins Point, backs up the river there and makes The Lewis & Clark Lake, a very nice recreation area for travelers from all over! Boating, fishing, sailing and swimming are popular activities with a large state park and marina and many beautiful homes nestled on the surrounding hillsides overlooking the lake. This is truly a destination area with many activities for travelers with children or just to relax by yourselves and enjoy the serenity it offers!                                                                          
The State of South Dakota Fish & Game oversees an annual harvest in October, of a very unique fish from the area. The Paddlefish, a large long snouted oar, paddle like extrusion somewhat similar to what is known as a Gar in Ohio, only much larger, from the river downstream of the lake to anyone willing to pay for a tag and endure the battle of what it takes to land one of these enormous fish. The fisherman line up on the bank and in boats near the spillway of the dam, with long catfish like poles 7-8 feet and 60-80 pound test line trying to snag a monster fish, limits are set at 36 inch - 55 inch anything under 36 or over 55 from the eye to the fork in the tail,was legal, taking only one per tag per year. This lucky Lady landed one as we were watching the battles one morning! A 56" Paddlefish, just over the limit, which she said would be in the 55 lb. range, she joked that she had been here everyday since season started trying to land one and the only day she drove her car instead of her pickup truck is day she needed a truck to haul the monster home!

    We truly enjoyed our two weeks in the spotless KOA Campground, managed by Don and Nancy Starzl, wonderful folks who will make your stay an enjoyable experience, guaranteed! The campground itself is owned by the NFAA, National Federation of Archery Association, of which Yankton is the world headquarters, hosting many national and world competitions and events yearly, along with the museum and educational training for youngsters!

                        And, of course, Emmy Lou sees all this water and swimming comes to mind!


We left South Dakota and went back into Nebraska to the small midwestern town of Gothenburg. The KOA there had experienced some of the flooding that Colorado had as the North Platt River flows easterly from Colorado and the campground was inundated with the remnants of the disaster that had devastated the folks out west and we were not able to get into the park a month ago on our way from Cheyenne, so we went on to Grand Island and then back up to South Dakota, returning to Gothenburg on our way south. Nebraska is a wonderful state in it's own right as this is considered the breadbasket of our nation! Cornfields, hay and bean fields as far as the eye can see and this time of year some of the largest combines made are harvesting miles of acres of grain to supply the world with food, truly an amazing site and feat, if you stop and admire the American Farmer!
        We left Nebraska on Thursday and drove about 150 miles south on SR83 in to Kansas and stopped at a small campground, High Plains Campground, at the intersection of I-70 for the night. Nice folks,  clean campground that has recently built a Pub out of an older building on the grounds, that serves cold beer and really good ribs on Thursday nite! We had read the forecast from the weather service of rain beginning after midnight and possibly turning to snow! ugh, well here is what we woke to Friday morning!! You get to be my age and have wheels under your butt, guess what we're going to do?  
                                                               Headin' South!!!

      Our next adventure is the one I've waited for twenty years! Taking my Bride to the southwestern region of this beautiful country we call home! New Mexico will be our first stop, as we have a park to do in Clayton, N.M., this northeast region of the state boasts the best preserved volcano in the world, according to the owner, Carol of the Clayton, N.M. KOA! Among all the fields and flatlands we saw on our way down SR83 and SR56 from North Platt, Ne., is this mountain sticking up out of the Seneca Valley. You can see this volcano for miles and she tells us this isn't the largest one, it's on out of town to the west ! We can't wait to see this one, hopefully it won't get as excited as we do and start puffing up at us, or old Bigfoot will be heading out in a hurry!    HAHA!

All this talking puts Emmy Lou to sleep. Any chance I can get my part of the recliner back, Old Girl?

Well, that's about it for this time, we got word last week our great friends from Ohio, John & Jane Dawson are leaving in a week or so in their new motorhome, to do some snow birding of their own and will be passing thru New Mexico to visit their daughter and family in Las Vegas! We can't wait to see them when we meet up!

See You Soon!

Russ & Debbie & Emmy