6/15/20 Geographic Center of US, Belle Fourche, South Dakota

6/15/20  Belle Fourche, South Dakota

Geographic Center of United States Monument

Here we are on the north west corner of South Dakota called the Tri-State area as it is 15 miles from Wyoming and not much farther to Montana.  20 miles north of here on private property is the geographic center of the United States since the addition of Alaska and Hawaii.  The geographic center of the lower 48 is in Kansas near where our Excel RV was manufactured at Smith Center.  

Rocky Point Campground From Our Kayak

We are staying at a lovely state camping area called Rocky Point Recreation Area on the Belle Fourche Reservoir.  Created in 1911 when the Orman Damn was built to provide water for the area, at that time it was the largest earthen damn in the world, just over a mile long.  Nothing on the Plains to stop the wind that blows regularly here, the locals call it Stormin Damn.  We meet one of the local RVers who brings us some fresh caught walleye.  We met because the night before the wind was sooooo strong that it blew their two large floats across campground into the woods so fast that I couldn't begin to catch it.  I told them about it the next morning and they found them over the ridge behind our RV.  We exchanged some stuffed quahogs (hard shell clams from Atlantic) that our Westerly neighbor caught and made the day before we left. We picked some sage on our way out the park for Zoe to use to smudge her new home.  

Custer Arriving Black Hills 1874

Another great visit with John's sister Joan and husband Craig who we social distance with eating on the deck. Deb and fellow rock hound Craig can't pass on an opportunity to dig rocks together so off we go on the ATV with masks.  I LOVE TO ROCK HOUND WITH CRAIG cause he knows his stuff!!!  I want to spend a week here so we can do it every day and not have to rush.  We pack up a 50 pound rock filled with rose quartz that Deb mined with Craig on a trip back in 2014 or 2015 to take to Zoe's new house.

6/16 John spends the morning remotely giving presentations on "the limitations of computer simulations" at the Military Operations Research Society conference. It was well received and I am so glad he continues to make a difference in the world of serious gaming.  He finds a few hours here and there to continue working on his book about using game theory to solve complex world problems.  We tour Deadwood and learn about the massive amount of gold taken from these hills and about Wild Bill Hickcok getting killed here. 

Deadwood Today

 6/17 NO TRUCK DAY - boy do we need a day off the road. John works on his book, Deb works on the blog and we enjoy a wonderful kayak on the lake where we see carp feeding on the surface.

6/18 Now on to Montana, which is 675 miles across and 10.5 hours of driving time.  Like traveling from Westerly to Fayetteville NC - 9 states.  Almost to our destination of Bozeman MT, we stop to change drivers and notice that we have a flat tire on the rig.  Doesn't take long to change due to electric levelers acting as a jack and VAST amount of experience.   Arriving at "Camp Walmart" at 3:40 there are already 12 RVs in the lot, by 9 pm there were 25!   The view of the Rocky's over the white RV in the photo is

Camp Walmart, Bozeman

magnificent. Good thing we have wax earplugs for the noise and eye shades for the parking lot lights at Camp Walmart.