Yankton, South Dakota

 We’re trying to escape the semi-daily rain, so have run as fast as we can toward the west. While we seem to have left rain, we didn’t anticipate heat! Yankton is only a couple hundred miles west of our last stop in Minnesota, but is a completely different ecological environment (I read those two words somewhere). As I write this at 8 pm, the outside temperature is 88 degrees. Local news says feels like 96.

But it’s not raining.

On the way along Interstates 90 and 29 the terrain changed from rolling hills to almost perfectly flat ground.

The seemingly endless miles of corn and soybeans are soothing, if a bit boring. Donna and I had ample time to solve most of the world’s problems, but unfortunately forgot the answers as we approached South Dakota. Entering a new state and seeing a welcome sign was so unbelievably exciting!

As you can see, bugs had collected on our windshield, giving us an opportunity to pass time counting them…

We have checked into the Yankton KOA, site number one. 

It’s a nice site, easy to get in and apparently will be easy to get out. We have signed up for four nights in this town of 17,000 residents along the Missouri River. Across the river, Nebraska sweet corn calls to us.

The central plains was a go-to area for Eastern Europe immigrants back in the day because of the rich farmland and abundant rainfall. Hundreds of my long lost cousins are scattered throughout South Dakota and we have always wanted to make a connection to them. We will be watching for pierogies and kolaches at every turn! We just found out that we missed Czech Days by a few weeks, so we’re making plans for next year…

We started our first full day in Yankton by checking out the Missouri River at the southern edge of town.

Somewhere in the middle of the river is the Nebraska state line!

After checking out some stately older homes and many, many businesses that process, store, and ship a variety of grains via the river, we headed northwest.

We couldn’t get over the vast prairies, miles upon miles of corn, soybeans, and pasture.

Headed towards Tabor, SD, the home of the annual Czech Festival. At the edge of town, an amazing field caught our attention.

Tabor hosts a festival each June that is the envy of Czech immigrants, but you wouldn’t think it could happen in such a small town.

But it does! Main street is a wide, if short, boulevard with an interesting mural on the side of an office building and an American Legion hall on the other side of the street.

The Legion hall has closed, but the St Wenceslaus church just up the street is still a vibrant part of the community.

Driving thru town brought us to a group of old iron tractor owners out for a Saturday spin in their machines. A quick word as to their route through the countryside sent us to the Bon Homme Hutterite Colony. Hutterites are similarly to Amish, but practice communal living where no one owns property, while Amish practice community living and own property. As it turns out, the tractor parade ran through the colony on a county dirt road and headed back to town. So we missed talking to somebody local who might have helped us with our genealogy interests, but had a nice drive on some dirt roads!

Back in Tabor, we were still hoping to meet someone, but we did not see a single person in their car, yard, or on the street! Of course the feels like temp of 106 may have contributed to that.

As hot as it is in July, we saw a reminder that winter is just around the corner.

I’m not sure if the sign refers to length or depth, but it surely is an attention getter!

A quick internet search tells us that we have relatives in this area who have, or are, homemakers, hockey players, business owners, and teachers. We’ll have to check it out!

Our playtime in the Yankton area has been limited due to high heat, shaky rv park power, and air conditioning issues on our truck. This heat is really something! It seems that all of our systems are maxed out, and from what I understand from the news we are not alone! Good thoughts to all who are struggling with heat! Be careful!