Join My Newsletter

Heartwarming Small-Town Romances and Thrilling Mysteries

If you read my blog about Make a Map showing where you’ve traveled, then you’ll be happy to hear that I’m adding more lines to my map.

Last week, Hubby decided he’s ready to sell the motorhome we named RUFINIT. He spent several days emptying it out and cleaning it inside and out. It was quite a chore! It’s surprising how much stuff you can put into one of those. He found quite a few things he didn’t know he had.

On Thursday, we took RUFINIT on one last drive (maybe) to Pierre where he consigned it with a RV dealer who he trusts with it. He gave it one last, sad look before he got in our car, and I drove him away. We were a few minutes late for meeting with friends for lunch; otherwise, he’d have taken longer to say goodbye to it. Hubby gets very attached to his vehicles. They’re like the pets we don’t have; it’s hard for him to let go.

We get pint jars of fresh honey every year and this year was no different. From Pierre, we traveled east to the tiny town of Roscoe, not far from the North Dakota line. One of the largest honey plants in the U.S. is there. We visited with a man there while we waited for someone to help us get honey. He was from Louisiana and works for the company, moving hives to different parts of the country and delivering them to the plants to extract the honey. Interesting job. Interesting and very nice fellow.

With our 18 jars of fresh-from-the-hive honey, we debated on which way to go back home. We could have gone across the northern part of South Dakota, but we’d already been that way. I wanted to see a statue called Dignity that stands on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River at Chamberlain. So we headed south.

My first piece of advice is to always have a state map in your car. You never know when you might need it.

My second piece of advice is to never follow Siri in eastern South Dakota.

Siri took us down a paved road that turned to gravel through the corn fields. We had no idea where we were. The eastern part of the state is farmland. There’s miles and miles of fields with few houses and no towns out there. We weren’t scared; just hoped we had enough gas to get back to civilization.

When we got to an intersection, a man in a pickup looked at us funny and make an odd gesture, like Do you know where you’re going? No, we didn’t. The road got rutted and rough but on we went in our little, low-clearance Accord.

When we finally came to a paved road, we turned the opposite direction than what Siri said and followed it east. We finally hit a numbered highway so we knew where we were and where we were going. We hadn’t been on the road before, but we knew where it ended up.

After a couple hours of driving, we came to I-90 and turned west. The interstate goes through Rapid City so we knew we’d get home at that point.

It didn’t take long before we found Dignity. It was an amazing sight, and I’m so glad we went that way. It was worth the gravel and the miles to get there. The sun was low in the smoky sky which gave it a beautiful glow.

Dignity was dedicated to the tribes of South Dakota in honor of the dignity which they hold. Overlooking the river, it stands in a beautiful place. Lewis and Clark came by here and may have camped in the vicinity. It was near here where they first came in contact with the Lakota and weren’t given a very warm welcome.

If you’re ever traveling I-90 in South Dakota, stop at the rest stop at Chamberlain and see Dignity. You’ll be amazed and awed at the statue and the scenery. But drive the speed limit. A State Patrol office is there too.

The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forever more. Psalm 121:7-8

4 Responses

  1. Those gps’ have put us in bad spots too (with a 34′ 5th wheel behind us). Glad it worked out and you did NOT run out of fuel! Did you go to the little museum inside the rest area, we liked it too. Thanks for coming to Pierre for lunch

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *