Day 3: Dr. Emmit Babbler Memorial Campground – Hermann – Swiss Meat & Sausage Company – Jefferson – Columbia – St. Joseph – Big Lake State Campground.
Day 4: Big Lake State Campground – Loess Hills Wildlife Refuge – Brownville, NE – Nebraska City – Winnebago Indian Reservation – Omaha – North Sioux City, SD.
As you can see, two long days. We arrived at our camp site around 7 p.m. on day 3, and around 6 p.m. at the motel on day 4. Yes, we had nice side trips at Clark’s Hill and the Wildlife Refuge on day 4. The refuge is huge and if you come at the right time, it should be chockablock with ducks, swans and cranes. For us the idea of loss is neat; it is a soil type formed from volcanic ash that was deposited thousands of years ago. It is usually yellow in color and extremely fertile. The loess deposits in these hills are among the deepest in the U.S.A. Both of us being schooled in soil science, this was a place to stop and explore. We saw a little bit but spent most of our time driving the 10-mile loop in the refuge. This had a mixture of wetland habitat and prairie. All very interesting to us, as well.
However, let’s start at the beginning of our trip. I had the initial idea to make our day 2 camping spot in Hermann, they have a city park open to campers. However, we decided to stay at the Babbler campground. In hindsight this appeared to be a good decision. Once in Hermann, we could not locate the city park. Hermann is a great tourist town on the Missouri and surprisingly on our way there, the road was littered with the “you are on the Lewis and Clark trail” signs. However, as of this writing, those signs kept pursuing us, indicating we are on the right trail.
After driving to Hermann and seeing what a tourist trap that was, we decided to aim for Jefferson City, figuring that we could put of our need for lunch and a bathroom break that long. However, just outside Hermann we hit the sausage factory. The decision was made to buy something for breakfast the next morning. We did not realize what we about to step into, a virtual meat market with all kinds of sausage concoctions and bacon. They also had a lunch counter, so that was easy. The problem as usual was the doggies and 95 degree temperatures; they don’t mix. We ate lunch in the van, and on we went. The road was absolutely fun, a small winding country road. One thing about this part of Missouri were all the wineries. I had tasted wines from the region in the mid-1990s and they were not bad then, but this turn we had no time to taste.
After stopping at Clark’s Hill (see below) and later in Jefferson City for our required visit to Starbucks, we pressed on. Mostly interstate highway driving, until we needed to get on the backroads to Big Lake State Park. The last part of the drive was flat. Fascinating was when we got off the highway and dove into the floodplain of the Missouri. It is huge in that part of this world. There were all kinds of reminders of the flood back in the 1800s. Big Lake looks like it was an old oxbow of the Missouri River that had been cut off a long time ago. When booking, little did we realize what a resort area this area was. Except for the state park, the lake was surrounded by vacation homes and the lake was full on pontoon boats and jet skis. This was a party park, all kinds of watercrafts; dogs were running lose, with some dog poop to step into. Getting that in the van required a cleaning effort that put us to sleep late. Rest rooms and showers were scarce at the park, but we knew we had a motel room the next night and showers are overrated anyway.
After visiting the Loess Hills it was off to the Nebraska side of the river. Brownville is a cute, touristy town, but the ice cream shop was closed! Lunch in Nebraska City and I dare say that I now understand why my family likes this state and says it is pretty. We drove along the floodplain, corn and soy, all the way to Omaha. Starbuck stop there. Temperatures reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 C). We got to the Hampton Inn in North Sioux City by 6:45. We had driven through Missouri, Nebraska, a sliver of Iowa into South Dakota. A trip that Lewis and Clark took a half year to cover was done in a fairly fast pace by us.
Our only other dedicated stop was Clark’s Hill. This hill is located just east of Jefferson City. Clark walked up for a view of the river. He discovered three Indian mounts on the hill, which remain there until this day. Our overall impression of this leg of the trip was that it fascinated us to see the transition from an area dominated by wooded areas to an area dominated by agriculture land (most of it in corn and soybeans). We were both schooled in the agronomy side of life, with a side of ecology. So, you can imagine our enjoyment of looking at the landscape passing by the van.
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| The view from Clark's Hill. |
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| Our dog Radar waiting for the sun to set. |
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| A random view of Nebraska |
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| The Nebraska floodplains, as flat a a pancake, stark but somehow nice at least in our eyes. |
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