Winter trip wrap up with Pompey grave site

 After Yuma we hung out in Arizona and New Mexico before working our way back to Tacoma the end of April. We only stopped at a couple new noteworthy locations on the entire drive. Although we did drive across the salt flats west of Salt Lake City for the first time which was interesting.

The first one I want to mention is the California Trail Interpretive Center near Elko, Nevada. We decided to take a break here with no expectations. It turned out to be a wonderful, informative place. It's worth a stop if you are going across I-80 in Nevada.

We did go out of our way for the next stop of interest. Over our years of Meandering in our RV we've been to dozens of Corp of Discovery (Lewis and Clark Expedition) historic sites with many being remote and we've found them all interesting. Many years ago we saw a reference to "Pomp" (who's Pomp? See below) having died and been buried at a remote location in southeast Oregon. This went into my list of future places to seek out when in the area (why not?). When planning our route home on this trip I specifically planned the route to go here and then across US 20 to see central Oregon which was another long time goal. Missions accomplished.

So who was Pomp? He was Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, son of Sacagawea, born at Fort Mandan in 1805 in present-day North Dakota, just north of Bismarck. William Clark gave him the nickname Pompey. He went on to have an interesting life (his Wiki).

Here is a link to the Grave site.

You could also go to my post for August of 2015 when we visited the Fort Mandan State Historic Site. That might be where I saw the reference to the Pomp burial site, but I'm not sure.

Jean Baptist Charbonneau grave site

Jean Baptist Charbonneau grave site

Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park

Well, it’s February and we’ve come to Arizona to dry out and warm up. Not only that, we are spending a little time in Yuma. In all of our Arizona years we never spent any time in Yuma to see why so many snowbirds spend there winters there. Our conclusion is that it is a big enough city to have everything you need but not “really” big and cumbersome like the Phoenix and Tucson areas. I would never spend a summer in Yuma (heat to the extreme) for sure and it is not desirable for us even in winter because there is nothing to do outside whatever little community you settle in (and there are dozens of snowbird communities). Ok, enough of that.

The real reason we were drawn to finally get to Yuma was history, of course. The Yuma Territorial Prison combined with the historic Yuma Crossing. They can be visited at the Yuma Territorial Prison State Historic Park. Any readers of this blog will notice our travels are dominated by historic sites and this is one of the few remaining in Arizona that we had not been to. There really isn’t much left of the original prison but there is enough to get an idea of what it was like with the aid of the museum and interpretive signs on the grounds. The Yuma area has an interesting history and the prison facility has an interesting history even after the prison was closed (use the link above to read the history). Of course, the historic Yuma Crossing of the Colorado River also requires the imagination but you can see the general location. Anyone that has spent time on the length of the Colorado River will understand why this was the best place to cross for hundreds of miles.

In a nutshell, we found it worth the visit in our Meanderings. 

Cell block

Prison Cemetery

Site of Colorado River Crossing

Prison watchtower

2021 Year-end Travel Summary

We didn’t get to go on an adventure per se to see many new sites. We did move from Arizona to Washington in January/February and we made a point to stop at a couple National Park Service locations in California on our drive north. We then made a trip to the Midwest in April and May and made a point to make a couple stops on that drive as well. That gave us a total of four new NPS sites for the year.

We don’t know yet what 2022 will bring for travel plans but we are hoping we can see at least a few new awesome places. After all these years of RVing we’re starting to run low on new places on our list. However, we’ve learned that some of our most memorable places weren’t planned so you just never know what we’ll discover when we get out on the road.

 Happy travels!

Here is the latest travel map:

2021 Travel is green line

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is located along I-90 in remote South Dakota near Philip. The visitor center is right on I-90 and there are two remote locations that have tours (when allowed). The two remote locations are the launch control facility and a missile silo. We only went to the visitor center as the other locations were closed due to COVID-19. The visitor center had great information about the Cold War and all of the drama related to missiles. It is worth a stop along the long, isolated drive across South Dakota.

Visitor Center

Dignity Sculpture - Chamberlain, SD

We discovered the Dignity of Earth and Sky statue/sculpture by chance by stopping at the rest area near Chamberlain, South Dakota. It is so wonderful I just had to make a post for it. 

So, yes, it is at a rest area overlooking the Missouri River so the view is great also. And, that's not all. There is a nice exhibit (for a rest area) about the Corp of Discovery expedition (you know, Lewis & Clark) inspired by their stop in the area. So, if you are cruising across I-90 in South Dakota be sure to put this rest area on your agenda.

View - Missouri River

Pipestone National Monument

 On our return trip we went a little out of our way to visit Pipestone National Monument in very southwestern Minnesota. This National Park Service location protects ancient stone quarries that have been used for centuries. The short story is that Indigenous people from across the country have been visiting and quarrying a unique stone from these quarries to make special smoking pipes that are an important part of their traditions and beliefs. This national monument protects these quarries and issues permits to tribal nations so that they may keep quarrying traditions alive.

These pictures do not show active sites as they are protected from visitors. There is a nice 3/4 mile paved path that shows the natural landscape and some history.

Exhibit hole to show rock layers

Old quarry with rubble falling back in

Waterfall on trail

1838 chiseling by explorers

The World's Only Corn Palace

 We took a cross country trip to visit our new granddaughter and stopped at The World's Only Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. It was a beautiful morning so the clear blue sky really accented the art work.

In case you were wondering, the building is not made of corn but there is really nice artwork on both the inside and outside of the building using corn, grains and natural grasses.

It is worth a stop to see if you are driving.

Front of building

Southside

Closer look to see materials

Some of the inside work