The Dakota's Capitols and Other Places on the Prairie

Hi there, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Monday, June 8^th, when we arrived in Pierre, South Dakota. We traveled to Pierre from Wall, South Dakota and settled into a nice spot at the River View RV Resort. On Tuesday we went out after lunch to do some exploring of Pierre. We have never been here before. We spent an hour or so driving around the main part of town, just getting a feel for the city. Pierre is not a large city, only about 14,000 population, the second smallest state capitol city in the U.S. Pierre was founded in 1880 in the Dakota Territory and became the capitol of South Dakota in 1889 when both North and South Dakota achieved statehood.

We stopped at the Chamber of Commerce and picked up some material and we did a little geocaching and got five new finds, along with one DNF. By that time the temperature was about 98, so we decided to quit caching for a while. We went into the capitol building, which opened in 1910, and did the self guided tour. It is a very pretty building with lots of marble staircases and trim, and very extensive and interesting mosaic floors.  The story in the guidebook is that when the capitol was being built they brought in 66 Italian artists experienced with mosaic tile.  Each of the artists was given a single blue stone, a color not used for any of the other tiles.  The artists could place these blue tiles anywhere they wanted.  Supposedly, only 55 of the 66 have been found.  Since the artists made no record of the tile placements, it is not known if they simply were not set, or if they are covered up by changes in wall placement over the years, or just haven't been found.  We were able to locate three of the tiles during our tour, but a single blue tile in a sea of tiles is a little hard to spot.

The second tile story relates to the renovation of the capitol building in the 1980's.  Workers were brought in to repair hundreds of feet of cracks in the mosaic floors, caused by settling of the building over the years. Each of these workers were given a small, heart shaped tile to place as a "signature stone."  These were of various colors.  We were able to find two of these, one white and one black.  The black one had a crack and the legend is that the worker had received a "dear John" letter while working on the building and had cracked his tile to symbolize his broken heart.  Maybe, maybe not, but it makes a nice story.  The entire interior of the capitol dome is stained glass, as are the ceilings in most of the other major rooms like the legislative chambers.  We had a very enjoyable hour or so walking around the building. After the capitol tour we did a driving tour of turn of the century mansions based on a booklet we got at the Chamber. This city has dozens of really fine examples of late 19^th and early 20^th century homes. Once our touring was done we did a Walmart run and then went back to the coach for the rest of the night.

Wednesday, June 10^th, it was raining on and off, and was likely to be doing that all day. We headed out after lunch and drove to the South Dakota Governor's Mansion, which is located across a small park and lake from the capitol building. We had discovered yesterday morning, while reading some of the tourist material the gal from the RV park gave us, that there were tours of the mansion, but only on Wednesday and you had to sign up at least a day in advance. We had called in our reservation and picked up our tickets at the Chamber of Commerce yesterday. The tour started at 1:00 and there were probably two dozen people on today's tour.

The first thing they had everyone do when they came into the foyer was to put on paper booties, like they wear in the operating room. Then, while we were all in the foyer, Linda Daugaard, the Governor's wife and the First Lady of South Dakota, came in with one of her young grandsons, and welcomed us to the tour. This is actually the residence of the sitting governor and his or her family, as well as a public building. One of the two volunteer guides explained that the house, which is about ten years old now, is just under 15,000 square feet and about a third of that is the private residence portion. That part, obviously, was not in the tour. The rest of the house is used for official functions and VIP guests.

This building is the third State-owned governor's residence to be in this location. The first was a fairly small wood house purchased by the State in 1925. In 1936 that building was sold and moved to another location in town. The new residence was built as part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and served as the official Residence until 2003. At that time it too was sold and moved, this one going to Rapid City, almost 200 miles southwest, where it became an events center. The newest residence is very pretty and is a combination of wood and stone construction, with aluminum siding, like many of the other houses in South Dakota.

The tour took us through the downstairs “great room”, which is basically a big dining/reception hall with a very beautiful two-sided fireplace in the center. There is also a big, commercial kitchen, which is used for events. The private residence side has it's own regular household kitchen for the first family. Upstairs on the public side are two VIP bedrooms and a sitting room. The residence side has five bedrooms for the family's use. We also saw the Governor's home office, which is in addition to his office at the State Capitol. The tour took a little over an hour and was very interesting.

After the tour we took a drive up to the Oahe Dam and Power Plant. Oahe dam is a Corps of Engineers project, built between 1948 and 1959. It is an earthen dam on the Missouri River, with a downstream power plant, and it creates Oahe Lake, the fourth largest man-made lake in the U.S. It stretches 231 miles north along the course of the river, reaching all the way to Bismarck, North Dakota. We drove along the top of the dam and around the power plant, getting a couple of geocaches in the process. We ended up with four new caches on the day. After touring for a while we headed back to the coach for cocktails and dinner and stayed in the rest of the night.

Thursday, June 11^th, I went out after lunch and took the Jeep to the dealer in Pierre for an oil change. The work took about ninety minutes and then I did a quick trip to Walmart for some things that we had forgotten the other day. Jackie spent the afternoon doing some administrative stuff related to her duties as a Regional Director for Monaco International. She was sending some letters out to new coach owners and that sort of thing. After I got back from my errands we spent the rest of the day and evening in the coach.

Friday, June 12^th, we left the RV park after lunch and went out for a final day of caching and exploring Pierre. We were able to get five new finds, and two DNFs, for the afternoon. We stopped at the mall and walked the length of it just for the exercise. It is not a huge mall and the anchor stores are Penny's and Kmart. We were able to find the Folger's Simply Smooth coffee that we drink at Kmart. We have had trouble finding it at food stores recently. On the way home we stopped at KFC and let the Colonel cook us dinner.

Saturday, June 13^th, another travel day in our push towards Madison, Wisconsin. We left Pierre a little after 10:00 and started north towards Menoken, North Dakota, a little town about ten miles east of Bismarck, North Dakota, the capitol of the state. This trip was just over 200 miles, longer than we have driven recently, and about at the edge of what we like to drive in a day. This trip was all non-freeway, U.S. 83 to be exact, and was two lane road for the most part. There was very little traffic and the weather was really nice, so it was an easy, enjoyable trip that took a little over four hours. We arrived at the Prairie Breeze RV park in Menoken about 2:30 or so and in ninety minutes we were all hooked up and settled in, just in time for a series of afternoon thundershowers. All of the storms missed direct hits on us, so all we got was rain and a light show from the distant thunderstorms. We will be here near Bismarck for another five day stay and are looking forward to exploring another place we have never been.

Sunday, June 14^th, Flag Day and the 240^th Anniversary of the United States Army. We headed out from the RV park after lunch and drove into Bismarck, about ten miles west. Bismarck is the Capitol of North Dakota and the second largest city after Fargo. The population is about 62,000, significantly larger than Pierre, South Dakota's capitol. The city was founded in 1872 as a rail stop on the Northern Pacific Line and was named after the then Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, in hopes of attracting German investors and settlers to the area. We drove past the capitol building, which is a 19 story skyscraper and is the tallest building in the state. It does not have a dome and really doesn't resemble what most people think of as a capitol building. Locally it is known as the Skyscraper on the Prairie.

Our first stop was a laundromat, as we needed to do our laundry. After we did laundry we did a couple of geocaches, our first in North Dakota. We had two finds and one DNF before deciding to stop at Sam's Club and Walmart for some supplies. We finished everything up and were back home about 6:00 where we stayed in the rest of the night.

Monday, June 15^th, we left the coach about 12:30 and drove into Bismarck to the Bismarck-Mandan Elks Lodge for lunch. The Lodge does lunch five days a week and dinners six nights a week. It is Lodge #1199 and was chartered in 1910. They claim to be one of the largest lodges in the country with 4,500 members. They have a very nice, large building with great facilities. They have a big auditorium and ballroom, a huge bar, a very nice restaurant, exercise facilities, and large grounds. We heard they had RV parking, but didn't see them this trip. There were not very many people in the dining room for lunch and it was a buffet with one hot item, and a sandwich bar. The food was OK, but I probably wouldn't make it a regular place if I lived here. We were able to get a lodge pin for our banner since we have never visited this lodge before.

After lunch we went out to do some geocaching. We had a great afternoon, getting 14 new finds, including our number 7,100, as well as one new DNF. After caching we stopped at Sam's Club again to get a couple of clothing items that we saw yesterday. After that stop we headed back home and stayed in for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, June 16^th, my oldest daughter Tye's birthday. Happy birthday! Today is also the 45^th anniversary of the day I was sworn in as a Maricopa County Deputy Sheriff in Phoenix. Wow, time flies. It had been raining most of the night and was still raining in the morning. The forecast called for rain most of the day. No storms, just a lot of steady rain. We decided to still go out and do some exploring, trying to go to inside places. We drove into Bismarck and headed to the capitol grounds so we could go inside the capitol building. We arrived just in time to catch one of the free tours around the inside of the capitol.

The building, as I said earlier, is the tallest in the state and was opened in 1934. It was built after the original capitol building was completely destroyed by fire in December 1930. The building has an art deco motif with lots of granite, exotic woods from all over the country, and lots of polished brass. It has an understated elegance, but is clear that functionality came first in the design. We were able to go into both the Senate and House chambers since the North Dakota legislature only meets for 80 days every two years, unless the Governor calls a special session. A true “citizen legislature.” We were also able to go into the Supreme Court courtroom as there were no hearings going on. The final stop was the observation floor on the 18^th floor of the tower. It was too bad that it was so cloudy and rainy as the views must be spectacular when the weather is clear. We spent an hour or so in the building, looking at pictures and walking around.

After we left the capitol building we drove to the former Governor's Mansion, about a mile from the capitol. It is now a museum that is open to public. The site consists of a large two and one-half story, restored Victorian house and a carriage house. Constructed in 1884, it housed 20 chief executives between 1893 and 1960. There are various room exhibits featuring the restoration process, architectural style changes, and furniture used by several governors. This house was the North Dakota governors' residence from 1893 to 1960. It was built in 1884 as a private residence and sold to the state for $5,000 in 1893.

In 1975 the State of North Dakota gave the State Historical Society the house with the hope that it would operate as a historic house museum. Extensive research and restoration has been completed, restoring the house to its former appearance as it might have been in 1893. Throughout the house are restoration features which are highlighted to show visitors what work has been done. One of the more interesting of these are frames on the wall in which they

preserved the various layers of wallpaper used in the particular room. The old wallpaper was never removed, just covered over, so they are able to “drill down” to the various layers. We spent a half hour or so walking around the house, all the way up to the attic. We had also driven by the current governor's residence, which is located on the capitol grounds, and just looks like a nice, big brick ranch style home. They don't give tours of the current residence.

After the old governor's mansion we drove around downtown for a while and then stopped a big antique mall. We were shopping in there for about ninety minutes. I was finally able to find a reasonably priced example of the Jim Beam Elks decanter. When we first went full time I had both of the Jim Beam decanters dedicated to the Elks, but one of them got broken not too long after we started. I have seen a few in stores, but most wanted forty dollars or more. This one was $12, so it went home with us. When we were done with the antique store we headed back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the night.

Wednesday, June 17^th, we went out after lunch to visit the zoo. The weather forecast was for partly cloudy and cool, but no rain. The zoo in Bismarck is called The Dakota Zoo and is located on the west side of the city, adjacent to the Missouri River. The zoo was founded as a non-profit private entity in 1961 with fewer than 100 animals. Over the years additional land was donated by the City of Bismarck and the zoo now has over 600 animals of 125 species on 90 acres of land. It is still primarily supported by a non-profit foundation through donations and memberships to the zoo.

Once we got into the park we took the tram ride through the entire facility, which took about a half hour. Once we got off the tram we walked around most of the exhibits and watched the animals. Since it is spring time there were a lot of baby animals, which are always fun to watch, especially the monkey babies. The Dakota Zoo does not have some of the larger animals, such as elephants, giraffes and bears. They did have a couple of grizzlies, but no other bears. Most of their big animals are the ungulates, moose, elk, deer, antelope, and mountain sheep and goats. They do have a nice selection of big cats, Bengals, both white and regular, cougars, and bobcats. No lions though. We spent about three hours in the zoo, enjoying the animals. They also have a lot of barnyard animals for the kids (and animal lovers like us) to pet. A couple of miniature horses and donkeys, pigs and goats.

After the zoo we went to the mall and walked around for a while doing some window shopping and killing time before going to the Elks Lodge for dinner. We went into the Elks around 6:15 or so and ate in the dining room. They have an extensive menu and serve six nights a week. I had the liver and onions, which was outstanding. Jackie had the local Walleye and enjoyed it as well. We had an appetizer of chicken gizzards, which were tasty and inexpensive. We were very happy with the food, although the service left a little to be desired. I think we had a new server. We finished dinner around 8:00 and headed back to the coach, very full of food, and stayed in the rest of the evening.

Thursday, June 18^th, another travel day. We were packed up and on the road by 10:30 or so. We were traveling 87 miles east today to Jamestown, North Dakota. We had some rain showers early in the morning and a brief period of rain while on the road, but the closer we got to Jamestown the clearer it got. By the time we got to Jamestown and checked into the Jamestown Campground the sun was out and it was just partly cloudy.

Unlike many of our stops recently, we have been to Jamestown before, back in 2005, our first year on the road. We were on our way to our first FMCA rally in Minot, North Dakota, in August and we stopped here in Jamestown for a couple nights to meet up with a group of friends from Southern California. We then all traveled to Minot together, and stayed together for a couple of weeks while we toured the Black Hills after the rally. We had even stayed in this same campground on that trip.

Jamestown was founded in 1872 as a railroad stop and is the ninth largest city in North Dakota with just under 16,000 population. It is primarily an industrial and agricultural support center, having easy access to the main northern rail line. There are a couple of museums and they boast the world's largest buffalo, a huge cement structure that we have pictures of from our first visit here in 2005. We will be here for three days before moving on to Fargo, North Dakota. After we got settled in we did a Walmart run and then relaxed in the coach the rest of the day.

Friday, June 19^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to explore and do some geocaching. We had a decent afternoon, finding nine new geocaches and two DNFs for our efforts. We also spent some time driving around Jamestown, checking out the small downtown and some of the neighborhoods. While driving around we were pleased, and surprised, to find an Elks Lodge near downtown. I say surprised because when we were here ten years ago we were with a large group of friends, all of whom were Elks. Had there been an Elks Lodge here then, I have no doubt we would have gone, and we hadn't.

We stopped at the Lodge, which is in a commercial building, to see if they had hours posted. The door was unlocked, so I went in and checked out the place. There didn't appear to be anyone around until I found the Secretary of the Lodge in her office. The bar wasn't open yet, but we talked and I told her about being here ten years ago and not seeing a Lodge. She said that was about the time the Lodge sold it's old building downtown and was without a home for a few years. She said they had been in this building for about four years. I was able to get a lodge pin for our banner from her.

We continued our touring until about 4:30, when we went back to the Elks for a drink. There were quite a few people in the bar and one of the older members, a guy named Tex, talked to us for a while. He was an old time member, former ER for a couple of terms, and he confirmed what the Secretary told me, that the lodge was closed for a while. We had a couple of drinks, one of which was on the house, and left after about an hour. We went back to the coach and stayed in the rest of the night.

Saturday, June 20^th, we went out after lunch to do some caching and exploring. We were able to get eight caches and two DNFs for the afternoon. We also spent a little time at the Frontier Fort, a tourist attraction featuring an ersatz western town, a buffalo herd, and the giant cement buffalo. We wandered through a few shops and watched their mock gunfight for a while. It was really more of a street play and it got a little boring. We ended up leaving before the lead started flying. After we got back to the coach we just relaxed the rest of the day.

Sunday, June 21^st, Happy Father's Day! Today was a travel day for us. We were packed up and on the road by 10:30, headed to Fargo, North Dakota, about 90 miles east. We arrived at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds RV park about 12:30 and got settled into a nice spot overlooking a big green field. We were originally going to stay here for five days, but when I checked in I noticed that the fee was $30 a day, but only $120 a week. Five days at the daily rate would have been $150. I paid for the week, if we decide to leave early, we still save money. We have some slack in the schedule and will probably stay for the whole week, depending on the weather. After we got setup we stayed in for the rest of the day, taking care of some home chores.

Our arrival here marks a good point to publish this episode. It has been almost two weeks since the last chapter was put up. Until next time, remember the words of well known travel writer, Rolf Potts. “Long-term travel doesn’t require a massive bundle of cash; it requires only that we walk through the world in a more deliberate way.” Good thing, because we can't find our massive bundle of cash. See ya soon.