Day 3 -Omaha NE - Sioux City IA - Pierre SD

 

Started the day in Syracuse NE.  It was overcast and stormy looking,  very windy.  We headed north into Omaha.  Dropped Buck off at Downtown Hound for some doggie day care.

Went to the Visitor Center of Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.  They had some nice displays.  Got a cute Seaman dog stuffed toy.  Seaman was the Newfoundland purchased by Merriweather Lewis for $20 in Philadelphia.  He made the trip with the Corps of Discovery, saving their lives several times  by alerting to danger.

Walked across the bridge that spans the Missouri River from Omaha NE to Council Bluffs, IA. 

Gathered up Buck from the day care and headed north.  Stopped at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center in Sioux City, IA.  They had some very nice displays with animatronics of Seaman barking at the prairie Dog.  Lewis and Clark speaking about their duties.  York, Clarks Black Slave, talking about how unusual his part of the expedition was and finally Thomas Jefferson talking about the responsibility of the Corps.  Thomas Jefferson looked very realistic.

Captains Lewis and Clark and Seaman the New Foundland 

Also stopped at the Sgt Floyd Memorial.  Sgt Floyd was the only person that lost their life on the expedition.  It was determined later that he died from and appendicitis. 

Leaving Sioux City we ran into a rain storm.  The good thing was that the temperatures cooled down.  Didn’t take look to go from 88* to 68*.

We continued to head north on I-29.  As soon as we passed into South Dakota that speed limit went up to 80 mph!

We turned west onto I-90.  The landscape changed to rolling green hills with small lakes here and there.  We passed over the Missouri River at Chamberlain and continued west until we came to the turn off to go north to Pierre, the State Capitol of South Dakota.  There were no cars on this road, well only maybe one or two.  Nothing behind me or in front of me. 

As we got close to Pierre, the hills fell away and we went down into the Missouri River Valley.  Surprising how small the town of Pierre is, the population is only 14,000 people, for being a state capitol.  There are large Cottonwood trees lining the river.