RE: Itasca State Park/Lake Bemidji State Park Damage??
Because of this storm, La Salle Lake State Recreation Area is closed indefinitely and reservations are cancelled through July 11.
Itasca is cg's are open but according to the DNR day visitors are being discouraged while they are cleaning up the fallen trees.
Not due to this storm, but because of the flooding earlier this summer, I just read that Jay Cooke is "closed indefinitely, with all reservations through October 31 automatically cancelled and refunded."
What a crazy summer we've had!
RE: Itasca State Park/Lake Bemidji State Park Damage??
We are here at Itasca and weathered the storm by the grace of God. We are here in the Bear Paw CG and there must be at least 30 huge trees down in our cg alone. I've heard the Pine Ridge cg got it much worse. Power was out from about 6:45pm until about 3:00am this morning. Power is still out for many of the surrounding areas from what I can tell.
We were on the lake when we saw the storm rolling in... it didn't seem like anything but a rain shower storm, nothing menacing about it. We got back to our camper just as it started to rain. Within the space of a few minutes the wind whipped up and was gusting like crazy. We managed to get our awning rolled up and huddled inside. I'd say in a space of less than 10 minutes the worst was over.
Our neighbor got a tree across the hood of his truck. He is trying to patch it up to leave today. We had a huge limb fall on the far side of our picnic table. A couple sites up the road, a tree that must have a 5 foot diameter fell across a gazebo and picnic table of a tent site. The tent was unharmed and the tenters were in their vehicle.
All around the cg there is damage. Vehicles with windows broken out, a TT with the awning tore off because of a tree landing on it, another TT that lost all his skylights, his antenna and awning. A pop up with the entire rear bunk tore off.
None of the campground buildings (most built by the CCC) seem to have sustained any major damage (I can only speak for Bear Paw CG, haven't been to any other areas of the park).
For quite a while last night the roads were blocked by fallen trees but the crews have been working and have cleared them so they are passable. It's still a mess, though.
I have not heard of any injuries in our loop (we made the rounds to offer help where needed) but in the other loop I did see an ambulance. I hope no one was hurt.
Bemidji took a hit from the storm, as well as our relatives over on Lake Winnibigoshish, many trees down and power still out.
RE: I want my analog television back!
Could the brand of the converter box have anything to do with the quality/quantity of channels received?
Ours is an RCA and never seems to get as many channels or strength of signal as my Brother-in-law's converter (can't remember his brand at the moment).
Count me in the "fuzzy picture better than pixelated/frozen picture" camp... also the horrible sound freezing/skipping is awful too and makes me jump for the mute button!
RE: Sioux Falls,SD area
We stayed at Tower CG and found the owners to be wonderful and the grounds to be nice... there aren't many amenities but you can't beat the location for sightseeing Sioux Falls. I've heard others talk about the noise but we weren't bothered at all... we ran our fans and were in a hybrid TT.
RE: Suggested stops across South Dakota?
Going East to West across South Dakota, here are some of our favorite stops...
- Assuming you've seen Falls Park and poked around Sioux Falls a bit?
- Mitchell Corn Palace, antique stores (also a good stop for picking up supplies with the WalMart and Cabelas there)
- Lewis & Clark Information Center in Chamberlain, has an interesting display on the Lewis & Clark Expedition as well as sweeping vistas of the Missouri River and "West River" South Dakota
- Just down the hill and over the river is Al's Oasis, a great place to stop for pie and 5 cent coffee and to mingle with the local ranchers (real cowboys!) as well as pick up a few groceries if necessary in their nice grocery store
- Murdo is home to the Pioneer Auto Show, a fun stop even if you're not that crazy about old cars
- Badlands N.P. is an easy drive via the loop road and there are several easy stops along the way. More hiking can be found anywhere in the park depending on how much or how little you want to do. The Ben Riefel Visitor's center has wonderful displays.
- Wall to see of course Wall Drug, even if shopping is not your thing they have excellent 5 cent coffee as well as delicious donuts... come to think of it the rest of the food is pretty good too.
- Just outside of Rapid City is Ellsworth Air Force Base that has an excellent museum and tour of the base.
There are actually many other things to do along I-90 but not having visited them personally I don't know if they're worthwhile... 1880 Town and the Porter Sculpture Park are two that come to mind. There's also guided tours of the Minuteman Missle National Historic Site but that requires reservations so you would need to plan ahead.
Happy Travels!
RE: custer SD
We have stayed at Beaver Lake CG just west of Custer (about 3 miles) on Hwy. 16. It's an easy ride into town, straight thru to Custer State Park, or north to Mt. Rushmore etc., or south to Hot Springs. Also, Jewel Cave State Park is not too far further west of the cg.
It's a nice setting, there is a pool, they are pet and family friendly. The only sort-of negative thing is there are tons of rabbits in camp, they're cute but if you have a hound dog like us the nightly walk can be a bit of a challenge.
You might want to ask them for a site recommendation, some sites are very spread out and others are closer together, terraced on a hill.
