#11 Gateway to the West

In 1803, former U.S. president Thomas Jefferson doubled the size of the United States through the signing of the ‘Louisiana Purchase’. This newly acquired territory consisted of 15 present U.S. states (Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska in their entireties; large portions of North Dakota and South Dakota; and parts of Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Louisiana).

To memorialise this western expansion of the United States, a 630-foot (192 m) arch in St. Louis, Missouri was built and we had to come and check it out. It too symbolises our journey through the Gateway to the West.

St. Louis is also where the mighty Missouri River (the longest river in the U.S) ends and joins the Mississippi, and we were about to follow its path upstream, just like Lewis and Clark did on their expedition back in 1804. Even though more than 200 years had passed, the sense of adventure still lingered in the air and we couldn’t wait to explore it for ourselves.

As you’ve probably noticed, this blog post begins in Missouri. Leaving Ohio, we made a desperate beeline to the ‘Show-Me’ state, for the COVID-19 lockdown enforcement was pretty severe in Indiana and Illinois. One written warning from the police for ‘unauthorized camping’ and a visit from Security in Walmart was proof of this. This lockdown was getting a little old! You can imagine, we were delighted to see restaurants and attractions being reopened in Missouri. We even stayed on a campsite (which was free by the way), on a beautiful lake for 10 days. We were alone for most of the time and Richie caught some awesome fish.

The great author Mark Twain was born a stone’s-throw from where we camped and we had to pay Hannibal (the town he grew up in) a visit. It was, after all, where he got his inspiration for the popular ‘Tom Sawyer’ books. We were very excited to stumble across the famous white picket fence that Tom Sawyer had painted.

Diesel was cheap ($1.85/gallon or 50¢/liter); beautiful free campsites were in abundance and BBQ in Kansas City was the best we had so far. Missouri; you treated us well!

We headed north from there, spending just two nights in Kansas and one night in Iowa before reaching South Dakota, a state we were eager to get to know.

We got wet at Sioux Falls, not from the spray but from the torrential rain, made a stop in Mitchell to see the one and only corn palace of the world, and crossed the Missouri River again, finding ourselves in the great prairies of South Dakota. The more west we drove, the more interesting the state became. The sheer ruggedness of the Badlands, painted desert rock formations, big horn sheep, prairie dogs and bison blew us away. To top it all, we were able to camp right in the middle of the National Park, amidst all this beauty. Truly magnificent!

It didn’t stop there. Attractions were to be found left, right and centre and we couldn’t get enough. The Black Hills region was our favourite! Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, Hot Springs, Deadwood, and Sturgis; hundreds of miles of windy roads, cool rock formations and lakes everywhere…we could have easily spent a whole month here. We did however, cram it all into one week and were extremely lucky to have been invited to stay on Matt and Tra’s property at ‘Little Teton’. Thank you Goodie for introducing us and thank you Matt and Tra for hosting us; showing us the best bits of Custer, and taking us kayaking and paddle boarding. We will remember these adventures forever.

South Dakota’s slogan, ‘Great faces, Great Places’ references the presidential heads of Mount Rushmore…and there he was again, Mr Thomas Jefferson, chiseled into granite for all eternity, amongst the other founding fathers of this great country.

Thanks for reading, we’ll meat you guys in Wyoming!