No matter how many times we travel or where we travel, there is always something different. We have traveled in different RVs and stayed in many RV parks. We even traveled once staying in motels, not one of our favorite.
This time, after many years of RV travel, we are making our summer trip in a pickup, staying in AirBnB-type places. Our travels take us for two weeks in Sioux City, Iowa, and then a month each in Bemidji, Minnesota; Marquette, Michigan; and Brussels, Wisconsin.
Instead of packing an RV, we packed the pickup with plastic bins filled with our “stuff.” You know, things to make wherever we land feel more like home. Packing made for quite a learning experience.
We travel between 350 and 400 miles between stops and stay in motels overnight if needed. Our first stop was in Topeka, Kansas.
The next day, we went through Omaha, Nebraska. I can’t write Omaha and not hear Peyton Manning yelling “OMAHA” on the football field. Here's the Omaha skyline.
Sioux City, Iowa
I will now place a worm in your ear. You will hear this song for days. “Sioux City Sue, Sioux City Sue, Your hair is red, your eyes are blue. I’d swap my horse and dog for you.”
Sioux City sits along the Missouri River. Mark Twain described the river as too thick to drink, and too thin to plow, yet the Missouri River is the longest river in the US with a history to rival the Mississippi. Called Siouxland, the area encompasses parts of Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and extreme southern Minnesota.
The Missouri River served as the highway traveled by Lewis and Clark’s Corp of Discovery, commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to find the Northwest Passage to the Pacific. There are many signs throughout the city of the Lewis and Clark expedition including an interpretive center and multiple mentions of Charles Floyd, the only member of the Corp of Discovery who died on the journey. Floyd died and was buried in the Sioux City area as the group headed west.
The Floyd Visitor Center, located on the Sergeant Floyd Towboat, and the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center both have recreations of what Floyd would have looked like. The visitor center's Floyd is based on a forensic analysis-made cast of Floyd’s actual skull. The skull was unearthed during one of Missouri’s many floods. Floyd was reburied, I believe, at least three times. The Floyd was used by the Army Corp of Engineers as a Survey and Inspection ship along the Missouri.
The area along the Missouri has been developed as a recreation area with playgrounds, a performance area, and monuments along a paved walking trail. The history of the river can be seen with the still-standing, large wooden posts used as mooring for boats.
The Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center presents the story of the Corp of Discovery and the death of Sergeant Floyd. The storytellers are very life-like animatronics of Jefferson, Lewis, Clark, Floyd, and York, Clark’s body servant. When one of the characters seems to look you in the eye, it is strange! They even have an animatronic of Lewis’ Newfoundland dog, Seaman.
The area in front of the Lewis and Clark Center has statues of Lewis and Clark as well as animals they saw on the prairie.
I had to have my picture with Lewis and Clark. Plus, Leo and I showed how to take a picture with a buffalo safely.
Here are a few of the other spots we found in Sioux City.
Trinity Heights: A sixteen-acre Catholic retreat, the former location of a Catholic college, with numerous statuary and monuments including a 30-foot statue of Mary and a 33-foot statue of Jesus made of stainless steel.
Sioux City Farmer’s Market: We always find the local farmer’s market for some interesting fruits, vegetables, and knick-knacks.
Palmer Candy: Started in 1878 as a fruit company, Palmer’s now produces all types of candy. They maintain an “old tyme candy store” and have a museum of their equipment. They are known for their “twin-bing” candies, a mix of chocolate and nuts surrounding cherry nougat. We had to sample some!
Siouxland Freedom Park: Also along the Missouri on the Nebraska side, this park dedicated to veterans includes a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D. C. That is the Floyd Memorial in the distance in the first picture.
Woodbury County Courthouse: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a National Landmark, the Woodbury County Courthouse, built between 1915-1917, displays the Prairie School of Architecture. Oh, gosh, I love this place. It’s like a Frank Lloyd Wright courthouse.
Do auditoriums built nowadays have sayings?
First Bride, Floyd Memorial, and Chief War Eagle: These three monuments are along the hillside overlooking the Missouri. The First Bride commemorates Rosalie Menard Leonais, believed to be the first non-native bride in what was to become Sioux City. Sorry, no pictures, other than the swallow nests. It was hot and I was tired is my only excuse. The Floyd Memorial alleges to be placed upon the site of Charles Floyd’s grave. The monument resembles the Washington Monument. Chief War Eagle sought to maintain the peace between whites and Indians. Later, two of his daughters married Theopile Bruguier, who opened a trading post in the area.
War Eagle
First Bride
Floyd Memorial
Stone State Park: Located just outside of Sioux City along the Missouri is the Stone State Park. The park has lots of hiking trails and great overlooks of the Missouri.
Here are some photos along the Missouri. Sioux City has developed the area along its riverwalk with picnic areas, playgrounds, monuments, and performance areas.
Freedom Rock
Starting in 1999, there is now at least one Freedom Rock in every county in Iowa, all painted by the same person. This is the one dedicated to the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Sargeant Charles Floyd.
Anderson Dance Pavillion along the Missouri
And finally, Grandview Park Music Pavilion. Built in 1934 by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration.
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