Chamberlain, South Dakota

June 10, 2025

This is going to be a "mini post", seeing that we were only in Chamberlain for one night. Usually, there isn't enough interest in a one-nighter to stand on its own, but this was a pretty scenic spot that we thought was deserving of its own post. Doing it this way will also reduce the size of the subsequent post which will probably have a copious amount of pictures.

The anticipation is building!

It was a beautiful morning for travel

South Dakota has lots of kitschy tourist attractions along I-90

The Wall Drug signs were becoming more frequent

After cresting a hill, we were treated to this view of the Missouri River in Chamberlain

We have passed through Chamberlain a couple of times in the past, and each of those times we stopped in the area for the night. This is our second stop at the recreation site known as "Dude Ranch". Overnight camping used to be free here, but this year they instituted a nightly rate of $16.81. As the self-pay kiosk sign noted, any overage amount put in the envelope is "considered a donation".

In the 100 degree heat, we settled into a cozy spot with our deck facing the boat launch/beach area. Fortunately, the temperature cooled as night approached and we had a very pleasant evening at this location.

That is, once Rick fixed the refrigerator shelf...

Let's backtrack a bit. Shortly after exiting the interstate, we ventured downhill on a bit of a rough road to get to our campsite. This rough road had a fairly sizeable bump midway down the hill at about the time that we were rolling pretty fast. This combination of speed and bump caused a brief airborne moment. The trailer going airborne was really not so much a problem--it's when it resumed contact with the ground that things got a bit hairy (unbeknownst to us at the time).

After parking in our lovely new spot for the night and upon entering the trailer, we discovered all kinds of things scattered about on the floor--bananas, hats, a knife, potholders, an electric candle (still worked!) and some dead stink bugs that had been hiding who knows where. Well, this didn't seem so bad, all things considered, but then Julie opened the refrigerator door. Immediately, all kinds of newly purchased groceries started falling out of it, and it took a split second for Julie to realize that a shelf in the door that had a new gallon of milk and several other items on it had cracked.

Rick's reaction was almost giddy when he realized the crack looked surprisingly fixable. This gave him the perfect opportunity to use a technique he found on a random YouTube video where you can fix almost anything instantly with super glue, baking soda and a handy-dandy accelerant that Rick had purchased a while ago for just this kind of event.

In this life, it's always something!

Less than 1/2 hour later, the shelf went back in the fridge and the food went back on the shelf. All's well that ends well!

As mentioned earlier, the evening was lovely, and we really enjoyed our one night at this location.

Our site overlooking the Missouri River

A spectacular moonrise over the Missouri River --the moon really was this color!

A cozy night by the water

Sunrise the next morning

Onward and westward--next stop, the Badlands!

P.S. After writing this post, it doesn't seem so "mini" after all, does it?

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