Squatters Lunch- Yankton, SD to Springfield, SD

June 9, 2018

Story by Jen, captions by Ron

We slept one last hour in our dry and sturdy Hubba Hubba after our slumber party in Monte and Phyllis' trailer. As we were packing our bags, Monte's friend Matt came over with freshly brewed coffee. These people are serious Rockstars!! We all swapped storm stories and Matt told us about the upcoming hurricane relief mission trip he is leading to Houston. 13 high school students and 2 adults driving from Norfolk, NE in a 15-seat passenger van. How cool that these kids are out building their kindness and compassion muscles while so many of their peers surrender their minds to electronic devices.

We rolled away with smiles and a much-needed caffeine boost after a long stormy night. The 30-mile ride to Springfield, SD was punctuated by challenging headwinds and the only place we found to stop for a snack attack was an abandoned school house with a 'No Trespassing' sign. We sat on the side of the road just outside of the property boundry and got out some crackers and trail mix.

While Gay and I rode carefree ahead, Ron stayed back and bravely wrestled Bigfoot to draw

Another example of South Dakota friendliness. The owner came out and offered us water and talked to us for a few minutes.

An RV that was parked next to the school house had all the shades pulled and an angry-sounding dog inside. Eventually the owner came out to see what we were up to. When we told him that we are riding our bikes to Oregon, he offered us some water and told us that he bought the school house a few years ago and is planning to fix it up as his home. His dog was a 1-year-old German Shepherd pup ... much less scary than she sounded. We asked him about dining opportunities in Springfield and he said Norm's was the place to go.

It could have been a biker rumble. But I think those soft motorcyclists thought better of it

Inspired by the plan for a sit-down lunch, we muscled through the next 10 miles of headwinds and pulled up to Norms at the same time as 4 guys on Harleys. Ron muttered something about how he and Gay could surely kick their asses ... and I was glad they didn't hear him! All of us "bikers" walked into Norm's, ready for a good burger and fries. Norm's fully met our expectations and even had sweet potato fries and tater tots.

We waddled accross the street to Doug's Food Center to load up on groceries and rode to the Springfield Recreation Area to find a campsite. Paul, the park host, said that they were full for the night, but that we could put up our tents under the shade trees next to his trailer. He said we could also relocate a picnic table from an RV site to use while we were there and charged us just $6/ea for these great squatting privileges. The park was on one of two remaining unspoiled sections of the Missouri River and had showers and a kitchen clean-up sink.

This park is on one of two relatively natural sections of the Missouri

Ron and I took a walk to the river after dinner and understood why the campground host and his wife, Tara, took a 50-ish mile canoe trip from Springfield to Pickstown. The section of river next to the park looked undisturbed by human activity. Lewis & Clark certainly had their share of challenges, and it was nice to catch a glimpse of the beauty that must have helped keep them motivated.

Springfield Recreation Area was a great place to spend the afternoon and to rest for the night

Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 352 miles (566 km)

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