TRAVEL DAY
From: Little White River Recreation Area, between Tuthill & Martin, SD.
To: Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area, West Beed’s Campground, southwest of Valentine, NE.
Day 363 – We were up at 7 a.m., 41 degrees and sunny. We departed Little White River Recreation Area in South Dakota at 10 a.m. It was 57 degrees with full sun. We did not have reservations at our next destination because we were visiting off-season. Of the campgrounds that were still open in the Merritt Reservoir State Recreation Area in Nebraska, all sites were first-come, first-served.
We had to drive from Little White River again on the very rough washboard gravel road for the first half hour of our trip. The girls were yelling at us. Once in the town of Martin, SD, we were able to drive on pavement and we headed south on SD-73. It wasn’t long before we crossed the border from South Dakota into Nebraska. No immediate changes in topography were encountered. We continued south, then east, then south again through ranch land and farm lands. Sometimes it was flat land, sometimes rolling hills. Yawn.
We passed a few extremely small towns and lots of Cows and Horses. When we reached Merritt Dam Reservoir Road, we began another stretch of bad road, one that we thought would never end. The scenery wasn’t bad with the rolling hills and some nice trees, but when the Tire Pressure Monitor began a steady beeping, Rob pulled over. How much can two vehicles take – they were not Jeeps, after all. Rob found that the tire pressure sensor had come loose and was leaking air in one tire. Personally, I was surprised the tires were still attached to the vehicle! Rob added air and tightened the sensor, and off we went, continuing the bouncing and swaying, while the girls hollered at us. You’d think we were beating them with sticks.
There are snakes here. We saw two by the side of the road, slithering along. Goody. I will try to be brave. We finally reached Merritt Dam and connected again with a REAL road, SD-97. Big sighs of relief and welcome quiet from the bedroom peanut gallery.
We stopped at the main campground store and purchased a Park Pass – required in Nebraska before camping on State Recreation Area land. Then we dumped tanks at the dump station and filled our water tank with fresh potable water. We were finally ready to find a campsite. We drove through four of the campgrounds surrounding the beautiful reservoir/lake, looking for the perfect campsite that no one had already taken. And we found it – with two campgrounds left to search. We picked West Beed’s Campground, site T with electric hook-ups, very private, all by itself, and right on the lake. Wow. It was 1:55 p.m. The temperature was 72 degrees and it was sunny. The campsite was large. We let the noisy girls out and we set up camp. We are on the border of two time zones, Mountain and Central. As we visit places east of here, like Valentine National Wildlife Refuge and Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge, we will be flitting back and forth between time zones. This should be confusing.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the screened tent overlooking the lake. Fish were jumping. It was pretty. There were lots of songbirds flitting about in the surrounding trees. But there were also lots of teeny-tiny biting bugs here, too. The high today was 74 degrees. The weather forecast is for increasing winds beginning tomorrow, no rain.