Travels with Twinkles: Chamberlain, South Dakota

August 19, 2019:

I am driving from Spearfish, South Dakota on I-90 right through Rapid City, South Dakota but decide not to stop, I've been there enough times. I stay on the road until Wall, South Dakota where after passing about 100 of those roadside Wall Drug advertising signs you just have to stop. It is quite amazing to see, the town of Wall would surely be just a crossroads without Wall Drugs. I do the usual walk around, read a few signs, look at the historic photos do a quick pass through on a couple of stores, buy nothing and leave.

Wall Drug

I make another stop an hour later at a gas station for a lunch break in Kadoka, South Dakota where there is a very creative sculpture made from a crushed 1950 something Buick and various other metal pieces. Now that was something special to see !

A most interesting and creative sculpture

Try to identify all the pieces used in the construction

I check out downtown Kadoka and take a few photos of the grain elevator, the old train depot and a few decaying buildings. It’s a very distressed, poor looking town surrounded by farms and ranches.

No trains stop here these days

Every town big or small has a large grain elevator

Big wide streets but not much going on

This area of South Dakota is nothing but wheat stubble, hay fields and ranch land as far as you can see. It’s beautiful but at the same time a rather desolate place to live. You have to travel a hundred miles to do any real shopping.

I then stop in Murdo, South Dakota just to take a look at the car museum. I wasn't expecting a lot, but when I saw the impressive facade, I had to go in. Inside I find that it’s way more than a car museum, they have collected everything. They have the old school house, the train station, the blacksmith shop, the jail, the gas station, the dentist office, a motel cabin to name a few and several buildings full of rare and collectable cars, trucks, tractors and farm equipment. I spent close to two hours there rushing through it. When you're done there is a large gift shop and a cafe.

It really is a big show

Stretch limo

Yet another dopey General Lee Dukes of Hazard car

Also a real Motorcycle owned by Elvis

An original mail carriage

A barn full of rare unheard of cars such as this 1919
Apperson V8, known for its speed

Actually more like two barns of them

I started to look at this homemade contraption and recognized
the the modified frame, the bell housing and transmission were
from a 36 or 38 Dodge like mine

This 1923 White vehicle was a custom built RV built for $16,000 that was fully outfitted
and traveled across the country

A couple of barns full of tractors and farm equipment

An original train depot was moved here

The excessive time spent at the museum determined that I would only drive another hour to Chamberlain, South Dakota and then stop for the day. I made a stop at the visitors center coming into Chamberlain which has an impressive and huge Indian statue titled Dignity of Earth and Sky. The visitors center sits on a high bluff overlooking the Missouri River and houses an interpretive museum on Lewis and Clark. Yes, I am back on the Lewis and Clark trail again. They had boated down the Missouri River during their legendary journey through here. The museum was closed for the day unfortunately.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamberlain,_South_Dakota

I found Chamberlain to have a small decaying old downtown, nothing to get excited about, but with some charm. I go to Charlys Restaurant and Lounge for dinner, it’s a local favorite and have a ham steak dinner, something I haven’t seen on a menu in a while. The guys at the next table were having a discussion about guns, target practice and hunting which didn't improve my appetite.

Afterwards I go to the Silver Dollar Bar which looks interesting on the outside, (the machine gun on the roof adds a nice touch), but not much of interest was inside. There is one other person there and a friendly bartender, probably a very bored bartender. He told me it’s a little slow on Mondays, but he expected some of the wackos would show up latter. I was taken back as I had walked inside, it smelled very musty and moldy, not someplace I would want to spend a lot of time in, they also serve food, but no way would I eat anything there. Dive bar is often an overused, exaggerated name, but this is the real deal. I left before the wackos arrived.

The Silver Dollar Bar

Another night on the street, but this time with my South Dakota license plates, I fit in and don’t look or feel like a transient. I had a terrible nights sleep though, it being very hot and humid and a with a pesky fly or gnat flying buzzing around my head. In desperation, I finally used some bug spray which worked.

I awoke to foggy conditions, but it soon burned off and became a nice morning. I was then able to take some decent downtown photos in the morning light, a clear view of the mighty Missouri River and its impressive steel bridge. The river here has a marina and boating is a popular attraction.

Unusual but very nice roof decor on this business

There were several good looking antique shop but not open

The State Theater is looking nice

The Missouri River seemed to be running full

It's a scenic view from the bridge and there are nice park areas along the river

I then visited the Akta Lakota Indian Museum on the campus of the St Josephs Indian School a few miles away which has a beautiful campus and an excellent Indian museum. It is an impressive school for disadvantaged Indian children funded by private donations.