Sergeant Charles Floyd

First the oddities - 

A BIG pheasant in front of a Cabela's - it's pheasant hunting season -"Welcome Hunters" is a familiar sign.

Sorry this isn't clearer, but someone has really gone overboard with the giant sculptures along the side of I-90. The two figures are human size to provide scale;  that steer's head has to be 40 - 50 feet high and the hammer is probably 20 feet high.

Nice rest stop in South Dakota and our lunch spot.

This car has two recumbent bikes on the back - first time we have seen this style of bike on the back of a car.

Late this afternoon we arrived in Iowa. We drove almost to Sioux Falls, SD, which is on the eastern border of the state before we turned south on I-29. When we were planning our trip east we could not find any RV parks that were open in Minnesota or Wisconsin along I-90. So we have dropped south to I-80 and tonight we are in Council Bluffs, IA; right across the Missouri River from Omaha.

We stopped at the Welcome Center in Sioux City which happens to be in a retired river boat named in honor of Sergeant Floyd.

We went into the river boat to view some of the museum exhibits, particularly the ones that honor Sergeant Floyd, a member of the Lewis & Clark Expedition.

The Lewis & Clark Expedition departed the St. Louis area on May 14, 1804, to begin their journey up the Missouri.

On August 20, 1804, the Lewis & Clark Expedition suffered the first and only casualty of their trans-continental journey. Charles Floyd, a 27-year-old Kentuckian and friend of William Clark, was stricken by sudden illness (maybe appendicitis) and died as the expedition approached what is now Sioux City, Iowa. 

Floyd was buried with full military honors on top of a tall river bluff on the east bank of the Missouri River.

Here he is, the first American soldier to die in his country's service west of the Mississippi River.

The museum/visitor center also has this rare dug-out that was uncovered in 1941 by army engineers dredging in the Missouri River south of Sioux City. The length is 12 feet, 11 inches, the sides are a little more than on inch thick and the bottom is 2 1/2 inches thick and it weighs 225 pounds.

A bit of geology about the formation of the Missouri River from the last glaciation period 10,000 years ago.

The Missouri River in Sioux City.

Driving along, we were tempted to visit LeMars, home of my sister-in-law Cheryl, Jack's wife. I think that I read some place that they have great ice cream there.

Tonight we are in the RV park at the Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs. The sunset came early with the change from daylight savings time.