The Missouri, a Free Dump, and a Wi-Fi Mystery

The best overnight stop of the trip so far may have been a green-waste collection area in Murdo, South Dakota. I hadn’t known that was what it was when I parked there. What I did know was that I had the place to myself, there weren’t any parking-lot lights, and I could actually see the stars. The highway was close enough to supply the occasional air-brake soundtrack, but otherwise it was quiet. There was a posted restriction on vehicle access, which apparently did nothing to interfere with my ability to get a good night’s sleep. I made coffee in the morning and started packing up around 8:49 Central. By 9:30, I was officially leaving Murdo and heading east.

The next target was American Creek Marina near Chamberlain, along the Missouri River. It looked like a promising place to spend part of the workday, and I still needed somewhere to dump the tanks. On the way, I passed one of those dirt roads leading toward the river that makes me wish I had a more adventurous camper. With a Peakpounder, I’d probably already have been down there and parked on the bank. With the motorhome, I admired the idea and continued on the road. It’s possible that discretion is just another name for not wanting to recover a motorhome from a riverbank.

I missed the turn for the marina anyway. That turned out to be useful, because I found a riverside park and campground that was closed for camping but had a dump station and fresh-water fill accessible from the road. The site made a workable stop, and the facilities looked promising. There were restrictions posted around the park, but nothing at the dump station that clearly established a fee. I checked that the ground-level valve wasn’t locked and noticed the tall, freeze-resistant water faucets. I then did what any person who had spent several days talking about dumping the tanks would do: put it off for a while.

Eventually I got around to it. The groundskeepers were around and didn’t object, the dump station worked, and I emptied the tanks and refilled the fresh water. No fee changed hands. I won’t claim that establishes an official free-dump policy, but it was a very welcome outcome after yesterday’s discussion of a $65 RV-park stop. The fresh tank had already been filled near Rapid City earlier in the week; today’s stop was another refill, not proof that every part of the still-winterized plumbing system has been brought back into service.

With that job finished, I started thinking about dinner and how far I could get before stopping. Another 150 miles sounded like a reasonable challenge, roughly the distance I thought I might have left in the fuel tank. Sioux Falls was becoming the next target. I considered a few places along the way, then started looking at the camping and recreation options around the city.

Lake Vermillion and Big Sioux Recreation Area were both possibilities. Big Sioux had the added attraction of disc golf, which has become an increasingly effective way to persuade me to stop somewhere. The less attractive detail was the park entrance fee on top of any camping charge. I considered using Walmart for the night and paying the $15 entrance fee to play a round and work from the park instead. That remained a plan, not a completed disc-golf outing.

I ended up near Brandon, east of Sioux Falls, at the Coffee Cup Fuel Stop area. The actual truck-stop lot was full of trucks, so I found a separate lot behind it. A trucker eventually arrived to park there too, which was encouraging as far as the overnight idea went, although I hadn’t confirmed the property’s parking rules. My remaining concern was figuring out how to position the motorhome without making life difficult for someone who actually needed the space.

There was also a Starlink problem to sort out. The replacement Mini was getting something like 200 Mbps in the Starlink app, while my laptop was seeing a miserable two or three. That made me wonder whether I needed an interior router. Before buying another piece of equipment, I moved the Mini so it sat right on top of the hatch, with no RV roof between it and the laptop. Speeds immediately improved. It appears that the placement and the Wi-Fi path through the roof were at least a major part of the problem. The question of a better permanent installation remains, but this was a useful result from moving one piece of hardware rather than ordering three more.

I’m also narrowing down where I want to spend time in the Ozarks. At Ozark Campground on the Buffalo National River, sites 17 and 18 have caught my eye. There are openings, but I’m holding off on a reservation until I have a better idea of when I’ll arrive. The goal is still to enjoy the place, not turn the last stretch of the drive into a deadline-management exercise.

So Thursday ended with the tanks serviced, another substantial stretch of South Dakota behind me, a workable Starlink position, and a parking spot near Brandon. I started the day in a place meant for discarded branches and ended it behind a truck stop. Somewhere in between, I managed to find a riverside office and solve an internet problem without buying anything. That’s a pretty respectable day for this particular motorhome.