The Center of the Country

August 30, 2010
Rocky Point SRA, Belle Fourche, SD

Today was the first cloudy/rainy day in a while, but at least the heat has broken. We had a relatively short driving day, heading out just before 10:00 and arriving at our destination, Rocky Point Recreation Area, just east of Belle Fourche, SD, right around noon. This is a nice Park, with about 60 long back-in sites with electric (20-30-50 amp) service. Although the sign at the entrance gate said they were booked for Labor Day Weekend, we counted two other rigs here, and a few more arrived late in the day.

Once we were hooked up, we took a ride into Belle Fourche (geographical center of the 50 States) and over to Orman Dam, which was built between 1905 and 1914, and was one of the first project of the "Reclamation Service" (now the Bureau of Reclamation). At the time, it was the largest compacted earthen dam in the country. It's primary purpose is irrigation, not as a water supply for communities.

Belle Fourche has a monument celebrating the Center of the 50 States...

...complete with a "walk of flags".

"Take that, Kansas"!

Hmmm.  Thanks for worrying about my convenience!

We were surprised to see the low reservoir level, given all the rain the upper plains have gotten this summer.

Many of the German POWs held here during WW-II actually stayed in the area after the war, bring a bit of diversity to the communities.

Late in the day, a front roared through, bring a short burst of strong winds and horizontal rains, but we were rewarded with a nice double rainbow and sunset.