The Missouri River, South Dakota

The Missouri River is the longest river in North America and a major waterway of the Central United States.  It is 2500 miles in length and its origins flow from the Continental Divide's eastern watershed in southwestern Montana.  The Gallatin, Madison and Jefferson rivers are its tributaries.  The Missouri flows east and south entering the Mississippi river north of St. Louis, MO. 
For over 12,000 years people have depended on the Missouri river and its tributaries for food and transportation.  The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific coast by the United States.   President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the expedition and Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led the expedition.  Lewis and Clark were the first to travel the entire Missouri river during the expedition.  The objectives for the expedition were to find passage to the Pacific Coast, study plant and animal life, geography and learn how the region could be used for economical use.  The Missouri river also played a major role with the westward expansion.  Fur trade in the early 1800s  followed by settlers in the early 1830s first by covered wagons and then by steam boat.  During this period, as the settlers were moving on to lands where Native Americans have been living for thousands of years, it sparked long and violent wars between the settlers and the Native Americans.   During the 20th century the Missouri was developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power.  Fifteen dams are on the Missouri river with hundreds more on its tributaries. 
As we traveled across South Dakota we crossed the Missouri river.  Just before crossing we stopped at a rest stop on the east side of the river to check out the views of the river along with a little history of the river and the Lewis and Clark expedition.  The Missouri river and the views from the rest stop are beautiful.  There was a short path we took to get some closer views of the river.  Here is another travel tip: even if you do not have to use the facilities you have to stop and check out this rest stop. 
One of the other things we saw during our drive was fields upon fields of Sunflowers.  It was amazing and beautiful.  The sunflowers were huge (5 to 6 ft tall) and were as far as the eye could see.
One reason the sunflowers really sparked an interest is due to my daughter Jenny.  She LOVES sunflowers and we knew she would be so excited to see them.  We took lots of pictures as we passed the fields.  We could not stop and take pictures because while crossing South Dakota we were also battling 50 mph winds from the north blindsiding us.  It was the first time we have encountered winds this strong but Tim did an exceptional job of driving and combating the strong winds.   We are now staying at Ellsworth Air Force Base just east of Rapid City.  We will be here for a little over a week so we can see all this area has to offer.  Check back and see what we do!