Done with lawyers and landscapers

We are at the Snake Creek State Recreation Area, west of Platte, South Dakota, right on the Missouri River at Lake Francis Case (map).  With our SD State Park annual pass, campsites here are just $18 with electricity ($14 without), and even though we did not need the power or other park amenities, there are not a lot of other stopping options along this stretch of SD-44.

Wednesday we had a very nice drive up US-75 from Nebraska City through Omaha to Sioux City, Iowa, before re-joining I-29 for the last leg into Sioux Falls.  US-75 as an alternative to I-29 for that stretch was one of the reasons we had crossed the Missouri into Nebraska Tuesday night in the first place.  The route took us through the Omaha (U-Mo'n-Ho'n) and Winebago reservations; at the former we stopped at a nice overlook of the Missouri with a small interpretive exhibit in the form of an earthlodge.

In Sioux Falls we headed straight for a familiar Walmart for the night (map), and walked next door to Chevy's for dinner.  This Walmart is the closest option to our attorney's office, and we had a short ten-minute drive yesterday morning to make our 10am appointment.  Going over and then signing all our estate documents took a full two hours, and it was after noon when we finally wrapped up at the office.  We had a quick lunch in the bus before heading south out of town on I-29.  An unexpected bonus of our visit with the attorney was that they had obtained copies of our new deed from the courthouse -- the first we'd seen it.

The estate planning firm we used was Thompson Law in Sioux Falls. The company was recommended on the Escapees forum as being full-timer-friendly, and we worked with attorney Evan Anema after taking advantage of a free consultation. We found him easy to work with and quite competent. The office building has parking along the south side driveway that is easy to get a large rig into.

By 1pm we were at our new property in Lennox.  The landscaper, whom we were scheduled to meet at 1:30, was already there.  We worked out the arrangements for him to keep an eye on things, and keep the grass mowed to within legal limits.  I spent a little time walking around the whole property -- the largest single lot I have ever personally owned, at just about a quarter acre.  We also ended up meeting one of our neighbors before we finally rolled out of town at 2pm.

South Dakota 44, which passes through Lennox, brought us all the way here to the river, almost in a straight line.  The route passed through only two more towns between Lennox and here.  Fortunately, this park is ideally situated, and happens to be a very nice park.  There are perhaps 120 sites but only about a dozen are occupied, so we have the place nearly to ourselves. In the section of the park across the highway to our north, a concessionaire operates a marina with a store and a restaurant, but they are closed this week for renovations, so instead we dined lakeside on a picnic table.

Today we will continue west on SD-44, which will merge with US-18 in Winner, on the Rosebud Reservation.  We will continue west (and a little south) on US-18 until just east of Wounded Knee (yes, that Wounded Knee) on the Pine Ridge Reservation, where we will turn south on SD-391/NE-27 to Gordon, Nebraska, where we will pick up US-20 west.  We will end our day somewhere in the northwest corner of Nebraska.