The road from Murdo to White River, Highway 83, is under construction. I saw a sign indicating that was the case about 50 miles before I arrived at Murdo, with the ominous warning, “Find Alternative Route”, so I decided to take a scenic route from Murdo to White River and see some of the country. First I drove about 40 miles East to Presho, then took Highway 183 south where it intersected with Highway 44, which runs East-West and goes through White River. So I drove this 110 miles to get to a town 20 miles South of Murdo, where I am staying. I was thinking I might drive West on my return to Highway 73, which goes to Kadoka, about 40 miles West of Murdo, maybe slightly less than 100 miles return, but that last 40 miles includes a stretch of about 10 miles where the freeway is only single lane. Roads get built this time of the year, so there is always construction going on, and that was the case for I-90 and highways 183 and 44.
I arrived in White River about 10 am to find a town of about 500 people, with only one or two paved roads and lots of potholes. I found a main street and drove its length. As you arrive at the “town” part of Main, there was a store on the West side of the street and several other commercial buildings, most of which are closed or boarded up. Towards the other end, i.e., in the next block, there was a museum in front of which I parked. It was closed, but while I was finding this out, a couple of young men, obviously of Native American descent, came over to look at my car. They liked it a lot. One of them asked if it would be OK to have his friend take a picture of him in front of it; and of course I said sure. I moved out of the way so it was just him and the car. They asked a lot of questions I couldn’t answer, like how long it took to go from 0 to 60. Then one of them said, “So let me drive it.” I told them no.
After that I found the Court House and I’ve told you about that experience in Vivian Found.
I talked to Cleon about taking the road to Kadoka rather then the short stretch to Murdo, but she convinced me that it wasn’t too bad. And I’m glad she did, because it saved me 100 miles and time and I got to talk to Vivian, but the trip I would not recommend to anyone except for those reasons. There is about 15 miles of paved road, but the rest of the trip required two waits for lead vehicles over one-way dirt construction, often with dust and large potholes that need to be avoided. Plus about a mile, just North of White River, that will some day be a paved road, but today is just dirt.
Still, my little car made it just fine. That is some sweet vehicle.