Discovering America the Beautiful : Wild South Dakota

Today is Sunday June 7, 2015. It has been 9 days since we left Cleveland and I am very pleased to report that all is well in the Wagers Wagon. Except for some tiny glitches in the first days of the trip such as the water leak underneath our bed that left our room soaked, or the ferocious storm in the Badlands that ripped a section of the slide out awning and shook our RV like a Kansas tornado, so far we are all alive and incredibly enough, doing well. Thankfully the glitches were resolved by either “handy” Herb or by “RV roadside assistance”. (Believe it or not, someone drove to our campground in the Badlands and actually fixed the awning.)

Our days are pretty much divided into two types of routines: what we do when camping and what we do when driving. Herb’s biggest concern was to get us into some type of “process” for both activities. The dogs and the cat also got indoctrinated in the “process” (not that they had an option). The difference is that it took them two days to “get it”, while it took Herb and I a week to get us in a good groove. I think by now we have it nailed. Even Jewel the cat learned to walk on a leash.

Our itinerary is pretty tight, so it does not leave us a lot of down time to immerse ourselves in campground life. However, I am also very happy to report that our experience in the different campgrounds has been very pleasant. The people we have met have driven from all over the US and they are here to really soak in the beauty of the great outdoors. Up to this point we have not encountered loud family clans, living in tents around the “mothership” camper and spending the entire day sitting and eating. Most people we have met, are up and out early in the morning and return late afternoon to grill, chill and sleep. The days are long, the hikes and sights are incredible and at night we are all pooped. (Note to self: next RV adventure needs to be less ambitious. Either add more days to the trip or trim the itinerary.)

South Dakota was delightfully surprising to me. For some reason, I always thought of the state as being very dry, almost desert like. It is actually very green (of course it is still spring and they are still thawing) with gentle rolling hills that extend from Sioux Falls all the way through the Badlands via Hwy. 90. It is a very unpopulated state so the land and the sky melt in the distance undisturbed for hundreds of miles.

The most vivid memory I will keep is the sense that past and present are merged in a state of living history. Everywhere I looked and everything I saw brought in me a combination of aw and sadness. Aw because the beauty of the land is spectacular in a serene, quiet, and simple way. Sadness because everywhere we went, I found reminders of the way things used to be. I could feel the spirit of the Lakota people still yearning for what was once theirs and for the way of life they lost. I could easily imagine millions of bison roaming freely and with them, an entire ecosystem of life being supported. I read somewhere that for the Native American people, the bison was their way of life. Hunted to near extinction, the natives were forced into reservations and now they run casinos. For a state with very few people, the amount of casinos is dumbfounding. Their size varies from small slot machines establishments in strip malls to mega enterprises, all competing for billboard space on Hwy. 90.

The journey throughout the state was filled with incredible sights and great historic references. Here are my top three:

1- My favorite place to visit was Deadwood. I loved the HBO series, and I thought that the town of Deadwood was the brainchild of some Hollywood writer. In fact, this could not be further from the truth. The town is very much alive, the characters of the HBO series were very much real and history is oozing from every single building. Deadwood is beautifully preserved and it feels like the true west and not just a tourist town. Seth Bullock, the sheriff of Deadwood, who was the hero of the HBO series, transformed the dirty mining camp into a real city and was childhood friends with President Theodore Roosevelt, who happened to also be part of the history of town. And top it all, we watched American Pharaoh win the triple-crown from our RV in front of the town’s historic cemetery right across from Wild Bill Hickok’s grave. Unforgettable all around.

2- The corkiest thing I saw (an only in America moment) was “The World’s only” Corn Palace located in the town of Mitchel. It is a huge building, and each year a new decorating theme is chosen to redecorate the outside with new corn and grains. Inside there is a theater as well as a store that sells, you guessed it, anything corn.