Road Trip Diaries Day 7: My adoptive South Dakota family

Hey guys. Thanks to recent happenings and a nasty four-day headache I am now a week behind on my blog. Oh well! I am still on the road and this adventure is still happening. Where did I leave off? Oh yes- the Circle B. I worked there as a trail guide during the summer of 2008, and the owners of it were generous enough to let us stay there for free on our trip four years later. They fed us too! So, since I could not possibly pay them enough for their hospitality, I dedicate this blog to them.

In a Nutshell: Overview of Day 7

Route: Indian Creek Campground in Yellowstone National Park, WY to Circle B Chuckwagon, Hill City, SD.
Miles Traveled: 547 today, 2,215 total.
Hours in Car: 9 today, 38.5 total.
Coffee Consumed: Caitlin- 1 today, 10 total. Cortney- 1 today, 4 total. Combined: 14 cups.
Food Highlight of the Day: Free chuckwagon dinner at the Circle B. Beans, potatoes, biscuits, applesauce, meat for the carnivorous types, etc. I only had a few of the items since I'm vegan, and I still couldn't finish it all!
Quote of the Day: Caitlin (describing Kathy): "She's so cute! She can't be real!" Kathy Lawson is one half of the main couple running the Circle B, and she's like my adoptive South Dakotan mom.

South Dakota: My Unexpected Second Love

     People wonder why I like South Dakota. I spent a whole summer there four years ago, and when I tell people that they assume I must have been miserable. No I wasn't! The Black Hills region in South Dakota is a whole network of unfairly adorable little towns scattered amid the woods and meadows and creeks of the area, linked by roads that are way too fun to drive on and could probably be used to film great sports car advertisements. 

       Left to Right: Kathy, Dale, and Nick Lawson.

There is also a fiddle player who recently joined, not pictured here. 

     The whole region is "Old West" themed. At the Circle B, where we stayed the night, guests are treated to cowboy style food on tin plates, and a concert of old fashioned songs like "Autumn on the Trail" sung in harmony by possibly the sweetest father-mother-son band ever. 

     This is their first season at their new location just a few minutes from Hill City. When I worked there, I lived on the ranch at the old location and had to drive 40 minutes into Rapid City for high tech things like cell service and Internet. And recycling, come to think of it. 

This is part of the main building.

     I love the new place- lucky for me and Caitlin, it has several little guest cabins complete with bunk beds, bathrooms, and kitchenettes. The cabins look out over the green horse pastures, and are wonderfully cozy in the event of a raucous thunderstorm like the one we were treated to. Lighting flashes across the South Dakota sky far more often and with much more intensity than in California. The thunder rattled our whole cabin while we hunkered down for the night, giggling excitedly. I remembered the summer thunderstorms from before. They echo and crash and remind me that there are forces much bigger than people. Back in 2008 I spent many afternoons frantically trying to bring the donkeys into their pen, or rescue trail riders who got caught out in the weather.  

Our tent was still drying out from Yellowstone

Tourism is big business here- hence my former job as a trail guide (one that I may go back to next summer). What most people know about already is Mt. Rushmore. We did a quick drive-by, but it's $11 to park so we didn't stay. For me, the best attraction in the Black Hills is the area itself. It is full of hiking trails, good lakes for swimming, and lots of buffalo, bighorn sheep, elk, and other megafauna that never fail to excite the visitors into a photographic frenzy. A whole family of turkeys lived at the old ranch, along with a doe and two fawns.

A spectacular sunset at Mt. Rushmore as we drove by.
There is a pullout on the road for cheapskates like us.. 

     South Dakota is also biker territory. They come from all around for the Sturgis Rally, and a lot seem to stay. As I said earlier, the roads through the Black Hills are fantastic. Thanks to all this tourism, the area is remarkably easy to navigate and full of little attractions here and there.
     Though we had little time to see the area on this particular trip, I did quite a lot when I lived here. For anybody curious about South Dakota, I recommend visiting Custer State Park, driving the Needles Highway, and going through Bear Country wildlife park. I had so many magical experiences in South Dakota.  Getting caught in a moving herd of hundreds of buffalo was a great one. I just had to park and watch them stroll on by for half an hour. That happened in Custer State Park, which is also home to Sylvan Lake- perhaps the most unusual lake I've ever seen, and certainly the most fun one for swimming.

A South Dakotan traffic jam

     I'll stop rambling now since I'm sleep deprived, on tons of ibuprofen, and somewhat incoherent. I'll just show y'all a lot of photos instead.

And instead of people with cardboard signs,
you get these guys!

Sylvan Lake is crazy beautiful and fun for swimming, hiking, and climbing. 

    Hey guess what. I totally fell asleep while writing this blog, and just now woke up a full night's sleep later with my computer in front of my face. I guess the road is taking its toll on me. Time to jump in the shower and get on moving!

    But the lesson is this: South Dakota is awesome, and the Circle B is run by adorable sweet people who fed and housed me and my good friend even four full years after the last time I saw them in person. It is good to know I have a home there.