Rapid City, South Dakota
Just as I thought I'd get a couple of days off from T or C, New Mexico and do some motorcycling in Louisiana, home office called and had me scrambling for a ticket to Rapid City, South Dakota.
As we were landing, all I could see was something that looked almost as barren as New Mexico only it appeared to be frozen...and it was.
As I soon found out, South Dakota's weather changes ... a LOT. The wind is incessant and it can be -4° one day and 60°F the next. It's crazy.
The last time I was in this area was 2½ years ago when Gary and I stopped off in Sturgis for 2 or 3 days on our way to Idaho and Washington. It was windy then but the temperature was much more agreeable in August.
I did go out to Mount Rushmore to see the presidents. It's an obligatory thing if you're up here.
This weekend, a friend and co-worker of mine went out in search of wildlife in Custer State Park. We were pretty excited seeing wild turkeys, Pronghorn antelopes,
Bison/Buffalo
Mule deer
Wild burros
and an endless supply of Prairie dogs.
Then there was the sad reminder of life and death on the prairie a hundred years ago.
A couple of interesting events happened on our trip was when we were on a dirt road, we met several buffalo ambling on the narrow way. Rather than moving forward, I thought it best to just stop and let them pass. As one had passed, a second stopped to peer into the car. As I began to slowly move past them, the one in the rear gave the car a little poke with it's horn. Fortunately, it was light enough to not have any damage.
The second incident was similar but this time it was a drove of wild burros. They too stood their ground in the middle of the road. Thinking burros probably were not quite as dangerous as the bison beasts, I rolled the windows down. One burro, on Chris' side became aggressive and for a moment, I thought he was going to try to eat my friend. At that point, Chris was almost in my lap and that's not a pretty nor an easy thing.
The one thing we didn't see that I was hoping for was a Big Horn Sheep. Too bad, maybe I can find one before I leave.
As we were landing, all I could see was something that looked almost as barren as New Mexico only it appeared to be frozen...and it was.
As I soon found out, South Dakota's weather changes ... a LOT. The wind is incessant and it can be -4° one day and 60°F the next. It's crazy.
The last time I was in this area was 2½ years ago when Gary and I stopped off in Sturgis for 2 or 3 days on our way to Idaho and Washington. It was windy then but the temperature was much more agreeable in August.
I did go out to Mount Rushmore to see the presidents. It's an obligatory thing if you're up here.
This weekend, a friend and co-worker of mine went out in search of wildlife in Custer State Park. We were pretty excited seeing wild turkeys, Pronghorn antelopes,
Bison/Buffalo
Mule deer
Wild burros
Then there was the sad reminder of life and death on the prairie a hundred years ago.
A couple of interesting events happened on our trip was when we were on a dirt road, we met several buffalo ambling on the narrow way. Rather than moving forward, I thought it best to just stop and let them pass. As one had passed, a second stopped to peer into the car. As I began to slowly move past them, the one in the rear gave the car a little poke with it's horn. Fortunately, it was light enough to not have any damage.
The second incident was similar but this time it was a drove of wild burros. They too stood their ground in the middle of the road. Thinking burros probably were not quite as dangerous as the bison beasts, I rolled the windows down. One burro, on Chris' side became aggressive and for a moment, I thought he was going to try to eat my friend. At that point, Chris was almost in my lap and that's not a pretty nor an easy thing.
The one thing we didn't see that I was hoping for was a Big Horn Sheep. Too bad, maybe I can find one before I leave.
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