Changes in latitude; changes in attitude.

What a difference in a week and a few thousand miles can make.

Before

After

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.

Oak Alley

Since leaving Michigan, I took a quick tour through Kaufman, Texas and another couple of weeks in Moss Bluff, Louisiana.  Feeling a tad under the weather through both assignments, I simply just did not feel like going out on photo excursions.

However, my mother had not seen our new digs since we bought the new house in August, so I rode up on Boudreaux (the Harley-Davidson) Tuesday and drove her down in her new car for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Oh, I mentioned "new car" didn't I?  Well..... It seems that Mama failed to negotiate a narrow corner near her home last week, nailed a metal gate post and managed to knock the bumper completely off her 13 year old Chevrolet Lumina.  Neither Mama or the fence post on the corner suffered any damage but the cost to repair her car was more than it was worth, so she and my brother went on a car shopping spree and came up with a Chevy Malibu to replace it.

Not that it was a burden but when you have your Mama down, there is this innate drive to do your best to entertain her.  So, today I chose to drive her down the river road to Oak Alley.  Oak Alley is a historic plantation site dating back to 1840.  The trees that gave the plantation it's name were actually planted 100 years earlier by an unknown French settler.

Mama and I took the paid tour which turned out to be a really nice half day trip.  She and I both truly enjoyed hearing the history from the guide.  The giant Live Oak trees were spectacular and with rows of Crepe Myrtles and beds of Flocks, I'm sure it's even more lovely in the spring.

Here's a few pictures.

 

 

She will be 91, January 12, 2013.