Piedmont, SD... still
So I was planning on leaving South Dakota tonight and heading towards Wyoming. I was going to camp in the Black Hills tonight, after grabbing dinner at a place recommended by the food network. Instead... I'm sitting in the same place as I was last night. Which happens to be about a foot from where I left my phone charger when I tried to leave earlier tonight.
But before that story, a little about the last 24 hours.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
'Lo There
Piedmont, SD
So a buffalo herd walked around me while I was riding the motorcycle through Custer park today. I didn't have the guts to get off the bike and get out my real camera, so I took a few with the Droid (they're at the end of the post). In the last picture, I was actually in front of the car at first, but backed up to get behind him when one of the buffalo started walking straight at me down the middle of the road. It was absolutely frightening to be in that situation, but kinda awesome in retrospect.
There were probably about 40 buffalo near the road, and another 20 or 30 out in a field that I saw a little farther down. Quite a few of them were pretty young too - maybe 12 of the 40 I saw on the road.
But I got the last laugh anyway. I had buffalo steak for dinner.
So a buffalo herd walked around me while I was riding the motorcycle through Custer park today. I didn't have the guts to get off the bike and get out my real camera, so I took a few with the Droid (they're at the end of the post). In the last picture, I was actually in front of the car at first, but backed up to get behind him when one of the buffalo started walking straight at me down the middle of the road. It was absolutely frightening to be in that situation, but kinda awesome in retrospect.
There were probably about 40 buffalo near the road, and another 20 or 30 out in a field that I saw a little farther down. Quite a few of them were pretty young too - maybe 12 of the 40 I saw on the road.
But I got the last laugh anyway. I had buffalo steak for dinner.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Gap
Rapid City, SD
There are no Panera's in this part of the country. Seriously. Denver is the only place with one west of Sioux Falls and east of Vegas. That means my extra time has not been spent at a computer writing blog posts, sorry.
I did spend quite a bit of time doing other stuff today. Most of my day was spent hiking around the badlands. For some of the hiking I stuck to the trails, but a few times I also went off them to climb up different features or hike over to a place that looked like it had a good view. At one point after I had been climbing up to a ridge just off the trail, a family started heading up that way too. I sort of guided the kids on which way was best to get up easiest, and gave one of them a hand up as well.
There are no Panera's in this part of the country. Seriously. Denver is the only place with one west of Sioux Falls and east of Vegas. That means my extra time has not been spent at a computer writing blog posts, sorry.
I did spend quite a bit of time doing other stuff today. Most of my day was spent hiking around the badlands. For some of the hiking I stuck to the trails, but a few times I also went off them to climb up different features or hike over to a place that looked like it had a good view. At one point after I had been climbing up to a ridge just off the trail, a family started heading up that way too. I sort of guided the kids on which way was best to get up easiest, and gave one of them a hand up as well.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Storm
Kadoka, SD
I'm currently sitting in a truck stop lounge watching the NBA finals, which is being periodically interrupted by extreme weather warnings. A pretty huge storm is blowing through, with 30 mph winds, dark skies, and a lot of lightning and thunder. We'll see what things look like when it finishes blowing through, but I'm not really going to want to camp I think, so I may see if I can crash in this lounge for the night.
It wouldn't have been ideal, but I would have taken the 90+ degree weather I had last week while I was camping, in exchange for rain when I had houses to stay in. Oh well, you take what you get.
I'm currently sitting in a truck stop lounge watching the NBA finals, which is being periodically interrupted by extreme weather warnings. A pretty huge storm is blowing through, with 30 mph winds, dark skies, and a lot of lightning and thunder. We'll see what things look like when it finishes blowing through, but I'm not really going to want to camp I think, so I may see if I can crash in this lounge for the night.
It wouldn't have been ideal, but I would have taken the 90+ degree weather I had last week while I was camping, in exchange for rain when I had houses to stay in. Oh well, you take what you get.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Travel Insensitivity
Sioux Falls, SD
Sometimes when I talk about big things in the future, I don't really grasp them. It's not that I don't have the information about it - I knew, when I went to the Philippines last year, that on the way back I'd have one flight leaving 16 hours after my previous one arrived. I had all the information, I had the itinerary, I knew the gates, I had the map of the airport. But I hadn't accurately imagined what sitting in an airport for 16 hours would feel like... what it would be like to arrive outside the Manila airport and find a single line of chairs bolted to the concrete wall, full of people sleeping, with a line of people waiting for anyone to leave an unclaimed chair so they could take their turn. As much information as I actually had, I still hadn't really understood on a gut level what the situation would be.
I think it's a type of scope insensitivity:
Sometimes when I talk about big things in the future, I don't really grasp them. It's not that I don't have the information about it - I knew, when I went to the Philippines last year, that on the way back I'd have one flight leaving 16 hours after my previous one arrived. I had all the information, I had the itinerary, I knew the gates, I had the map of the airport. But I hadn't accurately imagined what sitting in an airport for 16 hours would feel like... what it would be like to arrive outside the Manila airport and find a single line of chairs bolted to the concrete wall, full of people sleeping, with a line of people waiting for anyone to leave an unclaimed chair so they could take their turn. As much information as I actually had, I still hadn't really understood on a gut level what the situation would be.
I think it's a type of scope insensitivity:
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Twinsicles
Minneapolis, MN
I'd been trying to keep up with posting every day, and until I opened up the blog to write a new one, thought I'd been keeping up. I've been busy enough that I didn't even notice that I didn't post yesterday.
I've spent the last few days in the greater Twin Cities area visiting friends. While I don't know anyone at all in most of the cities I'm stopping in, here Minnesota, I know too many - even staying for 3 days I still didn't get time to see everyone. After staying at Luke and Laura's Tuesday night, I got up in the morning and got breakfast with Luke and a tiny little place called Al's Breakfast. It's in a space that used to be an alley, so it's just barely wider than a car, with a counter down the middle. On one side of the counter is the servers and a few cooking tools, and on the other is about 12 stools, and just behind the stools is a line of people waiting for an open stool.
I'd been trying to keep up with posting every day, and until I opened up the blog to write a new one, thought I'd been keeping up. I've been busy enough that I didn't even notice that I didn't post yesterday.
I've spent the last few days in the greater Twin Cities area visiting friends. While I don't know anyone at all in most of the cities I'm stopping in, here Minnesota, I know too many - even staying for 3 days I still didn't get time to see everyone. After staying at Luke and Laura's Tuesday night, I got up in the morning and got breakfast with Luke and a tiny little place called Al's Breakfast. It's in a space that used to be an alley, so it's just barely wider than a car, with a counter down the middle. On one side of the counter is the servers and a few cooking tools, and on the other is about 12 stools, and just behind the stools is a line of people waiting for an open stool.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Busy Busy
Minneapolis, MN
I've been trying to find time to post, but it's been a busy couple of days. Last time I posted was Sunday morning, having just had an awesome couch surfing experience. I'm glad to report that while it might not be possible to top that experience, it is at least possible to match it.
I've been trying to find time to post, but it's been a busy couple of days. Last time I posted was Sunday morning, having just had an awesome couch surfing experience. I'm glad to report that while it might not be possible to top that experience, it is at least possible to match it.
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