Ain’t that peculiar

Lets face it, the bar is pretty low but I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised with the little slice of South Dakota I saw in my three days there.
Rapid City had a good deal of public art. A well attended summer music night with 2 stages and blocked off streets. The music was family friendly, which is chamber of commerce code for not very good. The locals were having fun and that’s all that matters, right?
I drove the 20 miles into the Black Hills to see the smaller than you have been led to believe Mt Rushmore but still very nicely built out park below. Fir some reason my national park pass doesn’t work there. So the $11 ding against my budget takes It down a star. And I you go, the presidents face East. It’s best to get there in the morning or the sun will be in your eyes.
Ten miles further is the Crazy Horse sculpture. Probably 10 times bigger than all 4 heads on Rushmore combined. They have been working on it for almost 70 years now. The kids of the original sculptor have taken over and from the looks of things their kids kids will be working the chisel for another 70. Its fully self funded from donations and money from the park. Well worth the trip.
Somewhere in there I stopped by the Annual Bike rally in Sturgis. To a non biker, its a big, loud t-shirt shop with Carney food and expensive cheap beer. I strolled around but didn’t see the point.
I headed on down the road to the also famous Wall Drug Store. Another oversized T-shirt shop. Interesting for a half hour but the Badlands National Monument right across the freeway is way more interesting.
Since Sturgis is a small town and the bikers seem to take up a lot of space ;-), that overflow into into the mountains around the town. In the end, western South Dakota is very loud and rumbly. If you are not a biker, it gets a little old. So I decided to move on. An hour south is the little farming town of Chadron, Ne. Pop 5800. The nearest town doesn’t even qualify to be considered near.
A typical small town main street with a few bars. Mostly empty for 8pm on a Friday night and it isn’t even high school football season yet.
It was too early for bed so I picked one and went in sat down and ordered a pint of Budweiser for 2.50. Which is exactly what a pint of beer should cost, dammit!!!

Anyway, A guy comes in and sits down next to me. I was curious about what people do here on a Friday night. He said “I have no idea, I just moved here last Sunday”. “Really?” I said “Where from?”. Thinking probably some backwater farming town and this was the big time.
We exchanged Washington drivers licenses as proof of the near impossible coincidence. He got a Telecommuter job and decided the cost of staying in Seattle didn’t match the benefit. He loads up and headed out.
We chatted for a while before my 5:30am wake up caught up with me and I had to excuse myself to the WalMart.
That was a peculiar end to my South Dakota time. To be clear. Not me ending up in a Walmart, but meeting a fellow Seattle escapee sitting next to me in a non descript bar in a tiny farming town in western Nebraska. That’s peculiar!!!