Sunday, May 4, 2014

South Dakota, Apr. 28 -- May 1, 2014

4/28
After the flight Boston -> Salt Lake City Denver -> Rapid City, arrived at Sturgis, SD @ 12:30 am. Later that morning:
Finished the training for the day @ 4 pm and went to explore Black Hills. Glad I took my jacket: Black Hills looked more like White Hills. Missing my gloves.


Deadwood, SD:

more Deadwood:


Spearfish Canyon


Bridal Veil Falls in Spearfish Canyon

 4/29
The next morning the snow was falling hard at the foothills too and the wind became cruel. The snowplows and shovels were out.
The Ft.Meade VA Hospital parking lot in the afternoon, when the snow started melting:
 
Getting ready for the drive to the other side of the state by I-90; from the milepost 30 to milepost 396.

The flags are no longer holding at the milepost 98, rest area at the Cheyenne river crossing.

Rte. 240 winds through the Badlands Nat'l Park and connects to the I-90 at the mileposts 110 and 131.

An attractive trail. I wish I could take it, but not in this kind of weather.

 Close to the park exit:

Back on the I-90, the 18-wheelers are crabwalking, their rear 2-3 feet closer to the right shoulder than their front, and tumbleweeds are crossing the road at about the speed limit (75 mph).

Rain eventually stops, and in the Missouri river vicinity the sun comes out. Going downhill to the Missouri  bridge, I found myself in a small town of Oacoma familiar to the MA residents by this sign in the Berkshires:
In fact, the sign is somewhat misleading. There are no "highest elevations" in Oacoma; the I-90 continues to climb up westward to over 3000 feet in the Black Hills.

Looking back from the other shore to the Oacoma hills. Milepost 263:

4/30; Sioux Falls
Playground equipment sale next to my hotel is not going very briskly, which is a pity because the swings pendulate without human intervention.

Sioux Falls downtown:


Sioux Falls Historical District:

It seems any house older than 100 years in Sioux Falls gets a Historical Marker:





Sioux Falls VA Hospital is one of the most imposing structures in the city:

5/1
There are falls in Sioux Falls:


And there is a poem about them:
A fighter attacks my peaceful Jeep...

...but after noticing it's not just any Jeep, but Jeep Patriot, proceeds to the airport,
and it's time for me to go there too.