Trouble in the Badlands

All seemed well - picked up a bright blue Toyota Corolla at Sioux Falls airport's Hertz rental counter. Luggage fit and everything. Didn't like hills but sipped gas so we were happy.

Travis and Joe (l-r) work on trunk. Photo by Debi Lander.

All well until we loaded up to leave Wall for Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Memorial and Mount Rushmore. Trunk would not close. Knights of the Road Joe Leach, owner of our motel, and his cousin, Travis Nelson, tried everything (as had we) but had to give up on the fix.

There went our early morning magic moments of light for photography, my visit to a big box store in search of card reader and battery charger (both at home - see even pros forget!) and a quick tour of downtown Rapid City which we heard is nifty.

Joe with the finished "fix". Photo by Debi Lander.

Instead, we tied trunk down with twine, secured it with duct tape (travelers' savior) and headed to Mr. Hertz at Rapid City airport, where they gave us another car - bigger, thirstier but comfier - and discovered the arguing over costs would resume in Sioux Falls upon our return.

If all's well that ends well, we'll have to await the outcome.

Isn't travel fun?
 

Extreme Rodeo: barrels. bulls and mutton-busters

The Boys' Ranch benefit rodeo is a popular event so we weren't about to miss it. The stands were filled with adults, the grassy slopes around the arena attracted the younger set.

Attacking the first barrel. Photo by Debi Lander.

Cowgirls on racing quarter horses defied gravity circling the clover-leaf of barrels trying to finish the course faster than anyone else. Given the number of farms and ranches there was a lot of action.

Photo by Debi Lander

Ride 'em cowkid! Photo by Debi Lander.

 

The youngest buckaroos then headed to the chutes. This was Debi's first experience with rodeo and especially  mutton-busting so she had an altogether different reaction. While I was giggling, here's what she thought:

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I never attended a rodeo before the one held in Sioux Falls and knew nothing about Mutton Bustin’.  But, I soon learned it involved sheep that were not Mary’s little lambs.

The mutton competition involves youngsters ages 3-8 riding full grown sheep as if the animals were bucking broncos. Some might call the activity training wheels for bull riding. Whatever. 

As a grandparent, I wouldn’t put one of my grandchildren on a live animal with the goal of hanging on until knocked off and possibly trampled.   

Ride 'em, maybe. Photo by Debi Lander.

The finale, as always, the bull riding. A few locals plus cowboys still trying to amass enough points - winnings - to qualify for the national championships tackled the recalcitrant bulls who don't take kindly to being ridden. One, a rank Brahma-Angus-mean cross, bucked so hard in the chute his would-be rider risked life and limb three times before being given another bull.

Debi's reaction: Although not many stayed on for the qualifying time, the riders were real macho cowboys and I was impressed.

Can’t say I wanna be a cowboy but I honestly enjoyed the entire event. 

That pretty much sums it up for both of us.

We had to escape the giant bass at Outdoor Classroom before hitting the road to the Badlands.

Surprising info about Sioux Falls

The falls of Sioux Falls -  what there is of them this year. Photo by Debi Lander.

Debi says: Nary a Drip

Went to Wisconsin last February for a winter getaway and found no snow.  Here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the falls are barely falling.  Drought has severely curtailed the normal torrents of cascading water back to the drip of a leaky faucet.

No worries.  The Good Girls will fall back and head out to the prairie tomorrow hoping the 7-year locusts don’t descend.

Travel Media Showcase meetings all day today. 

Judy says: Things I didn't know about Sioux Falls, South Dakota, until yesterday:

The balloons for Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade are made in Sioux Falls.

To the Lakota, Nakota and Dakota people who were here first:

• Eagle feathers were awarded for good deeds; those were honor bonnets, not war bonnets the elders wore.

• Drums were the heart of the nation; playing them every day made you healthy in the heart (aerobics anyone?).
 
• There were 50 uses for sage.

• It was a matriarchal society; men conferred with the women before any final decisions.

• Native Americans did not receive voting rights in South Dakota until 1950 yet they had and have the highest percentage of veterans per capita in the nation.

Good Girls heading West

It's 7:15 a.m. and we're already in Chicago. Actually, 8:15 FL time but that's still early to be in the big-shouldered city. Awake. Which came at 3:45 a.m. Yawn.

We've moseyed our way into the United Club lounge, have comfy chairs, computer plug-ins, newspapers and mags and munchies. We'll survive, I think, for the next leg to Sioux Falls, S. D.

Onward and upward.