Life on the High Plains

Our first concert in a couple years was a visit to Sioux Falls, SD for the Judd's on October 7, 2022.  Tickets had been purchased before Naomi left us in April, but I still wanted to go to pay homage to a duet that made a profound impact on my life. I had originally purchased the cheap seats up on the second level, but about a week before the concert I found seats in Row 6 for a very affordable price.  I emailed Ticketmaster and they upgraded them for us.  It was the best investment I'd made in awhile. Promptly at 7:30 p.m. Martina McBride walked out on stage to get us warmed up for Wynonna.  She was fantastic as always.  That Kansas girl sure has some pipes. Broken Wing is always a hit with the women in the crowd.  Martina sang for about 45 minutes and when she was done Irv turned to me and asked me who that was.  Oh Lord, this is the third time we've seen Martina in concert and she's usually the headliner. Then Wynonna's band came out, but where was ...

 The next morning we got up early for the long drive across South Dakota to Sioux Falls. The first stop was Wall Drug.  Since nobody was around we both took turns acting like fools on the jackalope out front. Irv definitely has better form than I do when riding a wild jackalope. Both Irv and I had memories of visiting Wall Drug as kids and later with our kids.  What it currently is does not match any of those memories (30+ years).  We were there a very short time before continuing on our journey. Directly south of Wall, SD is the Pinnacles Entrance to Badlands National Park.  I have no recollection of ever visiting this national park.  Hopefully my brother can tell me if I'm wrong about that. There were bison right by the entrance welcoming us to the park. They refused to lift their heads and stop eating.  I asked the ranger at the entrance what it's like working there and she said they've been slammed since Covid.  I'm always on the lookout for a...

 After leaving Devils Tower our next stop was Hill City, SD. Google Maps routed us down this dirt road for about 35 miles.  It was a little annoying until we encountered some of the most beautiful fall aspen colors.  Totally relying on GPS rather than a real map quite often results in adventures like this. We got to see quite a few deer and turkeys along the way and some hunter camps also.  Hide Bambi, hide! Hill City was our next destination because of this giant Smokey Bear.  I'm friends with Smokey on social media and a couple weeks they posted a pic of this and I was thrilled to learn he was on our route.  He is 30 feet tall.  He is the mascot for the Hill City High School.  They are the only school that the USFS has allowed to use him as their mascot because back in 1939 twenty-five students volunteered to battle a local wildfire.  Because of this legacy the high school also gets to hold their annual graduation ceremony at Mount Rushmore...

Last week we took off on a quick three day trip to South Dakota.  Boy did we get a lot packed into those three days. First stop was Devils Tower in Wyoming.  Did you know that Devils Tower was the first National Monument in the U.S.?  In 1906 Theodore Roosevelt proclaimed the Tower and the surrounding 1,000 acres a national monument. I was in awe of it from the moment we first laid eyes on it. There's a small visitor center, picnic area, and campground there.  We found a trail that went all the way around the base, about 1.2 miles. It was a little chilly there.  I was grateful that I'd thrown a hat into the car before we left and I was wishing I'd brought gloves along too. I may have gone overboard on taking pictures, but I had to get views from every side. Who's that good looking guy? Over five thousand people per year come to climb the Tower.  There are over 220 routes of varying difficulty to get to the top.  They've been keeping records of the clim...