Rapid City, SD

Last evening, we met an older couple from Indiana. We saw this man looking at our vehicle and he realized we were with the truck. We made small talk, where are you from, what are you doing here, etc. It so happens they are from Indianapolis and were here for the Annual Buffalo Roundup. Our faces must have looked a bit perplexed as he said, 22,000 people will come to watch the round up, "google it". We did and according to the information we saw, there would be a mass of 1300 buffalos and as they run past the viewing area, the ground would shake, and the dust would fly. We were convinced and decided to head out, I mean, "why not?"

We set the alarm for 5:00 am and rolled out of bed, drank some bad hotel coffee and then headed out. We stopped by a drive-through coffee shed for some good coffee and we headed out for Custer State Park. We were about 45 minutes out and the gates opened at 6:15, according to the information on the website. We timed it perfectly, as we were scheduled to arrive at exactly on time. We entered the park and saw quite a few cars ahead of us and we realized we were not the first ones in line. Before too long, the line of cars stalled. Finally, after half an hour, the cars began to move and we crawled along for the next 8 miles, bump and go. As we climbed a hill, we could see the long line of cars snaking along the road ahead of us. We finally arrived at the parking lot around 8:00. The round up was scheduled for 9:30.
Fortunately, we had lawn chairs in the back of the truck, so we lugged them, some snacks, and water up the hill to the viewing area. The hill was already filled with spectators. We randomly set our chairs down and soon a man with a wheeled cooler set his chair and cooler next to us. It was about 8:30 when he popped his first Busch Lite and by 9:00 he was already 3 beers to the wind. By 10:00 (the buffalo had still not made their appearance) and our neighbor was somewhere between 8-10 beers for the morning. We were privileged to slurred yells of "USA", F U (not sure why), smart remarks that he thought were funny, although got few laughs, oh and several loud belches that would have made an uncouth pirate proud. Between smoking, drinking, swearing, belching, and other unwelcome antics, we waited patiently for the appearance of the buffalos. Finally, we saw a few coming down over the hill and soon a few more, until finally there was a large herd in the valley below. Because there were so many people on the hill, and they were all standing by now, we could hardly see the massive animals. I stood on my chair so I could at least see them. Before too long, the cowboys and cowgirls started to move the heard to the corral. They walked, no thundering hooves, very little dust, and not much of a spectacle. It would be like driving several hours to watch the eclipse (which we did), then just as the eclipse would happen, the skies would cloud over and not be able to see anything awesome. People started leaving and we joined the exodus. It took about an hour to get out of the park. It was, all in all, a good experience, but a bit of an anti-climactic moment. But wait, it was about the buffalos, not about us. From that perspective, it was a successful morning.

We napped and then I went and got the truck washed. It was coated with quite a thick layer of dust and desperately needed a good washing.

We walked to get some pizza and beer for dinner. On the way back, we passed through the Berlin Monument. It contained several large pieces of the Berlin Wall that somehow made its way to Rapid City, SD. There were a number of plaques and descriptions of the evil of the wall and how it oppressed those in East Germany and East Berlin. The pieces of the wall came from a section next to Checkpoint Charlie. Mom and Dad went to Germany in 1968, and I remember dad telling me how they crossed into East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie. It brought them to mind and wondered how close they were to these very pieces, and the randomness of seeing them as we passed through South Dakota. Today, as we watch Russia invade Ukraine and in many ways trying to reimpose the same oppressive government inside the boundaries of their own country and grab territory that used to belong to Russia, I wonder how much more we could have done in that era to save the savagery that occurred behind those walls. I also wonder how much savagery we might also prevent by curtailing the onslaught by Putin and his minions. I admit, I am quite conflicted, because I am attempting to be a pacifist, and war doesn't sit well for me at any time. But what about this time? I just don't know.

It was a day, to say the least.Read more