South Dakota, Badlands, Buffalo, Wall's Store and city Calebas Outfitters, Again Books, and Microwave Towers.
Sunday: August 28, 2005 4 PM. I might not get all the previous days backlog written before nightfall – still need a campsite but here goes. I’m in Rapid City, South Dakota outside the Prince and the Pauper hooked up to someone’s’ wireless.
Bought two items at Again Books and Bazaar, 612 St. Joseph Street Rapid, SD. 40, 000 books to choose from. Well laid out store. Intellectual Capital by T. Stewart. An audio tape, How to Manage and Set Priorities by Stephen Young.
Just spent an hour talking to Karen and Joan, sisters from Minnesota. We sat on a bench in the shade in downtown Rapid City. Karen has a started a grass root’s movement fighting radio frequency waves from various sources but especially microwave towers. She and Joan live in Mayer, Minnesota, in the country, and have observed a dramatic increase in cancer incidents in their rural community since a large microwave tower was installed. Lot’s of political intrigue and big business influence. Karen invites people to contact her on this/their related issue at kshully@gmail.com We naturally discussed my interest in health issues and look forward to keeping in touch. I forgot to tell Karen that I have investments in Alviron a company that specializes in WiMax a new technology for internet broadcasting using towers. I will have to do my homework.
After traveling though the South Dakota Badlands and stopping to read very scenic lookout plaque and hiking up innumerable canyons I went off to a wilderness area to look for buffalo. There weren’t any of the critters on the main tourist routes despite scads of advertising promoting them. Regrettably by the time I got to the campground I had run out of water. I had completed a 5 KM run that morning on the Notch and other trails and was drinking a lot of fluids. I started my hike and it was hot. 100F. I started my buffalo hike from remote Sage Creek campground. 200, 000 acres to cover to find the buffalo. After considerable up and downs trying to see yonder, I spotted little black dots in the distance in a valley. Sun was merciless. My trip was perilous. By now I was cooked. I tucked my arms in my T shirt to reduce sun exposure, cocked my hat to block the sun and carried on. I needed photographs to substantiate this unbelievable discovery. Tourist had told me they had seen one or two buffalo on their trips through the area. Perhaps the sun was playing tricks on me. Buffalo mirages. The dots might have been trees. And then about a mile to go I walked right into a big buffalo lying in the grass. He rolled onto his back. I had read this is a sign prior to attack. I headed toward the river bank as nonchalantly as I could and picked a spot that I could jump down the bank. If Buff attacked he would go charging over the top of me and fall into the sluggish waters below. HA. The bank was about 20 feet high and I couldn’t find a spot to get down. By now Buff or Buffy, I forget to look at the genetilia,
now looks more like a bull ready to charge than a docile flavor alternative to a Big Mac. Any way I finally scramble down the bank, say a few Hail Mammals and carry on along the river bad. And then half an hour later there they are. A giant herd, young old, mother and bull like big ones. I got within fifty yards, too close for comfort and took numerous pictures. There were obvious signs of agitation and the park guidebook had warned that because these animals are attacked by predators they are quite dangerous if disturbed. I thanked the Indian gods for the pictures and my spared life and headed carefully, oh so carefully past large steaming mounds of buffalo dinner droppings back to the campsite. Pictures I had but I also had dehydratum deliriums. And the only food I had were two cans of spaghetti sauce. I was going shopping when I left to the park. I read the label. Water, tomatoes and salt and spices. Just what the doctor ordered. One can later I felt much better and headed to the town of Wall for supplies and to visit the famous Wall Drum Emporium that is the Midwest’s answer to Disney.
Passsed a car going into Wall and was promptly pulled over by the Sheriff (sirens wailing). The ticket was stated at one hundred dollars. Speeding and passing in a single lane. I told Sherriff Dickenson that the man I passed was dithering and I needed to make an executive decision. He said I should have hung back. He asked me if I knew the speed limit for Wall. I quoted the typical limit in most towns. 35. He scoffed. “We are 15 MPH.” I was humbled by my ignorance and the look of defeat prompted him to let me off with a warning. I don’t think my car can go as low as fifteen miles an hour so I spent my time in wall walking everywhere. Wall drug store was an experience. I polished off a gallon of their famous free ice water, a buffalo burger, a beer and a strawberry ice cream sundae. Well hydrated, a hundred dollars better of I stocked up on groceries ready for the next leg of the journey.
I headed back to Sage Creek campground in the dark, the very dark, and saw dozens of deer and GIANT jackrabbits in my headlights. I set up camp in the dark so as not to disturb the half a dozen or so other neighbors. I have a tent you just bang a knob in the middle and it self erects. Put in pegs and a canopy that clips on the side posts and 3 minutes you are done. Unfortunately, all my zippering getting in spooked the horses that a group of cowboys had brought with them in trailers -4 trailers, 10 horses. The horses started the dogs howling, which started the coyotes wailing that set of hundred of prairie dogs (gophers) which dot every yard of landscape. The yelping of the gophers was cacophonous and then the campers started hissing at the respective pets and the whole scene was like an orchestration of the modern symphonies in which the environment sounds are part of score.
Later that night the melodious manifestation was repeated triggered by sources other than my zippering. Finally the world settled down, I gazed at milky way that stretched from horizon to horizon, without dilution from city lights and fell asleep and then later wake freezing cold. This is desert country. More clothes and woke at 8 AM. Didn’t stop to chat with other campers as I had received a couple of calls regarding cottage rental and needed to get near some microwave towers to get a signal for the cell. Onto Scenic on Hiway 44 and through some more Badlands. Beautiful drive.
Saturday, Aug. 27, 2005. Slept at campsites. Corn, Corn. The Missouri River is beautiful. Hunting is a way of life here. I stopped at Cabelas outdoor store. An incredible place that caters to hunters. This deserves a full write up more later and pictures.
Friday. Aug. 26, 2005. Corn Corn Corn.
Bought two items at Again Books and Bazaar, 612 St. Joseph Street Rapid, SD. 40, 000 books to choose from. Well laid out store. Intellectual Capital by T. Stewart. An audio tape, How to Manage and Set Priorities by Stephen Young.
Just spent an hour talking to Karen and Joan, sisters from Minnesota. We sat on a bench in the shade in downtown Rapid City. Karen has a started a grass root’s movement fighting radio frequency waves from various sources but especially microwave towers. She and Joan live in Mayer, Minnesota, in the country, and have observed a dramatic increase in cancer incidents in their rural community since a large microwave tower was installed. Lot’s of political intrigue and big business influence. Karen invites people to contact her on this/their related issue at kshully@gmail.com We naturally discussed my interest in health issues and look forward to keeping in touch. I forgot to tell Karen that I have investments in Alviron a company that specializes in WiMax a new technology for internet broadcasting using towers. I will have to do my homework.
After traveling though the South Dakota Badlands and stopping to read very scenic lookout plaque and hiking up innumerable canyons I went off to a wilderness area to look for buffalo. There weren’t any of the critters on the main tourist routes despite scads of advertising promoting them. Regrettably by the time I got to the campground I had run out of water. I had completed a 5 KM run that morning on the Notch and other trails and was drinking a lot of fluids. I started my hike and it was hot. 100F. I started my buffalo hike from remote Sage Creek campground. 200, 000 acres to cover to find the buffalo. After considerable up and downs trying to see yonder, I spotted little black dots in the distance in a valley. Sun was merciless. My trip was perilous. By now I was cooked. I tucked my arms in my T shirt to reduce sun exposure, cocked my hat to block the sun and carried on. I needed photographs to substantiate this unbelievable discovery. Tourist had told me they had seen one or two buffalo on their trips through the area. Perhaps the sun was playing tricks on me. Buffalo mirages. The dots might have been trees. And then about a mile to go I walked right into a big buffalo lying in the grass. He rolled onto his back. I had read this is a sign prior to attack. I headed toward the river bank as nonchalantly as I could and picked a spot that I could jump down the bank. If Buff attacked he would go charging over the top of me and fall into the sluggish waters below. HA. The bank was about 20 feet high and I couldn’t find a spot to get down. By now Buff or Buffy, I forget to look at the genetilia,
now looks more like a bull ready to charge than a docile flavor alternative to a Big Mac. Any way I finally scramble down the bank, say a few Hail Mammals and carry on along the river bad. And then half an hour later there they are. A giant herd, young old, mother and bull like big ones. I got within fifty yards, too close for comfort and took numerous pictures. There were obvious signs of agitation and the park guidebook had warned that because these animals are attacked by predators they are quite dangerous if disturbed. I thanked the Indian gods for the pictures and my spared life and headed carefully, oh so carefully past large steaming mounds of buffalo dinner droppings back to the campsite. Pictures I had but I also had dehydratum deliriums. And the only food I had were two cans of spaghetti sauce. I was going shopping when I left to the park. I read the label. Water, tomatoes and salt and spices. Just what the doctor ordered. One can later I felt much better and headed to the town of Wall for supplies and to visit the famous Wall Drum Emporium that is the Midwest’s answer to Disney.
Passsed a car going into Wall and was promptly pulled over by the Sheriff (sirens wailing). The ticket was stated at one hundred dollars. Speeding and passing in a single lane. I told Sherriff Dickenson that the man I passed was dithering and I needed to make an executive decision. He said I should have hung back. He asked me if I knew the speed limit for Wall. I quoted the typical limit in most towns. 35. He scoffed. “We are 15 MPH.” I was humbled by my ignorance and the look of defeat prompted him to let me off with a warning. I don’t think my car can go as low as fifteen miles an hour so I spent my time in wall walking everywhere. Wall drug store was an experience. I polished off a gallon of their famous free ice water, a buffalo burger, a beer and a strawberry ice cream sundae. Well hydrated, a hundred dollars better of I stocked up on groceries ready for the next leg of the journey.
I headed back to Sage Creek campground in the dark, the very dark, and saw dozens of deer and GIANT jackrabbits in my headlights. I set up camp in the dark so as not to disturb the half a dozen or so other neighbors. I have a tent you just bang a knob in the middle and it self erects. Put in pegs and a canopy that clips on the side posts and 3 minutes you are done. Unfortunately, all my zippering getting in spooked the horses that a group of cowboys had brought with them in trailers -4 trailers, 10 horses. The horses started the dogs howling, which started the coyotes wailing that set of hundred of prairie dogs (gophers) which dot every yard of landscape. The yelping of the gophers was cacophonous and then the campers started hissing at the respective pets and the whole scene was like an orchestration of the modern symphonies in which the environment sounds are part of score.
Later that night the melodious manifestation was repeated triggered by sources other than my zippering. Finally the world settled down, I gazed at milky way that stretched from horizon to horizon, without dilution from city lights and fell asleep and then later wake freezing cold. This is desert country. More clothes and woke at 8 AM. Didn’t stop to chat with other campers as I had received a couple of calls regarding cottage rental and needed to get near some microwave towers to get a signal for the cell. Onto Scenic on Hiway 44 and through some more Badlands. Beautiful drive.
Saturday, Aug. 27, 2005. Slept at campsites. Corn, Corn. The Missouri River is beautiful. Hunting is a way of life here. I stopped at Cabelas outdoor store. An incredible place that caters to hunters. This deserves a full write up more later and pictures.
Friday. Aug. 26, 2005. Corn Corn Corn.
posted by Fred Pentney | 4:36 PM
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