A ride through the Black Hills...

My friend Paul from South Dakota went for a ride this week and sent me some pictures he took along the way. It was a ride down memory lane for me and I enjoyed the trip back in time. When I said in my last post that Texas isn't the "best," this is what I meant...there is beauty in every state. When it comes down to it, very few people have actually been to the great state of South Dakota. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere (like a lot of the towns in Texas that I've mentioned), so you actually have to plan to go there...you can't just drive through it on the way to somewhere else. But it's definitely worth the trip.

The Black Hills have remained a very beautiful, pristine, sparsely populated area of the United States. Since there are no major cities nearby, it isn't a place where people go to pursue careers or educations. The main source of income is tourism, but it's a hit-or-miss kind of deal where a people go there to start a restaurant/hotel/business, etc., and either make it or don't. A lot of them don't. This was my beautiful drive from Hill City (population of 650) to Rapid City to work every day. No rush hour traffic...only rush hour deer.

Here's Paul's stop for a Mt. Rushmore pic. (And, yes...he has to get his motorcycle in most of the pics just to make me feel bad.) Mt. Rushmore is truly awesome. Everyone should see it at least once. You really can't appreciate it unless you see it in person and take in the incredible scenery around it.

Here's his cabin which sits on Black Hills National Forest land. That means no major improvements can be made on the property.

Which also means the outdoor "biff" has to remain outdoors...spiders and all. You gotta love that door handle. It's actually pretty comfortable inside...minus the spiders, of course.

Here's Hill City's equivalent to Applebee's. (A small travel tip: I would recommend caution before trying the Hill City Cafe. You have to be an adventurous and frequent small town diner type of customer to appreciate its "charms.")

Here's the new Harley-Davidson store they added after I left. This picture was taken from in front of First Western Bank where I used to work. Sometimes I can't even believe I used to live there...it's so different than my life before then or after...like something from the old west.

But I'll have to say one thing. Of all the places I've lived all my life (and there have been many)...this deck is probably the one thing I enjoyed (and miss) the most...where you could hear and feel the wind whistling through the pines.