postcard 11 june

tonight and tomorrow night with electricity then hopefully back to the camping. one thing i've learned is that south dakota isn't so hot with their signage -- a bit of a problem when you're dealing with someone who's not so hot with maps to begin with. still, just across the invisible line that separates south and north dakota, they clearly have someone who understands signage. thunder hawk is buried just off of highway 12, south of morristown (in south dakota). it is supposedly well marked. if so, i have either totally lost it or someone's walked off with the marker. it was no where to be found. i found the town of thunder hawk - or once-upon-a-time town; there is now a marker that says "1907 - 2007 / last business closed." the school is boarded up as is almost everything else in the two block area. the playground (with old fashioned wooden see-saws) looks like the children just ran off one day and never came back. i suppose some of the ranches in the area may still have an address of thunder hawk, sd but the town is deserted. the only marker or dedication of any kind that i found even remotely near the area was a veteran's cemetery for the sioux. these were sioux who had been killed in WW I or II or Vietnam. but the gate was locked tight.

another differentiating factor between the south and north dakota signage is that north dakota, apparently, changes their signage at each vehicular crossing into ND while SD uses the same signage over and over. i suppose that's more economical but i kind of like the variety myself.

today i travelled the 50 mile arc N/NE of lemmon. spectacularly beautiful as was the W/ NW arc but still no where to hike. even the two areas on the national geographic map with the indicators for hiking trails were non-existent. not the areas, the hiking trails. pretty rock wildlife refuge has a lovely sign - but no entrance. ditto cedar park. so i'm trying not to get too worked up about it - i should be able to hike all i want starting monday when i head south. there are so many hiking trails, campsites, etc. on the map that they overlap so i'm hoping for some pretty good odds.

when i was out exploring yesterday, i noticed a sign on one of the fence posts that read "walk in area. please be respectful of the land and landowners." i thought how cool - just like great britain where you can (for the most part) park and walk just about anywhere. still, i thought i better ask before doing so. it was another 40 miles before i came to anything resembling a town and a general store/ gas station/ restaurant. it was in ludlow, sd - population 7. there are 16 "kids" at the school but the ones that aren't residents of ludlow proper come from the surrounding ranches. i could tell you a lot more about ludlow and the great lady who owns the general store/ gas station/ restaurant but you really had to have been there. i wish i'd taken a photo of the place - it was amazing. i just hope she never has to move. anyway, i asked her about the signs and did it really mean that anyone could go on the property. she said absolutely. i said "cool." she said, "but it's not hunting season now." i said, "hunting season?" she said, "yeah - that's when you can do it but not now." i said, "what if i want to shoot with a camera instead of a gun?" she had to think on that one but advised me to go to the closest ranch house and ask them if they'd mind my walking their property. she said everyone in that part of SD was so nice she was sure they wouldn't mind. i said, 'so, if i want to walk on your property with a loaded gun during hunting season it's ok but walking on your property empty handed (so to speak) is not ok.' she said she guessed that was the case but that no one had ever asked that question before. she said she never heard of anyone just wanting to walk the land. i was dumbfounded. then she said that if i did ask and went for a hike to look out for rattlesnakes. we then had a conversation about rattlesnakes (something i'd read up on before heading out on my trip) during which she told me that as long as i put ice on it right away (if i got bit), i would be ok until help came. how she thought i'd be able to pack in ice on a day hike, i'm not sure. then she also told me that if i heard one to figure out where it was and be as still as possible and, once i located it, to head away from it - that they weren't really aggressive, just protective. then she said BUT, if the rattler is already in striking position, stay as still as a statue and don't make any sudden moves until it knew i wasn't aggressive and it "backed off." like my having a heart attack if that happened wouldn't be mistaken for a sudden move. then she showed me her collection of rattles above her cash register. she asked if i knew you could tell the age of a rattlesnake by its rattles. i told her i did not know that but that i guessed no one got close enough to find out unless they first killed the rattlesnake. she said that was true. then she tried to reassure me by telling me that people could survive rattlesnake bites nowadays - the trick was just to get help quickly. i asked her how she thought i might be able to get help quickly if i took off on one of those buttes with a camera instead of a shot gun and she agreed i had a good point. there really isn't anything like life flight out this way and even a fire truck or ambulance at 70 mph wouldn't get there in time. i suppose my last photo would be blurred from me falling backward with rattlesnake fangs coming toward the camera. that is if anyone ever found me - the buzzards are as numerous here as they are in texas; only these have water to drink.

which brings me to another point - if we can "pipe" oil from alaska to the lower 48, why can't we pipe water from north and south dakota (and other places that are flooding) to the states that are on fire? i know that water is piped into las vegas and phoenix - seeing as they have none naturally - but, really, why can't this be done? i have found several ways to make money on this trip. a) open a gas station anywhere within a 50 mile radius of lemmon; b) open a cafe anywhere within a 50 mile radius of lemmon; c) sell maps to lost tourists on any of a number of country roads (or put markers with a "you are here" dot on a map of the dakotas). i'm used to country roads in texas and i'm used to long long roads that seem endless but i'm NOT used to country roads that seem endless and are immaculately groomed clay or dirt. i don't know if you can see in this photo just how far into the horizon this clay road goes but that's not even the tip of the iceberg. 45 miles - from where i started clocking it; d) open even a teensy weensy part of a ranch for hikers and, if you really really want to make a LOT of money, e) find a way to drain off the surplus water from the areas that are flooding and get it to texas, new mexico and arizona (among other places). there are fields of baled hay here that are waist-deep in water. if it doesn't dry up soon, the hay will mold and rot, and they sure can't get onto the fields to get it out unless they have an inland tug boat with a massive hydraulic lift.

i also decided today that if there were a way to fence in the sky, these ranchers would no doubt have their barbed-wire and deeds in a heartbeat. i don't understand it. i never have. i guess i never will. yet they are some of the nicest, down-to-earth (their earth) people i've ever met. i still think the american indians (north, south and central) had the right idea about it all.

one thing i've learned from my travels is that we can too soon and too often forget how beautiful an area is. when i was in alaska the first time, driving with a friend from anchorage to palmer, i literally had tears in my eyes and my jaw on the floor the entire trip. my friend finally asked me what was wrong. i think i said something like "wrong? there's nothing wrong - everything is just so beautiful it's overwhelming." they said something to the effect of 'i guess you're right. it's funny how when you live here it just gets to be a neutral part of your daily existence.'

in nebraska, i said something to the park ranger in ogallala in response to their asking how i was enjoying my stay. i said 'unbelievable.' they said "what? is everything ok?" my response was similar to the one i gave my friend in alaska and the park ranger's was similar to my friend's. ditto here in south dakota. a woman at one of my stopping points said, "i guess it is pretty beautiful - in fact, i guess that's why we moved here in the first place. i've just gotten used to it." i suppose i must take too much for granted around austin, too. it is still beautiful there but it's changed so much. i remember when you could drive to 2222 and what is now 360 and think you were at the edge of civilization - or what we call civilization. now the hillsides are covered with homes and two lane dirt roads are now 4 lane (some soon to be 6 lane) highways. favorite spots that we'd go to on the river or lake that were marked by stacked stones or a piece of ribbon now have official state park signage . . . i know, it's progress. i suppose there's a fine balance in there somewhere. and i know i sound like my mom and my grandad when they described an area to me from when they were young. at least i didn't have to walk 5 miles to school in the snow. uphill. and back home again.

hanes didn't want to get out of the car today - it was so windy he thought he'd blow away and he was none too happy that he was photographed being held by yours truly. c'est la vie. have to have my photos of my traveling genomey. and perhaps the best 'george washington hair' yet.

p.s. read the book "indian givers" by weatherford if you haven't already. it's not about what you might think and it's a 'must read' just like "1491"