Before we reached the Prairie, we had an amazing ride out of Minneapolis. If that is the 2nd most bike friendly city in the US, I can't wait to see Portland. We literally rode out 50 miles on paved bike trails, some of which resembled bike "highways" with grass dividers between lanes and entrance and exit lanes. As we rode on the Stone Arch bridge across the Mississippi River I felt like we were joining in the daily flow of early morning exercisers and commuters heading towards downtown Minneapolis. They have such a complex and wide spread network of bike paths- I hope New York one day can become this bike friendly.
The bike trail ended in the town of Mayer, where we got on a road heading towards Gaylord, MN. The difference was stark once we started riding on the roads. Cornfields dominated the landscape, and trees became few and far between. In Arlington, our host for the night, Miker, biked out to meet us. He was a mechanical engineer who had just quit his job a few days ago and was about to leave to travel Europe. On our way into Gaylord we passed by a CAFO [Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation] turkey farm. You could smell it for miles- it was actually the most rancid smell I have ever experienced, an undescribable stench that made you want to vomit everything you have ever eaten. I don't know how people live with it.
The landscape was very flat. It wasn't quite as flat as a pancake, but rather more like a blueberry pancake. Zoey and I had fun discussing how topography can be represented with breakfast foods. It was fun conversation that distracted us from the utterly dismal scenery and the endless miles of corn. Literally you could look out on the horizon and only see only corn for miles, GMO seeds that have become identical stalks that mirror the curves of the lanscape. The Prairie in southern Minnesota that we biked through has extremely fertile land, and almost all of it is tilled up and cash-cropped. We kept looking for the prairie- the true prairie, but we wouldn't find it in MN. We heard a harrowing statistic that only 2% of the prairie remains as virgin prairie. It is very sad to see the realities of industrial agriculture and how much damage they have done under the false pretense that they must do this to feed the country. And they do this with federal tax dollars for ag subsidies!
The rides from Gaylord to Redwood falls and Redwood Falls to Montevideo were very similar to the first day, with occasional interesting points. On our way into Redwood Falls we biked into and out of the Minnesota River Valley, which was beautiful (there were trees!) but the river was gross. The water was a musky brown and algae proliferated. The river was suffering from all the toxic pestiside, insecticide and fertilizer runoff from all the millions of acres of farmland. There is a large effort to put attention on cleaning up the river but I don't see how they will make much progress without ceasing all of the industrial cash-crop farming.
The next day we went through The Upper Sioux Agency State Park, my favorite spot in Minnesota besides the twin cities. We stopped there for lunch and upon walking into the visitor center found an amazing history exhibit about the US-Dakota War of 1862. As I citizen of the US I felt ashamed that I had never even heard of this war. You should really look it up, but I will try to give a quick summary. The Dakota treaties of 1858 gave the US rights to billions of acres of Native American lands. The Native Americans came to Washington DC and were wined and dined and drunk on whiskey when they signed the bill. In the Minnesota River Valley region the bill designated two agencies where the natives could live- the Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies. The agencies were run by whites and as part of the treaties the US would pay the Dakota every month in gold, as well as providing provisions. The US didn't keep their promise, and the shipments always arrived late and the food had often spoiled by the time it was handed out. The natives were always in "debt" to the traders so the gold often went directly to the traders when the shipments came in. The war was started at a time when the provision shipments were weeks late, the natives were starving and the agency was witholding food. There was an uprising that promped the war, in which many people on both sides were killed (with heavier casualties for the natives). This was at the time of the civil war when slavery captured the public eye, so it kind-of passed under the radar.
This was the first real lesson I have had on Native American history. I could write pages of complaints to the public school system for not doing native american history any justice. The whites committed genocide to a nation of people and I feel it was hardly acknowledged. We would have much more exposure to this history as we biked through South Dakota. In Montevideo (our last night in MN) we stayed with Mark and Jen D. and their two kids, Willa and Henry. They cooked us an amazing meal of homemade pasta and carrot cake. It was great to interact with kids and their vibrant energy was contagious, even after a long ride.
The ride from Montevideo to Gary, SD took us through 1 town the whole day, and that town was Clarkfield, MN. In Clarkfield we rested in front of the library and chatted with some nice ladies. One woman, Sherry, even took us out to eat for lunch with another woman, Cherry. Sherry is an active member in the Christian Missionary Alliance Church and was able to connect us with a pastor in De Smet, SD who we met up with a few days later. It is always interesting to meet people who are so different than I. We may not agree on many social and political issues but that doesn't take away from our ability to relate to each other and be kind. I hope that we will stay in touch and can have some deep philosophical talks about God and faith in the future.
In Gary we camped at a place called Buffalo Ridge Resort, which was a conference center that had been converted from 3 buildings and many acres that had been home to the South Dakota School for the Blind. The place has a neat history and the restoration job does a lot to preserve the integrity of the buildings. All the food stores were closed that night so we ate at the local greasy spoon. The owner gave us a dish of fried cheese balls, a local favorite, on the house. They tasted exactly how you would expect.... fried and melty and they sit heavy in your stomach. Probably won't eat them again, even though it was a very kind gesture.
That morning we rode out and met Phil, a local who was riding an old road bike to pick up his mail from the post office. He was very funny and gave us two South Dakota road maps to use. He led us out of town and rode with us for 3 miles. He warned us about not going into the indian reservations- he called them the "ghetto" of SD. He also told us jokes and did impressions for us as we rode. My favorite was: North Dakota sucks and Nebraska blows and that's why there's so much wind in South Dakota.
Indeed, the wind was brutal. There was a prevailing SW wind that day (and most days) and it made biking very hard. We would be trying our hardest and maybe averaging 7mph. But the scenery was beautiful. It was like night and day compared to MN- the corn was largely gone, and rolling grasslands ruled the horizons. That region is called the Couteau du Prairie, or the hills of the prairie. It was quite hilly but we were so glad to not look at corn that it didn't really matter. I saw a buffalo that day, though not a wild one. We camped at a state park on a lake. As we moved west there was a slow transition from Prairie to Plains. The plains are much more dry and rugged, and it is much harder to farm there. There In fact, I haven't seen a cornfield since that first day in SD. There are a ton of ranches and hayfields with roundbales cutting across them. The next day we went through De Smet, SD, the town where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived and where she found inspiration for many of her Little House on the Prairie books. I never actually read them, but it was cool to see. We met with Pastor Marty who was the Pastor at the Missionary Alliance Church in De Smet. His church is in the original church building that Laura and her family attended. Zoey had been feeling head-achey and not well since the day we rode out of the twin cities and was feeling especially sick that day. Pastor Marty was able to arrange a ride for us to the next town of Huron, where we had a host for the night. A woman named Sandy drove us. She was so nice and we learned that she had lived in De Smet her whole life. She was telling us about a tornado she saw about 10 years ago that completely destroyed the town of Manchester, SD that we passed on our way.
The road that we drove on was route 14, and we had biked on it the day before. It is OK in some spots, but once it gets close to De Smet and all the way to Pierre it is a horrible road to bike on. It is heavily traveled with many pickups and semis and the cars have a hard time moving over for you because they have oncoming traffic that poses an accident threat. The shoulder is about 2 feet wide and has rumble strips every 10 ft or so. We had to dive off the pavement a few times when trucks came to close. We were very glad to be getting a ride and not biking on it.
In Huron we stayed with Curtis L., a really interesting guy from warmshowers. He has lived all over the country but came back to Huron SD to be closer to his father. His house was quite homey- we loved poking around and reading all the quotes and newspaper clippings all around. He is a historian by hobby and has many history books that we read. He also told us a lot of history of the area. This region is the beginning of the plains- you could really look out on the horizon and on a clear day see for 80-100 miles. All the trees that were there were planted, otherwise the landscape would be only grasses.
Zoey was still feeling really crappy the next day, but because of the deadline we have to finish the trip around August 15th we couldn't afford to take a rest day. Zoey will be an RA this fall and has to be back at school by August 19th. We decided the best thing to do was to try to get a ride to Pierre, SD, so she could rest but we wouldn't lose a day. Curt's father, Ivan, was able to give us a ride, and once again we packed the bikes in the back of a mini-van and set off. The route we took was not the one we would have biked, but one that went through an indian reservation. Ivan is also a local historian and has dedicated much of his life to his research. We learned so much history on that ride, and what was especially interesting to me was the condition of the reservation.
To be honest, the indian reservation was one of the most poor and sad places I have ever seen. People lived in boarded up trailer homes and shacks that were falling apart. There were no paved roads in the towns- but even more surprisingly, no businesses in the towns. We went through one town, Steffan, which isn't even on the south dakota state highway map! What is on the map in the same spot is a place called Mac's corner which isn't a town- it is a gas station! That is completely absurd.
Ivan had great insignts into why there is so much poverty there. The white man completely destroyed native american culture and forced them to assimilate into theirs. They did this in many ways. They took away native hunting lands, robbing them of their ability to feed themselves and making them dependent on the government provisions. They forced the indians into reservations and sent in missionaries to convert them to christianity. They sent native children to boarding schools and taught them that their parents were savages. In short, they took away their pride in their culture over 1 generation and expected them to start over and rebuild everything from scratch. That is an unfair thing to do and it is no wonder the unemployment rate is so high. We later learned that the reservation we went through, Crow Creek, is the nicest in the state. The poorest, Pine Ridge, has 80% unemployment and the average per capita income is $3000 per year. I can't even imagine what its like.
In Pierre (the capital of SD, pronounced pier), we stayed with a wonderful couple, Ellen and Tom L., hosts from warmshowers. Their house was beautiful with lots of open space and they cooked us a delicious meal of Salmon, potatoes and salad. There we met another touring pair who were travelling our way, Tom and Miguel from Brookline, MA. We ended up riding with them for a few days snd sharing campsites as we leap-frogged each other throughout the day. It was so awesome to be able to ride with them and share tips and stories from our journeys.
I meant to blog that night, but Zoey and I ended up talking instead. It seems up until now we haven't done a great job communicating with each other how we are really feeling, and as a result felt not listened to and upset. We are concerned that Zoey will have to fly home before we make it to Portland because we will cut the dates too close. We are trying to take it day by day but have to seriously consider taking a bus, train or car across some part of the trip so Zoey can get to bike the last part of the trip along the Columbia River Gorge, the part she is most looking forward to. This is especially hard for me to consider because this trip has so much significance for me as a bike trip and is something I have been planning for months and looking forward to since high school. I really want to bike the whole thing, but I also really want to continue to ride together. I don't want to have to choose between the two. After a lot of discussion and outside input we decided that we are going to try to ride the whole thing, and get short rides at the end of days from hosts if we need so we don't have to split up any more days. Even though Zoey and I grew up together and know each other better than we know any one else (besides family) we still have many differences in personality and each are making huge sacrifices for each other on this trip. We are going to try to make more of an attempt to recognize the effort we are both putting in to our relationship as we try to finish this trip together.
The next day out of Pierre we woke up at 5:30 am and started biking at 7:15. This early start was inspired by Tom and Miguel who have had a lot of success on that schedule and have been able to beat the heat and have more comfortable rides. We rode due south on a 4 lane divided highway, which turned out to be a great ride! We had a wide shoulder with beautiful views of the plains and few cars. We did almost 80 miles that day, and it hit 95 degrees. At least it was low humidity and we had a nice eastern wind to help us along. We got to end our day with a nice swim at the campground and hang out with Tom and Miguel. We also gained an hour crossing into mountain time!
In the morning we got up at 5 again and left by 7. However, it wasn't early enough. South West SD is extremely harsh in all seasons. I have so much respect for the homesteaders that came over and tried to survive here in the late 1800's and early 1900's, and even more respect for the Dakota that made their home here for hundreds of years following the buffalo herd. I would even go so far to say that this land is inhospitable to human life unless you are a nomad- it is hot in the summer, frigid in the winter, dry, exposed, windy, and far away. I understand why so few people live here now.
There were a crazy amount of locusts on the road we were on- they would jump/fly off as you approached. One went down my shirt and I screamed and almost went off the road. They would jump on my front panniers too and I would unclip my shoes and kick them off as I rode. One time one landed on my fork and as I tried to kick it off I got my foot stuck in the wheel and broke 6 spokes. Its probably the dumbest thing I've done in recent years- I still can't believe my judgement at that moment. Anyway, at 9:30 am I sat down on the side of the road and replaced all 6 spokes (we had exactly 6 spares) and trued the wheel to the best of my ability. We were riding again by 10:45, but by that time the wind had changed and was blowing against us and the heat had started to set in. We were 7 miles west of Kadoka, SD when it was 1pm and 107 degrees and Zoey and I couldn't bike anymore. We thought we could try to flag someone down to help us out but there was absolutely no one on the road. It was a service road parallel to I-90 and it was totally empty. This is such a rural place- we could ride for 30 miles and not see a house, let alone a town. Coming from the east coast it is hard to imagine such a rural place. After sitting for an hour or so under the shade of a water tower at the top of a hill we decided to call the county police to see if they could help us. They were very helpful- they brought a SUV and put our bikes in it and drove us back to Kadoka.
In Kadoka we found a cheap motel for $40 with A/C, which was a welcome comfort. The temperature rose up to 110 degrees that day. We also got to shower, and go to sleep early. We lost our hairbrush somewhere in MN and hadn't brushed our hair in a week. We each spent over half an hour wrestling with a small comb trying to get out all the knots. I felt like I ripped out half the hairs on my head (of course its not true) but it was an unplesant experience.
We got up even earlier the next morning, determined to make it before the heat set in. We started biking at 5 am and made it to Badlands National Park by 9:30am. On the road we met 5 touring cyclists heading east. Leah, Aja and Winston were headed from Portland to NYC and Daniel and Deric were headed from Seattle to Boston. They took a sweet picture of us with a timer camera that I hope they send me one day. We spent the rest of the day in the air conditioned visitors center writing postcards and relaxing.
Around noon, when it was 109 degrees, a group of a 9 cyclists stopped at the visitor center for lunch. It was the Across America group from Teen Treks, a group that leads highschoolers on touring trips. They were riding such long miles! They had done 92 miles the day before through the black hills, and had often biked at night. I talked to many of the kids on the trip- and they were kind of miserable. I would be too! How can you see the country and talk to people if you have to bike the entire day without stopping? The way they felt was much like I felt when I did my 1 month bike tour with a similar group in high school. I liked the biking part but I hated not having control of the pace we were going or the route we took. I am so glad we are doing this trip on our terms, with maximum flexibility and sane days.
The Badlands are quite something- spectacular doesn't begin to describe them. They are these crazy jagged rocks that seem to erupt from the calm grassland. You can see the sediment lines on them and the different color layers. They are exceeding beautiful, and the sunset over such an open sky in amazing. The pictures describe it much better than I can here. We camped that night in Cedar Pass Campground in the National Park, and talked to so many cool travelers and adventurers. Unfortunately I don't remember all of their names, but one was a blacksmith from New Hampshire who sat with us for awhile; another was a man Frank from WV who gave us wyoming maps, invited us to dinner, and offered to be our sag wagon; another was a woman who was driving cross country with her parter in an old VW van and had biked cross country in her youth- she told us we could knock on her door if we needed anything; another was a man walking his dog who gave us advice on biking through wyoming. Such great people!
Our bike out of the badlands early the next day was stunning. The road curved around the rocks, and we had some major climbs in and out of the valleys. Some of the roads were at least a 10-12% grade and almost impossible to bike up for us, but the views were so worth it. We made it to Wall, SD by 10 am and got to see the famous Wall Drug, which is the number 1 roadside attraction in america. Basically it was a huge tourist trap- a large store with little departments inside it- a fudge shop, a book shop, an art shop, a restaurant, a museum, and of course a drug store. It was not something that really interested us.
The only way west out of Wall is on interstate 90 for 20 miles until the service road starts. We knew this going into it, but still felt it was the best option. We had planned on staying in Wall for the night and biking the interstate early in the morning when it would be empty. But because it was still early in the day we decided that we could try to make it to rapid city (50 miles away) in 1 day if we could get a ride 20 miles to avoid the interstate in the middle of the day when it would be crowded. We tried for almost 5 hours to hitch a ride by sitting in front of Wall drug and talking to tourists. It was clearly the wrong spot to be in- tourists are wrapped up in their own trips and not very interested in helping out other travellers. We first tried just schmoosing with people and casually asking them which way they were heading, but a few times when we spotted a family with a pickup we would ask them directly. No luck.
As we were leaving, having resigned ourselves to spending the night in Wall, a woman named Karen came over and started talking to us. She was a high school history teacher from Akron, CO, and was shocked that no one had been able to help us. She was driving a Prius, otherwise she would have given us a ride no problem. She offered to help us any way she could- even pretending we were her daughters! We ended up going into the Chamber of Commerce and asking the director, Lindsay, for help. She was awesome too- she posted a plea on her personal facebook profile and went out of her way to help us. She called her husband who owns a cement company and asked if he knew anyone headed to Rapid that day. We were in luck! There was a semi headed to the city leaving in half an hour. We biked over there and got our bikes loaded on the back of the semi and got a ride to where the service road started.
I called a couple from warmshowers, Fred and Sherry T, who took us in last minute for 2 nights. We needed to go to a bike shop for my un-true front wheel (from the broken spoke incident) and for Zoey's broken rear drive-side spoke and it would be too late to get them in that day. They were extremely gracious and had homemade pizza waiting for us when we got there. Fred and Sherry biked down the west coast a few years ago and have hosted many bikers here in Rapid City. Fred is an architect and they work in the green building business restoring historical buildings to LEED certification standards. They live up a huge steep hill (9-10% grade) in the black hills and the room we are staying in has an awesome view of downtown Rapid. They have a journal of all the cyclists that have passed through- a cool idea I will hold on to.
Rapid City is a great place- the downtown is really nice and unique. There are statues of presidents on every corner in downtown, I guess beacuse of the proximity to Mt. Rushmore. We went to a bike shop called Cranky Jeff's, except he wasn't cranky at all. He was awesome! He completely tuned up our bikes for $10 each and riding out I felt like it was a new bike. We also went to a sweet health food store- probably the last one we will see for awhile.
Tomorrow is another early day as we head into the black hills to stay with Zoey's friend Alice from Oberlin who is working as a ranger in Custer State Park for the summer. We will take another rest day there to see the park before heading out into Wyoming. Custer state park has a huge wild buffalo herd that we hope to see. Fred is even riding out with us in the morning on his recumbent so it should be a great day. It might continue to be long stretches in between blogs, so I apologize. I added a new feature to the blog so you can see where we are using google latitude on my phone. Please don't hesitate to leave a comment and tell me your thoughts!
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Coteau du Prairie, Eastern SD |
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Badlands National Park, SD |
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a beautiful lake near lake Poinsett in eastern SD |
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Badlands National Park, SD |
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About the only way you can make money off the land in southwestern SD on the plains is my making hay or grazing cattle. |
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The yellow mounds in the badlands |
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Badlands National Park, SD |
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Zo reluctantly being photographed at wall drug by the bucking bronco |
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Badlands National Park, SD |
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if you look closely you can see a big horn sheep grazing on the side of the rock in Badlands National Park, SD |
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Zo, Badlands |
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Zoey, Curt, and I in front of his home in Huron, SD |
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Curt's awesome SD history books |
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badlands |
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The Missour river in Pierre, SD in the early morning |
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The Across America Teen treks group! (not all members are present) |
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THe Mighty Mississippi River in Minneapolis |
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Its a funny name for a town, right? MN |
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Beehives in the plains! |
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the pesky locusts that hitched a ride on my front pannier and promped me to break 6 spokes. |
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A huge field of.....KALE!!!!! (belive me, I went up and ate a leaf) |
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Women we met in Clarkfield, MN |
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the plains near Vivian, SD |
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An abandoned railroad bridge, the plains, southwest SD |
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the only tree we saw the whole day, southwest SD |
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Stone Arch Bridge, Minneapolis, MN |
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Cool lake in MN near Norwood Young America |
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Apparently the oldest rock in the world, Granite Falls, MN |
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US! in the badlands |
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The original church in De Smet, SD |
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Riding up a steep hill in the badlands |
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Zoey with Pastor Marty, De Smet, SD |
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Minnesota River, Granite Falls, MN |
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Corn that meets the horizon, MN |
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Sunset, Badlands National Park, SD |
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Sunset, Badlands National Park, SD |
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Upper Sioux Agency State Park, Granite Falls, MN |
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Sunset, Badlands National Park, SD |
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The plains with the badlands in the distance |
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The water tower that gave us shade when we were sweltering hot |
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6 ft fall corn in MN |
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my early morning shadow |
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an ad for wall drug, about 100 miles from the store. |
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An abandoned claim shack in the plains |
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Sunset over the plains Belvidere, SD |
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Zoey on a street corner in Rapid City next to a statue of President Andrew Johnson. |
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An alleyway in Rapid City full of graffiti! |