South Dakota

 The good news is the garage in Elko hooked me up. I had stopped immediately so there wasn’t engine damage, and I made it to Custer, SD. 

The bad news is, we were there

a. during a global pandemic and

b. during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (commonly known as Sturgis)

I posted this picture without telling the story of why these two guys are on here. They looked about 22 years old. If you notice, their "motorcycles" are barely motocross bikes. Their plates are from Oklahoma and the kid's t-shirt is Tyler, Texas. Before they ended up in front of them, we were stopped next to them as they were trying to merge into traffic. They had that part-thrilled, part-terrified look we all get when we're somewhere we're excited to be but that just might be more than we'd bargained for; when we're not 100% sure we're not in over our heads, but by god, it's exciting to be trying to swim with the big fish!!!! The one in the white cap pulled out, but the other either wasn't as assertive or truly didn't have time, I don't remember now. But both of them looked panicked. White Cap pulled over at the corner, both of them looking at each other, trying not to look like they cared and failing pretty badly to anyone who looked. Finally, Dark Cap was able to get out into traffic (a certain pilot might have let him in, but I'm not making any claims) and White Cap pulled in next to him as the light turned red. And you know ~ you know ~ these two young men went back to their small towns in Oklahoma the victorious heroes. The ones who Went to Sturgis. This was big shit and they get to talk about it at the bar on Saturday nights. Guys, whoever you are, may this be the first of many. And if it's not, by god, you went to Sturgis!

So, on My Favorite's days off, we went to Deadwood and drove through the event, but did not stop or get out of our car. 

For many reasons.

Then we went and explored elsewhere. Sturgis isn't the only place in South Dakota!

Appropriately enough, the name of the next small town is simply Hot Springs, ND. It was truly lovely.

Being us, we made some friends....

...did a little thrifting (thrift shops are where you can buy used goods; they can be ordinary stuff like clothes and kitchen glasses, or they can be antiques and finer items. Shopping at them is known as thrifting.)

...and of course, found a coffee shop.

And the adventure continues...