South Dakota

 

Today, among other things, was a day of clouds.  The morning was routine, overcast and blah.  Midday was sunny and quite pleasant.  We spent early afternoon with friends and as we were about to leave we could hear heavy rain which included a few moments of hail.  

 

And then it started.  

 

As we drove west out of South Dakota, the clouds to the north were dark as night.  To the southwest big fluffy white ones were set off by a dark backdrop of  threatening clouds.  We were headed northwest and it looked bright.

 

The drive was some two hundred miles and the conditions changed by the moment.  The road tended to the west and the southwest clouds slipped behind us.  Then to the northwest and the west the skies darkened as the northern ones had a dash of white amid the appearance of rain; it was snow.  Minutes became hours and the road turned wet but our windshield remained dry.  Over the next ridge the edges of the road were white; possibly hail or snow.  Now the threatening clouds cautiously slipped behind us while others grew in the north, then the south, and even in the west.  Whenever we drove directly toward clouds, the route changed and we skirted between the showers.  Still no need for wipers.  However, Gail was constantly taking pictures as the clouds morphed in color, shape, tone, height, and threatening appearance.  It rained the entire evening and we enjoyed the displays without hardly a drip on the windows.

--------------

Sunday started with a quick breakfast in a café with my lifelong friend John.  Our parents were friends and we were born months apart so we probably played with each other in our cribs.  We attended six years of grade school together and after six years apart as his father followed his teaching career we landed in the same college.  While his career followed time in Viet Nam and teaching, he now gathers plant and soil samples for a ranching experiment for NDSU; going strong at 77 he is.

 

After a four-hour drive from Dickinson along the North/South Dakota border we spent a couple hours on the ranch/farm of the Scarboroughs.  Mrs. Pam Scarborough was my 51-year old niece who died just three months ago.  This day was pleasant allowing us an opportunity to chat outside on the deck while throwing the ball for our dogs  Their two-year old golden lab likes to fetch as much as Charlie.  Charlie also enjoyed the freedom of the open fields, the cattle and a peer who could match his athletic abilities.  Pam’s sister Sharla came by for Mother’s Day along with three of her five children, so there were a total of six great nephews and nieces roaming the yard and sharing stories about school and stuff.

 

After another three-hour drive we shared our evening meal with Samantha, an adopted daughter of Gail’s brother Stuart.  Sam is a traveling nurse and is just about to complete her contract in Rapid City.  She shared many stories about her nursing here and there but also threw in a few about raising a post-secondary school son back in Florida.  It sometimes seems like a miracle that we get through raising our families.

 

Overnight was in another WalMart in Rapid City.