The Fellowship: Friday Night Lights

I arrived triumphantly, with my checked backpack, in Rapid City South Dakota on Friday night. This inspired many looks of confusion as I marched out of the terminal with my arms raised shouting “I have come to tame thee, Lands of Badness!” (Foreshadowing alert!) I was real excited to have escaped Miami.

Craig and I headed into town to check find some food before setting up camp at the local KOA (Kampgrounds of America. Why the K? I don’t know. It was very confusing for me.) We had pretty much decided that at 10:30 at night our only real option was some kind of casino. There are lots of Casinos in Rapid City. That’s when we spied the Fair! Not just a fair, but a Fair and a Rodeo! That was where we had to be. We parked and then walked into the rodeo participant’s entrance, through the Rodeo stadium, and into the fair. Yes it was a stadium. I have pictures. Unfortunately the Rodeo was over for the night by the time we got there.

Example #1 of nice people in South Dakota. We stopped on the midway to get food from a local BBQ place. Two pulled pork sandwiches. When the guy gave us our sandwiches he also gave us our money back. The sandwiches were warm, but not piping hot as they should be and he didn’t feel right taking our money for them. Where does that ever happen? The sandwiches were delicious by the way. I could have eaten four. Craig settled for a Corn Dog. Nothing like meat on a stick.

Next we hit up the party tent. The party tent was full of big men with cowboy hats and large belt buckles. Craig and I felt a lot out of place. But we grabbed two Coors Lights from the bar and tried to blend in. There was a live band that alternated between classic rock and country songs. As soon as the classic rock began the dance floor cleared. Once the country began the dance floor was packed. It was awesome to watch. We didn’t actually speak to anyone. We feared speaking to girls, because their boyfriends might hit us. We feared talking to the guys, because we don’t know Rodeo. Well, I know of a Garth Brooks song about rodeo, but that’s about it.

After spending the night in a tent at the KOA we awoke refreshed and ready to begin the adventure. The adventure began with $1.00 all you can eat pancakes. Each made by the Pancake Cowboy. This guy looked like he walked right out of a movie. Grizzled guy with tattoos, cowboy hat and boots, smoked a pipe, and a big belt buckle. And he made pancakes. He said the record was 26 pancakes in one sitting. We got up to 8. He told us stories of the badlands and being a cowboy in Montana. He used to be a Sheriffs deputy and chased lawbreakers down on horseback. He killed five Grizzly Bears in two years in Idaho, but they weren’t good eating. He’d been bitten by Rattlesnakes three times and survived. He was the real deal, man, no mistaking.

The Pancake Cowboy made pancakes shaped like Spongebob Squarepants for little boys and pancakes shaped like Spongebob’s friend Patrick for the little girls. He mentioned that his cowboy friends don’t approve of this. He only made normal round ones for Craig and me.

Example #2 of nice people in South Dakota. We asked the Pancake Cowboy where we could go to pick up supplies for the trip. He pointed us to K-Mart for gear and the Family Thrifty Center for food. I asked him about picking up a Coleman fuel bottle for the stove. “A green one?” he asked, “I think I have one in back that I don’t use.” He went in the back and just gave me a whole bottle of fuel! Awesome! It was a good thing too because nowhere in Rapid City sells the blue bottle fuel for Craig’s stove. The guy at Wal-Mart told us “That’s for backpacking. Around here people don’t do that, they hunt.” We did get some good slingshots that we used protect ourselves from rattlesnakes and buffalos