This South Dakota is one clean state
August 04, 2008
When I find a piece of trash along the roadside, at a park or anywhere except IN THE TRASH, I will photograph it.
This is the cleanest state, folks. Now, I know, anybody with any sense wants to have things looking nice for a few hundred thousand friends to come visit, but even the crowds are either not creating the trash or it is quickly picked up.
“I don’t even see any litter warning signs,“ I said to the husband yesterday as we rode through Spearfish Canyon.
No ‘You will be fined $100 for littering’ signs. Nothing like that, but plenty of Adopt-A-Highway signs. It is clean here and it speaks well of the people. I guess they are of the Scandinavian, German, western European type who settled here. Even on the train ride through the countryside, we saw what could have been the homestead of one South Alabamian. It looked like a small junk yard. It was only one.
Speaking of junk, we’ve seen a few odd displays around. On the train route, a landowner has a small mountain of discarded cash registers. The train folks point it out but can’t explain it. Makes perfect sense to me. It is an artistic expression of tourism dollars. I love it.
Then in Keystone in the front yard of a business was a pile, probably 20 feet up, of push mowers. That’s mostly red and green lawnmowers. Explain it? I can’t. Appreciate it, I can.
Reminds me of a lady I used to know in Dothan, Alabama who put up Christmas lights in July. It was her statement toward the materialism of the season. Then she changed her street sign at The Highlands to read “Wisteria Lane.“ It stayed up less than a day. My kind of girl! Whatever happened to Diane?
We also saw a statue of liberty kick boxing yesterday. It was in the bed of a pickup, turning up Highway 79. It was Lady Liberty with a foot up. Freedom. Sometimes you gotta fight for it.
People here are very friendly. In Hill City, I had a chance to visit some of the local shops and the folks are all chatty. One lady said a new merchant down the street had never lived here for Bike Week. She was astonished, the neighbor reported, at the AGE of the bikers.
“Old folks, like us,“ she said.
The savvy hometowner said attendance among the younger bikers is down because they have since found a wilder rally in Colorado. I don’t know. Seems like it can get pretty wild to me. Also, folks are saying attendance is down cause of gas prices. It is not crowded, even by my definition as a newcomer. Of course, the rally only officially starts TODAY!!
The media passes give you access to things that are mostly useless. Like a ride with the mayor. Give me a break. I wanta see Kid Rock!! 
John in Dothan, you were right, this place is fab!
