The parking lot at Jewel Caves was nearly barren, but we
parked our rig, bought tickets for a tour, and elevatored down into the
chambers. Jewel Caves is a huge complex of caves underneath miles of the Black
Hills in South Dakota. Our tour guide explained that exploration is still
on-going: cavers are still pushing through openings barely wide enough for
shoulders, to find huge caverns. We padded through the cool stillness, admiring
the crystal formations, the walls all like huge broccoli florets, stalagmites
and stalactites too. Some rooms with walls like the under-frills of a mushroom.
Mr. India pointed out a yellowy-brown formation in smooth clumps: “this is like
seals sitting on top of one another.” At one point the tour guide turned off
all lights and we were in absolutely pure darkness. You could not tell if your
eyelids were open or closed. We do not find darkness like this in the everyday,
and it was stunning.
Jewel Cave, Devil’s Tower, the Black Hills, Custer State
Park, the Badlands….in the west the earth has so much going on. We took our
time there, hiking through the pines and clambering over Badland’s formations,
deciding to put the pedal to the medal in the flatness and population of
Indiana and Ohio et al.
After a day of caving and mountaining, we stop in Rapid City
for dinner. The place is so windy, exhaustingly windy; even locals are
complaining. Get this: I was so wearied by the wind, knocking the breath from
my chest, grabbing my scarf, that rather than walk the 5 blocks from the coffee
shop to the co-op I gave in and drove us
there. Those of you who know me and my car opinions, that should be obsoletely
telling.
The exciting spontaneity of the logistics of this trip.
Where you don’t know, and you wonder, and then suddenly emails come in and you
have offers of places to stay. A request to three people in South Dakota late
at night through the warmshowers bicycle host network returned two resounding responses, “yes come
stay!” so rapidly within just a few hours. Makes you wonder if they get many
guests in South Dakota…..
We stayed in Mitchell South Dakota, small prairie town, but
home to the Corn Palace. A stadium building decorated on the outside with
murals made entirely of corn. Blue corn, red corn, all variations of yellow
corn…and the husks and tassels too. I’d been here at the age of 14 with my
parents, and remembered how intrigued my Dad was by the western-ness of a
building decorated in corn. The rest of the town was western-style shop fronts,
a diner, a saloon, souvenir shops, and was almost entirely sleeping.
Mr. Mitchell, one of the bicycle-network members who’d been
so enthusiastic to host us, came to meet us outside and warmly welcomed us into
his apartment. Mr. Mitchell had worked for many years as a stock-broker and now
was working part-time for United Way, in addition to campaigning for the South
Dakota state senate house as a Republican. Oh the people we meet on journeys!
Then there was a confluence of Oh My Gosh Small World,
because, conversing along in that getting-to-know-you-way, we learned he had
sold stock for Xerox years ago (my parents work there!). And get this: in his
travels he had visited the very same town in India in which Mr. Anurag had grown up. That was just stunning.
I was blown away by his generosity: he gave us his bedroom
and stayed himself in the living room (even after we protested his kindness)
and whisked us off to dinner at Ruby Tuesday in his white Lincoln SUV. Much
cleaner and emptier than my Subaru, I can say that much. He even invited his
friend to join us for dinner, both of them retired stock people, and we had a
refined and engaging conversation over South Dakota sized plates of food.
((We’ve been driving down south over Iowa as I write this.
It has been a long drive. Says Anurag just now: “I feel like when I reach
there, I will lose my butt.” I agree. ))
No comments:
Post a Comment