What ought to have been a brief flirtation with South Dakota quickly turned in to a extended four day love affair with the city of Sioux Falls. A faulty sixth cylinder incapacitated our trusty bus and eight of us bussers found ourselves with an inordinate amount of free time to spend in this piece of Middle America. Monday, after a four mile hike in from the interstate, we spent an idyllic afternoon at the Overlook Café in Falls Park. Mikey, Brian, Forrest and I scored a ride on the free downtown trolley to Washington Pavilion and the children’s science museum. We were informed that since the museum was closing in fifteen minutes, we could get in for free. In that time, Forrest crashed a hang glider into some canyons (dying a firey death in the process), Mikey drove a hovercraft and a mars rover, Brian lifted a car and then calculated the multiplicative factor of the lever because he’s a big nerd and an official Lego-maniac, and I successfully docked a space shuttle to a space station. Really, just another day for us BGBers.
The next few days were slightly less productive. We discovered Taco John’s and their unbeatable combination of 69 cent tacos and free wireless, where Crank proved that, in fact, humans can survive solely on cheap Mexican food and internet access. Meanwhile Elliott and Mikey caught some World Cup soccer across the way at Wild Willy’s Saloon. I will say that if there’s one category in which South Dakota has a leg up on the rest of America , it’s bar food. While the rest of us are being offered trifling cocktail peanuts and the occasional wasabi pea, patrons of Wild Willy’s are treated to a complementary BEEF STEW to take down with their booze. All I have to say to either coast is “Come on!”
We also got friendly with the public transportation system here in Sioux Falls , and even made a couple friends at the transfer station. One such lady informed us that she’s never left South Dakota because she’s scared of the gophers. While a legitimate reason, I think our respite that night was more disturbed by the prospect of being in Sioux Falls forever than killer gophers. The next day was taken in by a three dollar movie theater and camping out at Best Buy’s impressive Guitar Hero set-up. If you’ve never played Guitar Hero, I urge you not to start. It has extraordinarily addictive properties. My eyes were left burning, I’m almost positive that I developed carpal tunnel syndrome in my left hand, and I still can’t get Boston’s “More Than a Feeling” out of my head. 80 hours since first arriving, we have gotten the four-day-itch and are truly aching to be on the road again. It’s not you, Sioux Falls. It’s us.
-Viv
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