South Dakota

In the morning, I enjoy some more relaxed work in the designer chair. I set off for South Dakota around 10am. It’s hot. The Interstate goes straight south for almost 400 miles. I get tired after only an hour. In Germany I drink a cup of coffee and then can’t sleep for 8 hours. Here I drink half a litre of coffee and after half an hour I’m already tired again. The coffee is almost as strong as spring water – almost. Where the hell does the colour come from?

I take several coffee breaks – none of them work. Bored, I play around with the last unknown buttons in the car – and discover the cruise control. No! Worst case… From now on, my right foot is also superfluous.
After just ten minutes, my legs complain about their uselessness and threaten to fall asleep. I let my knees do the steering. 10 minutes later, my arms fall asleep.

There’s no point. Yesterday, the landscape changed very quickly from Minnesota to North Dakota. Today, the plains pass by endlessly monotonous and long. Fields, farms, trees, cattle, dust. Again and again. No end. No horizon. Not even clouds to count. After three hours, finally: hills! The South Dakota border is reached.

Another 200 miles to my destination for the day: Salem, a small village near Sioux Falls. I leave the interstate a little early. I can’t stay awake a minute longer on this straight. I want to stalk the tracks in the backcountry from behind. But even these tracks are all straight. At least some of them are unpaved gravel roads. The occasional rear end of my car breaking out at 55 km/h keeps me awake.

After six hours, I arrive at Ed and Edith’s farm in Salem. Ed is an amateur radio operator – if you can call it that, with 9 radio masts up to 25 metres high in his garden. Both of them have travelled a lot, they talk and want tips for a planned trip to Europe. Edith cooks a marvellous roast beef. I take a few more photos of the prairie sunset. Kevin was home alone here – and danced with the wolf.