I always like Airports. Something about them just makes
you feel more connected with the world. Maybe it’s the eclectic group of people
you meet there. Or maybe it’s the way they tell you to keep tracking of your
bags in seven different languages.
The flights were mostly routine, the only thing of note was
a conversation with a Crown University Baseball player. Short summary of that
conversation follows.
“Don’t go to Crown.”
Aberdeen Airport looks identical to the Powel
International Airport. Besides servicing only one plane at a time, Aberdeen has
the same interior design style. All wood
paneling and hunting ads dominated the walls. Met Jarrett at the gate and
headed out. It took two hours to drive from Aberdeen to the hunting lodge in
Zell. Two hours of cornfields and frozen ponds.
We arrived at the
Lodge a little past midnight. After a short talk with some of the other techs
there, I went to bed. Woke up again at 5 to head out to Brookings, home of the
South Dakota State Jackrabbits and two hours away, which by South Dakota
standards, is just down the road. This state is vast and empty. Internet is thirty minutes away.
On the drive over we saw geese tornados. If you have
never seen one, they are an amazing site.
The geese circle around a landing spot and slowly descend down to the
ground forming a black funnel or tornado like shape. I have never seen that
many birds in one place as once. Sometimes, the migrating flocks are large enough
to cover the sky.
We rolled up to Brookings around 8/830 and headed into the
SDSU campus. The drive went by a lot faster than it would have in Michigan. South
Dakota has speed limits 10 mph faster than back home. It’s kind of great to cruise
down streets at 70. I had to redo some paperwork and take some tests. Turns out
that I am still working for the USGS with this job, and as such I have already
done most of the paperwork. Yay.
Once that was done, Jarrett and I spent the rest of the
day trying to get the equipment we needed for the field season. This involved a
lot of walking around the SDSU campus talking to one professor after another
trying to see who was using what equipment and who was not. It was very much
like the worst parts of a fetch quest.
We had planned on only staying in Brookings for the day,
but it took so long that we ended up spending the night. It was OK though, for I got to enjoy some fine
South Dakotan parties. Turns out one of the grad students had just defended their
thesis and to celebrate there was a party. SDSU house parties are very much the
same as Ann Arbor ones. Fun people and fun times all around.
The next day I went back to the farm house to run the
ATVs and make sure they were working properly. The only problem with that plan
was that the farm door was frozen. It took me nearly the entire day to unthaw
the ground around it and remove the ice keeping the door shut. I summoned the strength of my French Canadian
Ancestors and chipped away at the ice breaking away enough of it to open the
doors. My work wasn’t finished after
that though. The first ATV I could get out without problem, the second though,
the second was more of a problem
The barn is used by both the Fisheries and the Wildlife
departments, which means that there were boats upon boats filling the place up
and, most importantly, blocking the second ATV. It was like playing the some
weird game of Tetris, trying to fit the ATV around the boats.
After that I left for the Lodge, leaving Jarrett to get
ready for a wedding. Back at the lodge we spent the next two days fishing and
hunting geese. I caught two carp. It was a good day. We went out to the only
bar in town, “Terry’s” for dollar pints and free popcorn. Really can’t complain about that deal.
There is one thing that is not so cool about this trip.
Turns out that the closest 3D theater (i.e. the only theater that shows Jurassic
Park) is three hours away. Booo that.
Booo. Now I need to find an excuse to take my government vehicle all the way to
Sioux Falls.
Now I am back in Brookings, getting ready for my ATV
training course in the morning. This
should be exciting
-Me
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