In Which I Start Working

I’m writing this from the parking lot of an OfficeMax. It’s a sunny day and the temperature is in the 40’s. It’s practically summer here. Too bad we’re getting another 10 inches of snow tonight.

Things at the lodge have gotten interesting. We went out to Aberdeen several times in one weekend. It was crazy. After sitting in Redfield and Brookings for so long, Aberdeen is starting to look like the Big City. It is one giant strip mall, much like Canton-The Best City Ever ™ but much longer. They even have a 3D movie theater. One of about 3 in the state so it seems. And a Taco Johns.

I thought Taco Johns was a joke or a one off place when I saw it in Brookings. Turns out it is the western version of Taco Bell.  

The first trip to Aberdeen was for the other crew. They needed to drop off some equipment, and I was bored of Redfield so I went with. Not much of note happened.

Noteworthy things  did happen that night though. We went out to some of the Aberdeen bars, having spent enough time in Terry’s to become part owners. Though we were near a college, the bars there were not very filled. I was to be the Designated Driver, which either made the following events better or worse, not quite sure.

The first bar we went to was some sort of goat place. I do not remember what it was called, and it was not terribly exciting. We quickly voted to go somewhere else.

That led us to the Silver Dollar, which was a much more, interesting, venue the goat bar. I won’t recount what happened there, but suffice to say that I learned exactly what the minimum amount of clothing South Dakota requires you to wear.

We stayed there for an hour or so. I’m not, the place had no clocks, like a casino. There probably was a casino there. South Dakota has more of them than Las Vegas. Every gas station seems to have in the back. They’re very small, sad looking affairs.

We went back to the goat bar, at which time I was greatly amused watching my now rather inebriated companions try to engage some of the lady-folk in conversation.

Saturday, I procured a truck from Brian and drove an hour to see Jurassic Park. In theaters. It was beautiful. Except for the 3D. I have seen that movie so many times, that now I’m looking at the background figures, trying to understand more of it. 3D makes it hard to do, as everything that is not the focus of the shot is very blurred.

The next day Jarrett returned and we began working. And by working, I mean shopping. We spent 2 days in three towns buying equipment and looking up equipment for the project. We found everything but an Atlas. Apparently, no one in South Dakota wants to know where they are. Which is understandable.

While searching for poles, we bought every one of those orange drive way markers in the city of Aberdeen. Every one. We need a lot of bright poles.

Went running. Remembered exactly why I hated running in the cold.

Last night, it did storm, though not the ten inches, but enough to make driving miserable.

Now we’re at the Library, waiting for emails. And getting kicked out of the Library now So that’s it

-Me