Our twelfth full day of the trip began when Tom’s alarm rang at 6:00am on Tuesday September 19, 2023. It was moving day, which meant my companions had to lug all of their gear down the steep wooden steps of the Mountain View Lodge and into the Truckster. Thankfully the weather was ideal as my companions planned on driving roughly 370 miles on the day, which would be broken up by stops in the Badlands, the State Capitol Building in Pierre, and ending in De Smet, South Dakota – the Little Town on the Prairie.
I was stunned when we were on the road by 7:20am, which was ten minutes earlier than the departure-time my photographer had suggested to his wife. The route towards the Badlands was uneventful, but once were headed across the southern part of the National Park, then northward through another section of the park, the scenery became spectacular. As a matter of fact, there were times when we stopped at a couple of viewing vistas, I thought Tom and Vic had taken me to another planet.
While I thought the Badlands in North Dakota were amazing, the Badlands in South Dakota were “Bad Ass”. Without any descriptions, because the scenery left me speechless, let me show you what the three of us saw on our morning drive through Badlands National Park.
The word Badlands first came from the Lakota people who called the area “mako sica”, which translated literally to “badlands”. For centuries, the Native American people called this place home. They lived and hunted all around this area until the mid to late 1800s when homesteaders arrived and our government forced the Lakota to leave. But it wasn’t without a fight, which culminated in the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890 when 250 Lakota Indians were slaughtered by the United States Army during Benjamin Harrison’s administration. The massacre’s victims, many of whom were women and children, were buried in mass graves by American soldiers.
As we headed out of the National Park and made our way towards Pierre, my resin head was once again filled with thoughts about the Native Americans and the way they were treated by our government. I am a proud American bobble head and I love our country, but some of our past history makes me question our government and their tactics. For a moment, during our 125-mile ride to South Dakota’s State Capitol Building, I thought about Lee Greenwood’s lyrics about being a proud American. But what if the opening lines were sung by a Lakota warrior – would they have the same meaning? After all, they were Americans before the invading Europeans became Americans.
“If tomorrow all the things were gone, I’d worked for all my life,
And I had to start again with just my children and my wife.
I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today,
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can’t take that away.”
The sad fact is the United States government did take their freedom away; along with their land; and their culture; and their heritage; and their sacred religions; and left them on reservations with little or no hope to thrive as a proud people. I realize there is no easy or meaningful solution to what happened in the past, what’s been done is impossible to undo. But we also can’t sweep the past under the rug or change the pages of our history books to hide our dirty little secrets. To quote philosopher George Santayana who said in 1905: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
While we drove across the seemingly endless miles of grasslands on our way to Pierre, I was able to relax and chuckle as I watched my photographer text-chat with Earl McCartney, a friend of his back home. For the past several years, Tom has recorded personalized videos of the sites we visited and then sends them to his friend, who has been battling cancer for the past nine-plus years. When Earl found out we were headed to the State Capitol Building of South Dakota, he texted: “Please get a picture with (Governor) Kristi Noem – your next Vice President. She’s quite attractive, if you’re into that kinda thing.” I laughed to myself and thought: “Tom might not be into that kinda thing, but I am. I love it when a beautiful lady holds me, and that’s only happened once since our trip to Virginia in 2022.”
When we rolled into downtown Pierre, the three of us were stunned by how small the city appeared. We thought Helena was small for being a state capital, but with only 13,646 residents, Pierre had over twenty-one thousand less inhabitants than Montana’s capital. As a matter of fact, when it came to state capital cities, only Montpelier, Vermont had a lower population with 7,988 citizens. None of that mattered much to me – I only wanted to meet one person in Pierre, and she was likely in the governor’s office at the Capitol Building.
Since we had lost an hour due to the time zone change while enroute to Pierre, we arrived at the South Dakota State Capitol Building at one o’clock. Once Vicki had parked the van along East Capitol Avenue, Tom carried onto the Capitol grounds where I posed for numerous photos – including one when I stood on a plaque dedicated to the Constitution of the United States. The Capitol looked spectacular with its 161-foot-tall dome touching the bright blue sky. But as stunning as the exterior was, it was the inner beauty I was anxious to see.
I was extremely anxious when my photographer carried me up the granite steps and through the doors of the Capitol Building. My anxiety was due to the slim chance I might get to meet Governor Kristi Noem. Even though I had met President Jimmy Carter and Congresswoman Lisa McClain in the past, I’ve never met a governor in person before.
The interior of the Capitol was as spectacular as I had imagined. As Tom carried me around the first and second floors of the building, I had a chance to stand on some of the original terrazzo tiles laid into the floor by 66 Italian artists; I posed near the Grand Staircase made of Vermont “White cloud” marble; and I admired the beautiful Barrel Vault located above the staircase. After we took a few minutes for me to pose in the Rotunda, it was the moment of truth for my photographer and me. We were headed to the governor’s office, and truth be told, I felt as giddy as a schoolboy going to his first dance.
While the door to the governor’s office was closed, a sign above the word ‘GOVERNOR’ said “Please walk in”; which we did. Vicki stayed out in the hallway as the two of us made our way into the reception area of Governor Kristi Noem’s office. Once in the room, I immediately saw another large wooden door in front of me that was emblazoned with the large words, ‘KRISTI NOEM – GOVERNOR’. My head was wobbling, and I thought my heart would jump out of my resin chest.
Tom quickly became engaged in a conversation with Lisa Lei, and extremely nice woman whose official title was Constituent Services Representative. Lisa’s desk was situated just to the left of the governor’s office door, and it was obvious she would be our only hope of meeting Kristi Noem. After my photographer explained to Lisa what he and I do during our extensive travels, I heard him talk passionately about Earl’s earlier request. “I have a friend back in Michigan who is battling cancer and he asked me if I could get a picture with Kristi Noem. His name is Earl McCartney – he describes himself as a Constitutional Conservative and a staunch Republican through and through. As a matter of fact, Earl told me Kristi will be our next Vice President in 2024. I send videos and photos to him during our travels, which helps him feel as though he’s along on the ride with us. I know it’s asking a lot, and I hate to impose on the busy governor, but would she have time for a quick picture?”
Lisa smiled and walked over to the governor’s door. I couldn’t believe my painted eyes – we were about to meet the first female governor in South Dakota history and the next Vice President of the United States. But when Lisa attempted to open the door, she turned and gave us the bad news, “I’m very sorry, but I won’t be able to get you in to meet the governor today. But I do have something you can give to Earl from the governor.” Lisa walked over to a cabinet across the room and returned with a hand-signed photo of Governor Krisit Noem – autographed in gold Sharpie. Although I was disappointed to not get in the hands of Governor Noem, I thought the signed photo for Earl was the next-best thing.
As the three of us left the Capitol Building and headed back to the van, a sense of disappointment filled my resin heart. I was so close, yet so far away from meeting one of the most popular governors in our nation and possibly, according to Earl McCartney, the next Vice President of the United States.
Following a mind-numbing, 150-mile drive across the grasslands of South Dakota, we arrived at our hotel, the De Smet Super Deluxe Inn & Suites, at roughly 4:10pm. While the hotel seemed to have an impressive name and was the largest of the three places to stay in the small town, it was also very reasonably priced – which was ideal for my cheap photographer’s budget. Shortly after Vicki registered, Tom had me, along with the rest of their belongings, transported to the room – which turned out to be nothing elaborate. Since we still had a lot of daylight left, however, my two companions decided they wanted to explore the “Little Town on the Prairie”, which was made famous by author Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family. I nearly laughed out loud when I heard my photographer tell his wife he wasn’t very familiar with the story about John-boy, Mary Ellen, and their ‘Little House on the Prairie’. Vicki quickly corrected her husband: “That was the Walton’s – a completely different show.”
Laura Ingalls was born in Wisconsin, then moved with her father Charles and mother Caroline to Missouri and Kansas, before settling in Walnut Creek, Minnesota for a bit. But in 1879, Charles Ingalls bought some property in De Smet, South Dakota and moved his family to the prairie when Laura was 12 years old. In De Smet, Laura attended school, worked part-time jobs, and made friends – including bachelor homesteader Almanzo Wilder. Two months before her 16th birthday, Ingalls accepted her first teaching job and taught in three different one-room schoolhouses in the area while still attending school in De Smet. Not too long after her 18th birthday, Laura married Almanzo Wilder in De Smet and they moved to a homestead north of town. While Charles “Pa” Ingalls, Caroline, and their blind daughter Mary resided in De Smet for the rest of their lives, Laura and Almanzo moved away in 1890 – although they did return to town later for a two-year stay. Five of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s nine “Little House” books were based on her time living in De Smet, including ‘By the Shores of Silver Lake’, ‘The Long Winter’, ‘Little Town on the Prairie’, ‘These Happy Golden Years’, and ‘The First Four Years’.
There was no doubt the small town of De Smet did their best to cash in on the fame created by Laura Ingalls Wilder as there were over 50 sites associated with her books that visitors were encouraged to see. But since it was five o’clock and all of those sites had already closed for the day, the three of us visited only seven of the suggested places. While most of those seven sites were mentioned in several of Laura’s “Little House” books, the highlight for Tom and me was the De Smet Cemetery where Charles and Caroline, along with a couple of their daughters and a grandchild, were buried in the Ingalls plot.
Without further ado, I’d like to invite you to experience our De Smet visit in a series of images taken by my photographer which I’ve titled “Little Bobble Head on the Prairie”.
By 6:30pm, we had nearly run out of daylight when we finished our exterior visit at the Loftus Store. But as I stood in the middle of Calumet Street and looked around at the lifeless town before me, it was as though I saw the Ingalls’ girls walking the sidewalks in their late 1870s attire. While Tom had never watched the television show ‘Little House on the Prairie’, nor had he read any of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, my photographer suddenly realized those were real people; a genuine prairie family who helped the small town of De Smet rise up from the grasslands of South Dakota into the touristy speck on the map it is today.
For my two companions, it was dinner time and most places in town seemed to be closed for the day. Craving pizza, Tom and Vic decided they were hungry enough to eat pizza from a gas station, which was exactly what they did. When Vicki pulled the van into The Main Stop, she pumped gas while my photographer went into the store and ordered a ‘Godfather’s Pizza’ – because, as he said, “They had an offer I couldn’t refuse”.
Back at the hotel, I stood alongside the small television set while Tom and Vic watched the Beverly Hillbillies and ate their pizza. After we watched several episodes featuring the antics of Jed, Jethro, Elly May, and Granny, my two tired companions realized the air conditioning unit in the room wasn’t working very well. Since he figured it was too late in the game to change rooms, Tom shut off the lights at 9:20pm and stretched out in the bed. Out of nowhere, I heard my photographer say to his wife, “Goodnight Jon-boy. Goodnight, Mary Ellen.” All Vicki said was “wrong show”, and then fell fast asleep.
Throughout the night, I stood in the darkness and listened as my photographer tossed and turned in the uncomfortably warm room. But I didn’t have much compassion for him – after all, Pa, Laura, and the rest of the Ingalls’ didn’t have air conditioning in their homes either, and they survived. Perhaps Tom should’ve read ‘Little Hotel on the Prairie’.
