Day #69 - 5/20/2011 - Pierre, South Dakota

Just hanging out in Pierre, South Dakota.


What to say about Pierre...this is tough.  With a population of 13,646, Pierre, founded in 1880,  is the 49th least populous state capital (beating out only Vermont's Montpelier) in the 46th least populous state. And, I have to say, walking/biking around Pierre, that is the sense you get.  Pierre is 34 miles from the nearest interstate and is only one of 5 state capitols not serviced by an interstate.  I think Pierre remains a frontier city in a frontier state...yeah, that's it.


Shipping boxes of Lani's books, my honey and gear we didn't plan on using anymore (tents and Thermarest pads) back from the FedEx shop, I spent some time chatting with the FedEx guy behind the counter.  (Yes...I should have his name and a picture, but Bob messed up.)  Anyway, he was engaging, genuinely interested in our trip and a hunter.  Specifically, he bow hunted, something which I find appealing because of the stealth and tracking involved.  He was proud of his skills and his range, up to 50 yards.


Okay, I'll tell you what else was revealing about Pierre: the DakotaMart, the main (only?) supermarket in Pierre.  The first floor looked like pretty much any supermarket with a large footprint...except for the staircase in the middle of the store that took you to the basement where there was a ginormous sporting goods store. I checked it out a couple of times because it was...well, just different.  There was a large firearms section devoted to hunting, as well as aisles of gear for fishing, camping and more...everything for the outdoors-man.  Or woman.  Or child.

Pierre is home to the headquarters of the United Sioux Tribes Development Corporation,
the oldest Lakota-Nakota-Dakota (Sioux) tribal organization in the Great Plains region.
The corporation has played an essential role in preserving the soverign status of the Indian
nation with respect to state and federal law.

And, I'd see a steady stream of outdoors-man handling shotguns, talking about hunting season, dressed in camo make their way through the aisles of stuff that almost made me want to pick up a hunting bow and go track Bambi.

The motel was just a few blocks from the "happening" part of downtown  Pierre.  There wasn't much
happening.   Funny story: after dinner at Mad Mary's Steakhouse and  Saloon...we walked around the
corner to a nearby ice cream shop following three local teenagers who were heading to the same shop.
Before entering, they paused, looking in the shop window and moaned "Eww, it's filled with old people."
I validated them: "Oh, yeah, that's just horrible, look at those old people...I can't believe they let old people in."
Full-faced embarrassed, the teenies slinked away.  Heh heh heh.

I did buy some insulated, waterproof gloves in a camouflage motif in anticipation of the bad weather that was in the forecast.   The DakotaMart deserved several pictures, but I dropped the ball here.  Sorry...it was cool and, more than anything, said something about this part of the country and how people spent their time: outside, enjoying it in a variety of ways

Another motel graced by our presence.  We picked up our bikes from the only bike shop in town and were rarin' to hit the road tomorrow.

We had a decent dinner at Mad Mary's Steakhouse and Saloon that was memorable for two reasons.  For one, the waitress was the worst waitress ever who, among other food server faux pas, presented us with the bill while we were still eating and clearly had a dysfunctional give-a-$hister.  More interesting were the young adults sitting in the booth directly behind us.  A young woman spoke in an animated fashion of having tried bear (it was pungent and oily) and was very pleased with the gun she had recently bought: normal South Dakota dinner banter, but curious for us.


After dinner, we walked back to the Super 8 in a light rain and readied ourselves for the resumption of the bike trip tomorrow.  


I can't wait.