Monthly Archives: August 2013

Badland Restoration of Proper Perspective

Posted on August 5, 2013 by smspangler

GILLETTE, WYOMING—Plotting our way out of the Sturgis vortex of unmuffled chaos, we decided to give the Badlands one more shot. Our passes were good for a week, and the CD 240 loop through the park was, on the map, … Continue reading →

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Sturgis: Coloring Outside the Lines

Posted on August 5, 2013 by smspangler

GILLETTE, WYOMING—Traveling through the hemisphere that surrounds Sturgis on the eve of the 73rd annual Bike Rally was such a disruptive emotional experience that I needed to let it ferment for a day before making sense of it and putting … Continue reading →

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Vignettes of a Disconnected Day

Posted on August 3, 2013 by smspangler

KADOKA, SOUTH DAKOTA—Plugged into my MP3 player I’m sitting with my back against the west wall of America’s Best Value Inn at Exit 150 of I-90. Like a child playing peek-a-boo, the sun is stetting behind fingers of clouds stretching … Continue reading →

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Dakota HorizInn: Making Ends Meet in a Small Town Economy

Posted on August 2, 2013 by smspangler

The Dakota HorizInn reminds me of the small-town businesses in northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula because it offers a number of unrelated services to make ends meet. Parkston, said the sign by the south parking lot driveway, is “A … Continue reading →

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Soggy Tofu and High Fructose Corn Syrup

Posted on August 2, 2013 by smspangler

Waking up to a high gray overcast and news that is was raining in Sturgis was all I needed to know. We were going to get wet. On the road at 0749, we got maybe an hour or two down … Continue reading →

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Gettin’ Out of Town on a Twisty Road

Posted on August 1, 2013 by smspangler

FAIRMONT, MN: Being an anal retentive person who takes quiet joy in the passage of arbitrary milestones large and small, nothing gives me greater pleasure than watching Ole Blue’s odometer turn to the next thousand, or even the next hundred. … Continue reading →

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