Thursday, August 11, 2005
Ok, so, Sioux Falls then.
Arrived in Sioux Falls wed night, about 10:30 PM. I wanted to get to an internet spot, so I had my pal John go on the internet in Queens and direct me over our cellphones using google's satellite maps. The weird wired world. So I go to a place called Gregg's Ultra subs and Casino. And it's open till two am. Welcome to South Dakota! A state of leniency, I thought. Laissez-faire. The speed limit is a brisk 75 miles an hour.
Gregg's Casino is directly across from Gary's guns. Maybe Greg and Gary are cousins.
Well, Gregg's was in fact open. I walked into the subtle yet familar beeping of slot-machines. Not as monstrous or as cacophonous as the army of machines in Atlantic City, and not as innocuous as the single lonely machines hidden in the back of candy stores in Brooklyn. But the still the same.
I didn't look over the crowd, which I regret. It was after all, a "casino" and who knows what shark types hang around? I was imagining a dice table with a dozen bikers. Gary's guns are across the street, remember. And I am just a city boy.
But sorry, no internet access here, or anywhere, but the public library.
So I stood in the parking lot facing Minnesota Ave., in front of Gregg's, and I ate a raw pepper with Hummus and some baked chips. I have a small moment, in the form of my reflection in the rear window: there I was, in South Dakota, in shorts and a cut off shirt at 10:30 pm. Alone, eating hummos, and happy. For that moment, I felt outside myself, seeing myself from above. Don't know what that means, either.
So then I decided to head to the TCBY, which, blissfully, was still open. There I ate vanilla yogurt with chocolate sprinkles, and met two sixteen-year-old girls: Holly and Molly from Menonly, WI. Pronounced me-non-oly, not men-only. Either way, it's hysterical. (To be honest, Molly was not from Menonly, but it sounds better, so there). Holly and Molly from Menonly tell me a few things of interest:
1)Sioux Falls is not quite so laissez-faire. At least, not with its teenagers. You can buy guns, gamble all hours of the night, and there's a bar on every block, but teenagers have a city enforced 11pm curfew. And if they even tried to smoke a cigarette anywhere in town, the cops would be all over them. Kids have to go out to the woods to have a smoke. And New Yorkers complain about having to walk outside.
Also, "What's to see in Sioux Falls?" I say-
"Well, the falls are nice."
The falls? I think. Then it hits me. Oh right. There's a waterfall here. Hence the name. Brilliant.
So I want to see the Falls. Funny thing is, no one in Sioux Falls knows where anything is. "Just go down that way. You'll find it." or, "It's around that way." I'm sorry, but the damn city is two square miles, directions are not that hard.
I find the falls, and they are great. I slid down the rocks, sat on a flat beige stone about twenty feet away from the falls, and wrote this post in my notebook, which is still wet from the spray. I tried to sleep out there- I brought my sleeping bag and my bug mesh, but the bugs were intent on getting into my Italian skin and I had to flee. I did sleep for an hour or so.
I drove out of town, over the border back to MN. I set up my hammock at the rest area. So my contraption worked- sort of.
I've been planning on camping in my hammock the entire trip. My only concern was the rain. So Yesterday, heading out of Chicago, I headed to Uncle Dan's Outdoor Store and bought some supplies:
50 ft of nylon cord
a 8 x 10 ft tarp.
tent stakes
a backpack
pocket knife
So last night, the thunder storms roll in, and I'm ready. I didn't even need the cords, like I thought. I threw the tarp over the hammock, and staked it down. There are some issues, but I'll work them out.
to be continued...
Gregg's Casino is directly across from Gary's guns. Maybe Greg and Gary are cousins.
Well, Gregg's was in fact open. I walked into the subtle yet familar beeping of slot-machines. Not as monstrous or as cacophonous as the army of machines in Atlantic City, and not as innocuous as the single lonely machines hidden in the back of candy stores in Brooklyn. But the still the same.
I didn't look over the crowd, which I regret. It was after all, a "casino" and who knows what shark types hang around? I was imagining a dice table with a dozen bikers. Gary's guns are across the street, remember. And I am just a city boy.
But sorry, no internet access here, or anywhere, but the public library.
So I stood in the parking lot facing Minnesota Ave., in front of Gregg's, and I ate a raw pepper with Hummus and some baked chips. I have a small moment, in the form of my reflection in the rear window: there I was, in South Dakota, in shorts and a cut off shirt at 10:30 pm. Alone, eating hummos, and happy. For that moment, I felt outside myself, seeing myself from above. Don't know what that means, either.
So then I decided to head to the TCBY, which, blissfully, was still open. There I ate vanilla yogurt with chocolate sprinkles, and met two sixteen-year-old girls: Holly and Molly from Menonly, WI. Pronounced me-non-oly, not men-only. Either way, it's hysterical. (To be honest, Molly was not from Menonly, but it sounds better, so there). Holly and Molly from Menonly tell me a few things of interest:
1)Sioux Falls is not quite so laissez-faire. At least, not with its teenagers. You can buy guns, gamble all hours of the night, and there's a bar on every block, but teenagers have a city enforced 11pm curfew. And if they even tried to smoke a cigarette anywhere in town, the cops would be all over them. Kids have to go out to the woods to have a smoke. And New Yorkers complain about having to walk outside.
Also, "What's to see in Sioux Falls?" I say-
"Well, the falls are nice."
The falls? I think. Then it hits me. Oh right. There's a waterfall here. Hence the name. Brilliant.
So I want to see the Falls. Funny thing is, no one in Sioux Falls knows where anything is. "Just go down that way. You'll find it." or, "It's around that way." I'm sorry, but the damn city is two square miles, directions are not that hard.
I find the falls, and they are great. I slid down the rocks, sat on a flat beige stone about twenty feet away from the falls, and wrote this post in my notebook, which is still wet from the spray. I tried to sleep out there- I brought my sleeping bag and my bug mesh, but the bugs were intent on getting into my Italian skin and I had to flee. I did sleep for an hour or so.
I drove out of town, over the border back to MN. I set up my hammock at the rest area. So my contraption worked- sort of.
I've been planning on camping in my hammock the entire trip. My only concern was the rain. So Yesterday, heading out of Chicago, I headed to Uncle Dan's Outdoor Store and bought some supplies:
50 ft of nylon cord
a 8 x 10 ft tarp.
tent stakes
a backpack
pocket knife
So last night, the thunder storms roll in, and I'm ready. I didn't even need the cords, like I thought. I threw the tarp over the hammock, and staked it down. There are some issues, but I'll work them out.
to be continued...
