I decided to quit my job and embark on a cross-country journey. After I'm done with the US, I may even venture out internationally. Check here for signs that I'm still alive...
Monday, August 17, 2015
Heroes (or how the Park Service saved my trip)
**for the NPS story, scroll down to 8/16's entry**
8/15/15
Started with lunch at Vinyl Taco then headed for some beer at Fargo Brewing Company and Junkyard Brewing Company. Since I was in Fargo, I, of course, had to check out the woodchipper from the Coen Brothers' "Fargo". While driving from ND to SD, passed Laura Ingalls Wilder's home (it was already closed by the time I passed by), and a spot where "Into The Wild" was filmed.
L to R: Stone's Throw, O-Fest!, Kenny Lagers, Baltic Porter
Belgian Quadrupel
Who knew woodchippers were divas? The stunt double woodchipper from the Coen Brothers' "Fargo"
8/16/15 So, to start the day I visited the Corn Palace - Americana to a T. From there I headed west to Rapid City, stopping through the Badlands along the way...I stopped at some petrified gardens, then proceeded to the national park. That's where things went a little haywire...
It started out simple enough by entering the park and stopping at the first stop - Big Badlands Overlook. I started taking some pictures, and tried to be a good daughter by sending my mom a "proof of life" pic/text. That's when I dropped my phone...down in to a crevice...it was only ~20 feet down (maybe more, maybe less, I'm a terrible judge of distance). I could see it, but wasn't sure I could get to it. I had flip-flops on, so I knew that wouldn't work. I went back to my car, dropped off my camera, and changed shoes. I went back to the scene of crime and debated about my route, but not before slipping. A woman was standing there and was discouraging me from attempting to climb down. Her boyfriend or husband (not sure which) walked up and thought the climb was doable. I ultimately decided it wasn't a smart idea to try to climb down and get it myself because the ground felt a little unstable - definitely didn't trust it. I contemplated what I might have in my car that could work to pull it up - some rope, but nothing to attach to the end. I went to the ranger station at the entry gate, and explained my predicament: "I'm an idiot that dropped my phone...that also had my ID and credit cards in the phone case. On a solo cross-country road trip. Do you have anything I could use to try to get it?" He said he would call the other rangers and they should have something that would work. He said it was helpful I could still see it...
Maybe 15-20? minutes later two rangers showed up - you know, the kind that look like the guys in the movies that you always say don't exist in real life...yeah, those guys. I started the same way: "Are you here to help the idiot who dropped her phone?" I explained what had happened and how I thought it was ~20 feet down and I could see it, but didn't trust the ground to climb down to get it. I was really just looking for some kind of pole with a net to reach down and grab it - I'm thinking telescoping pool skimmer here people. I took them to where I dropped it, and they studied and discussed between them whether they thought they could get it. One thought it'd be easy enough to just belay down to it, grab it, and come back up. I thought that was a bit ridiculous because what if they got hurt? That would be horrible. It was kind of frustrating, though, because it was right there. By this time, too, I had gotten past my initial irrational panic reaction, and figured out a way to replace anything that was lost. They decided to go for it, but wanted some slightly different equipment so one left to go get that...he returned with another person (so now there's 3 of them). Everyone, of course, is gawking trying to figure out what's going on - is someone lost down there? No it's just a training exercise people...nothing to see here...So they're setting things up to belay the one guy down, and this crazy fear of heights is taking me over. Now anyone who knows me knows that I am not afraid of heights. For some reason, though, I was terrified. I think I was just really worried about one of them getting hurt. It was such a strange feeling, though. All went well, though. He went down, grabbed the phone, and came back up without issue. He started to hand the phone back to me, but I told him to keep it in his pocket until we got back to the parking lot so I couldn't drop it again. I offered to buy them beer for helping me, but they declined. This whole ordeal shall go down as a "training exercise"...don't worry, people, I feel like an ass. I can't believe this played out like this. And since I think I'm allergic to the midwest, I'm sniffling like crazy the whole time which probably made me seem more upset than I was - seriously, my allergies have been going crazy since about St. Louis. Don't get me wrong, I definitely was panicking at first because I thought I was royally screwed.
From there I continued through the park, and my phone stayed in the car...sorry, mom, no more text pics.
And yeah, there's a lot of pictures of the park...but not of the "rescue"
Huge fields of sunflowers are everywhere!
Huge fields of sunflowers are everywhere!
petrified tree stump
petrified wood
petrified wood
huge petrified log
Buffalo Gap National Grassland
Big Badlands
Big Badlands
Big Badlands
Yeah, my phone fell down somewhere in here towards the top (this is pre-phone droppage so you won't see it)
Big Badlands
Big Badlands
My heroes - who, surprisingly, didn't kick me out of the park after all that...
Guess I shouldn't go any further...
This little guy came running over so I could take his picture
See? Told you - he even posed. He actually did come running over towards me, posed, I took the picture, then he hopped off under the boardwalk.
Starting Point: Mitchell, SD --> Badlands National Park
Ending Point: Rapid City, SD
Miles Traveled: 308
Miles Traveled Thus Far: 6,518 via car, ~140.5 via boat, 0.62 via aerial tram
~Elizabeth/Lizzi/ET/Country
**I've been using Airbnb some during this trip to find places to stay along the way. If you haven't tried it, check it out for your next trip (even internationally). Usually cheaper than a hotel...and if you have some extra space, rent it out and make some money! (https://www.airbnb.com/)**
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