There is nothing I love better than throwing my cameras into the car and heading out of town. I start off with only a vague sense of where I might drive... like "I think I'll drive east this time." It was a road trip like this that brought me to the Black Hills. I'd made it as far as Crawford, Nebraska and saw on the map that I was only a few miles from the South Dakota border. Since I'd never set foot or rolled a tire on South Dakota pavement before, heading north was inescapable. I set my sights on the first town over the South Dakota border and figured that was where I'd get gas and spend the night.
It was late afternoon when I pulled into Ardmore. There was no gas station, no hotel. The roof of the old post office was resting comfortably on the floor of the building. There were quite a few buildings in this condition here and there were no people moving about. I was low on gas, it was late afternoon and I had no idea if the next town up was any bigger or better supplied. I contemplated my choice - Forge ahead or turn back?
I hate backtracking! So I forged on. A couple of miles after I made my decision, I was already questioning the wisdom of my choice. The paved road turned into gravel. This did not seem a good sign but on I went. After many miles, the gravel became pavement again, I started to see a few houses dotted here and there and as I entered Hot Springs, I saw a Texaco sign. Civilization! I'm not sure if it was relief or reality, but it was at that moment I fell in love with Hot Springs.
The rest, as they say, is history. I made many pilgrimages to South Dakota after that day and eventually opened The Wild Burro Bookstore in Hot Springs, which is celebrating it's tenth anniversary on July 4th of this year. I've spent many a day hiking the trails, visiting the sites and communities in the hills and photographing the smart and stubborn wild burros in Custer State Park. All of which eventually led to one of the most fun projects I'd ever taken on in my life - writing the Moon Handbook Travel guide: Mount Rushmore & The Black Hills.
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| Photo by Jessica Simons |
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