First Havasu SXS Club Ride of the Season (Saturday, October 7th, 2017)

A few weeks ago we went to the first meeting of the season for the Havasu Side by Side (SXS) club.  It is the largest Side by Side Club in the US, and the world for that matter, with about 700 current members.  

Today was their first scheduled ride o the season.  We all met up on Bison (it is a place on the east side of town where one of the city streets, Bison, runs into the desert BLM land.  We met out in the desert at 9:00 am for an orientation and a brief overview of what every side by side driver should carry with them on a ride.  It was a great turnout!  

Once everyone was there, they called us over to the demonstration table, where they talked to us about all the useful things to carry with you on a ride.  It was really informative, and showed us a few things that we might want to think about carrying that we aren't currently.  

Probably the best suggestion that we had not thought of is to carry a blanket.  It can create shade, it can keep you warm if you're stuck out over night, and you can use it to lay on while you're working on your SXS.  Great idea for the desert!

Part of the demonstration was on how to plug a tire.  Steve has plugged a tire before, but just wanted to see the technique they used to see if her could pick up any new tips.

It was a great talk and a great demonstration!  We are really impressed with the club so far!

Once we were well informed, we broke up into groups for our ride.  They typically have four groups available to ride in, and each driver signs up for the group they want.  Red is the most aggressive group, with the fastest speeds, next is Blue, then Green, and last but not least is Yellow, which are the Sunday drivers.  We chose the Blue group, which just happened to be a really big group today, so they split us into two groups, Blue 1 and Blue 2.  Each group has their own radio station, so anyone in that group can listen in to the group guide in the lead, and the tail gunner who brings up the rear.  Our group had 6 cars in it

Gary and Bob were the leaders of the two blue groups, so they had a quick discussion before we headed out.

Sharon and Sam ended up in the other blue group.

And off we went.

We stopped periodically for breaks, but mostly, we drove.  A couple of times we caught up to the other blue group.

   

Our furthest point north was the airport.  Then we looped around and started heading back toward Bison.

When we got back to Bison, we had a chance to talk to other people about the ride, and find out about some of the other groups.  The blue group was perfect for us.  Then they had pizza waiting for us for lunch.  

It was a great ride, and all around a great day.  As always, the desert was dusty, but you just have to expect that.  We met a lot of new people and had a great time.  We loved it!

Bison, South Dakota (Saturday, September 17th, 2016)

Steve and I once again rose early and took advantage of the gym before heading down to breakfast.  After joining everyone for breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and headed to the towns of Groten and Bowdle to visit some more family cemeteries.  

When we got to the Groten cemetery, we had no idea where to look for the family graves, but luckily they had a directory at the entrance to help us out.

As we entered the cemetery, there was a beautiful veteran's memorial.

It was a beautiful cemetery, but even with the help of the directory, we did a lot of searching to find the graves.

There were also a lot of Civil War Veterans buried here.

The Bowdle cemetery was different, in that it had a lot of German graves with ornate metal headstones.  A contrast to the stone markers we are used to seeing.

As we continued down the road, one of the things that baffled us earlier in the trip, finally started making sense.  It appears that when they cut the grass on the side of the highways, they bale it.  Now that we realize how much a cow eats during the winter, it makes sense that they would bale everything possible.  Very cool!

Today we are heading west, from Aberdeen, South Dakota to Bison, South Dakota, (approximately 200 miles) where we will visit one more piece of farmland that was homesteaded by Steve's family.  Steve's mom spent a lot of time before this trip, contacting people, planning the trip and making this all possible for us, so we are very grateful to her for her work.

As we made our way west, we stopped in the town of Mobridge, by the Missouri River for lunch at a place called the Great Plains Restaurant.  





It was run by a German family, and their soup special of the day was Knoephla (pronounced nefla).  It was a chicken based potato and dumpling soup.  We all had to try it, and Steve and I had just a bowl of that for lunch.  It was really tasty!



And Steve's mom just had a cup of the soup, and a nice piece of coconut cream pie for lunch!  I like her style!



Steve gave the restaurant a two thumbs up, so it must have been pretty good!

After lunch, we drove across the Missouri River, and up toward the Sitting Bull and Sakakawea monuments.

Sorry!  This is the best I could do from the third row back in the minivan!

The countryside around the monuments was very pretty and starting to show signs of fall.

As we drove by more ranches, we kept admiring their huge collections of hay.  I think you can tell how many cows a ranch has by the size of their hay collection.  Each of these bales are approximately 5 feet tall by 5 feet wide!  

By mid evening, we arrived at the final piece of homesteaded land near the town of Bison, South Dakota (population 373!).



The farmer that farms this piece was not available to take us out to the land, but her daughter met us and lead us out.  Again, it is un-irrigated farm land, but the land in Bison is much drier than that in Aberdeen.  This particular farmer is growing flax on the land instead of corn and soybeans, although there is corn growing all around, so it's definitely possible.

A close up look at flax

I guess you could say that we were all quite befuddled since we had no idea what a flax crop should look like.  So we spent some time in the field just taking it all in.

As we were standing in the flax field a whirl wind came up and launched a bunch of tumble weeds into the air.  It was a sigh to see!

It's an interesting crop, but I have no idea how you would harvest it. I'm glad the farmers know what they are doing.

Steve and his brother walking down the section line

When we finished looking at the land in Bison, we headed to our hotel for the night.  The closest hotel is in a town called Lemmon, 40 miles north of Bison.  It is a very small town, but has a very nice hotel called the Dakota Lodge.  It appears that this time of year it is heavily used by hunters.  Steve's mom told us that they even have a room on the first floor for the hunters to keep their dogs for the night.  

I think we were the only minivan in the parking lot, but in this neck of the woods, that's probably not too surprising! 

There were a few rooms on the first floor, but most of them were on the second floor.  The rooms were very nice, clean and had great beds!

While we were on the road today, I just couldn't resist the pickled eggs that we keep seeing in every convenience store (from day one!), so Steve bought me a jar to share with everyone during cocktail hour tonight. No matter where we are, we always like to try something local that we can't get at home.  So we added it to the other snacks for the night.

So we once again enjoyed a night of cocktails and snacks in Steve's parents room before dinner.  But tonight, we had the joy of pickled eggs to go with it!  They're a little more rubbery than a plain hard boiled egg, and definitely have a nice pickled flavor.  They aren't bad at all!  So we each had a whole one. Cheers!

A few eggs left.  Maybe these can be car food!

While we were waiting for everyone to get ready for dinner, I took a few minutes to walk around the hotel.  There was a nice seating area with vending machines at the top of the stairs, 

and a very comfortable area downstairs in the lobby.

We all met in the lobby to figure out where we should go for dinner. After a little research, we realized that there are four restaurants in town, and several were already closed.  So we chose one that was nearby and still open so we could walk to it.  We felt like a little exercise would do us good after being in the car all day.

Although it was about 70 degrees out, we all took jackets with us, thinking that it might be chilly when we came back from dinner. Steve decided to put on his jacket instead of carrying it, and when he put his hand in his pocket, he realized that he was loaded with winter gear.  So he decided to just put it all on.  

It didn't last long.  Within minutes he was peeling it all back off as quick as he could.  I think 70 degrees is a bit too warm for his winter gear.

The Powder Horn Restaurant where we had dinner

Waiting for pizza and fish and chips

When we left the restaurant, we saw a huge new tractor for sale across the street and decided to take a closer look.  It looked to me like a hybrid tank-tractor!

I was a bit afraid to stand too close for fear it might eat me!

Then back to the hotel for a relaxing dip in the hot tub before heading to bed.

It was another great day exploring some of the less touristy parts of South Dakota, and learning more about the land that Steve's family settled so many years ago!