Dakota Days - Memorable days (going home)

Day Thirty.  Tuesday 17 August 2004

"A day in which I think I worked fairly hard.  We finished digging our grid today.  The highlight was taking my dog skull to the lab to be cleaned and photograph.  It is cool, easily my best find.  After this, we more-or-less finished.

This evening we went out to Walmart - what an enormous store!  The most interesting aspect was the self-checkouts they had, so you can buy without a cashier.  Tristan did it, but did it wrong and had to get a cashier over to help him anyway.  I went to a cashier first and paid about ten times quicker than him!

Weird to think that tomorrow is our last day in Mitchell - time has gone so quickly."


Day Thirty One.  Wednesday 18 August 2004

"I suppose it would be considered a sad day today, our last day at the Archeodome.  It has been a pretty good month, the dome hasn't been bad really and people have been very welcoming there.  Today they gave each of us a grab bag to take home.  it included:

• a jam jar
• a bag of popcorn
• a fridge magnet
• postcards
• sweets
• a notebook with addresses.

Unfortunately, they spelt my name wrong, and I am now Nicolas but never mind, it was a lovely gesture.  We bought Debs some flowers and Alan gave Adrien an Exeter paperweight, plus we all signed a book for Alan.

So our last day.  Our last Holiday Inn meal.  Our last swim in the disgusting motel pool.  I'm nearly packed now and ready for travelling home, but tomorrow is going to be a long day - six hours to Minneapolis, nine hours to London, then four hours to home.  

Will I ever come back here?  I don't know.  I suppose I can see myself wandering through here in 30 years or something, probably by accident, or visiting the Corn Palace on a day excursion (does anybody visit South Dakota by accident?)  But who knows what the future will bring.  Three months ago, I didn't think I'd be in the States!"

An Afterword.  25 September 2004

"I suppose a note like this would be considered an 'afterword' if my diary was some sort of published work.  I sit on my bed, it's 2.22am, and I have just flicked through the diary for the millionth time in the last month.  Date wise, it's two months ago that we took the journey west into the Badlands and beyond.  In fact, minus the six hour time difference, it's pretty much to the minute that we were in the pool at the motel, celebrating Vicky's birthday.

This kind of thing is supposed to be a reflective thought on the America trip, but I'm not really sure what to say or where to start.  Since returning to England I have frequently wished I was back in the motel room, the Holiday Inn, the Black Hills.  Especially, and most frequently, I remember Hot Springs, a town you can really fall in love with.  Looking back, that area, so far west of Mitchell, felt like the end of the world where everything was so relaxed and peaceful.  All troubles were a lifetime away, it was something I've never really felt in a place before.

That excursion was the undoubted highlight of the trip.  The Badlands were so fantastic and the scale was extraordinary - I would certainly like to visit again.  It was the landscape under the blue sky and those beautiful clouds.  It was the heat.  It was the air - the smell and taste of it.  I know I'm privileged to have been there.  And this is not to discount the Black Hills, especially the scenery around Mount Rushmore, which will stay in my memory forever.

Of other highlights, I will never forget the sunset over Lake Mitchell, which words cannot do justice to.  I also often think of the Blue Grass music in Sioux Falls.  I remember thinking, at the time, that I would always remember that experience, and so it seems to be the case.

I can imagine going back, perhaps on my own, for a longer period of time to explore properly. But in the meantime, it's now less than a week until I move back to University, to my student life in Exeter, which I love.  But I shall never forget South Dakota and those memorable days out west."