Huh. That's Interesting (or: Driving in SD)

I never thought I'd say this, but I miss driving in Spokane. Except for Division. I don't miss that. It'll be a while before I miss Division. It's odd, but the streets in Washington and Idaho do have a similar constant: they run in squares. Generally speaking, that is. Unfortunately for this PNW native, the streets in SD tend to zigzag. Needless to say, this is requiring a bit of getting used to. Someone told me that in Lead, there are two directions. These are not north, south, east or west. No, they are up and down. It's like living near Manito in Spokane, only with really narrow roads. These roads are also oddly arranged (some are one-ways for about a block, then two way, then one way again...)And, to make it better, you park along the road, so that you have to crawl along to watch for kids and also make sure you're driving the right way (it's a dangerous business going out your door).

Personally, I love to drive, especially when I'm stressed (driving, when stressed about money, is kind of silly and is used sparingly) But, for driving to be enjoyable, I need to not be worrying about things (like accidentally driving the wrong way on a one-way, because last block it was a two-way, or that the motorcyclists here for the Rally in Sturgis last week drive however they want to). To clarify that last one, this past weekend was the big Bike Rally in Sturgis, a town about 30 minutes away. There were almost half a million bikers here, which meant that the traffic was crazy. There were people everywhere. I did hate that. I was driving back from Walmart and there was a guy sitting on the side of the road, with his legs in my lane, taking pictures of the bikers. This made me nervous, and I did not appreciate it.

Also during the Rally, things at work were very slow. The traffic was so bad that no one wanted to get off of the road to tour a Victorian Mansion, and most people were in a time crunch anyway...Saturday we only had 11 people come through. It was kind of sad (I dusted the staircase in the house and the entire gift shop). Hey friends, someone remind me to whine about the weather in another post. Or not :)

But today, the Rally is over, Not only did I look into some job opportunities (long story. By which I mean my job only goes until October. More on that later), I also got lost and had a chance to explore the Black Hills. Yay? At least they're pretty.

(This post brought to you by a lone LOTR quote. Can you find it? :) )