In 2020, when Colorado was a fascist tyrannical nightmare, we took many road trips seeking freedom.
That’s when we discovered South Dakota. It is only a 6 hour drive, and a seat of sanity.
Since then, we’ve visited every year. We usually visit and also run the Mickelson Half Marathon. This year, we got together with two other families, and every member ran at least one of the races.
Four of us ran the 5K race on Saturday. I paced my friend T, who is just getting back into exercise, and thankfully an easier run for me (I am recovering from a knee injury). This race was on Saturday at 1 p.m.
There were several running the Half Marathon (7), and C ran the Marathon.
We also played a murder game for the several days, visited Devil’s Tower, and our usual Christmas/Sports Store.
It was a great trip…except our poor puppy that was so confused and upset about being forced to be outdoors so often. The owner didn’t want her in the house because his own dogs spray the house if they smell another dog. She was so very stressed out, and it didn’t work out well, causing her to be aggressive in the mornings when we tried to wake her up.
We are going again this year, but added two more families. We will have our family (6), Hu family (5), He family (6), S family (2) and the W family (8). Whew! We found a very large home (that is laid out more like a summer camp cabin) with a full industrial kitchen, vinyl floors, and 7 or 8 bathrooms. This time, the dog is welcome in the house and she should do just fine. (I hope! she’s such a sensitive dog, and very loyal and protective of us).
