hot sunny day with lots of wildlife and a car scare in black hills

day 38:

It was an awesome sunny, 60 degrees hot day here in badlands. The animals came out and so did I. Saw lots and lots of Deers, saw some prairie dogs, big horn sheeps, horses and buffaloes. Saw a lot of fellow travelers pretty much following the same trip and path. We would go by each other every now and then depending on who stopped at which look out or trail or overlook. It almost felt like a group activity and eliminated the loneliness of driving alone. Badlands rocked and were awesome again.

I did not shy away from adventures today either. On one lookout, A middle aged man started yelling out lound to everyone saying 'Whose car is that" pointing in my cars direction. He was panicking and I panicked. A couple near by yelled: " looks like your car is going down the hill on its own". I freaked out like crazy and ran as fast as I could. Out of breath, sweating and sun burned I reached the parking lot and found my car to be still standing where I parked. I looked at the man and he is like there is smoke coming out. I checked the car and there was none. He said inside. :-)

And then came the realization...I burn insence in my car and it was the smoke from the incence...huh..what a rush...I thanked the man for his observation and carefulness...the couple asked me what happened and thought the story was funny...Another adventuroues girl in the background asked me the same. She thought it was funny as well. We started talking.
She had observed my Massachusetts plate and got curious since she was from Cambridge. We spoke a little bit about our trips as she was heading to Minnesota while I was coming from there. We said goodbye as I continued the badlands loop and made my way through towns of wall, rapid city and eventually to Mount Rushmore. Mount Rushmore was awesome in daytime as well as night.


new connections made today:

46. A fellow Bostonian from Cambridge on badlands: She was adventurous, interested in photography and heading back to bean town.
47. the helpful staff Jeanette at the mt Rushmore visitor center
48. a conservative couple coming from Washington and going to Indiana.

new good deed made:
20. Approached a couple taking pictures of each other and offered them to take their picture together and took one.

My first really big and scary adventure on this road trip

day 36:

I had a crazy day yesterday. I got lost in the middle of nowhere in badlands and it got dark and there was literally no one to be seen. All I had was darkness, no sight of civilizalion, dark rocky formations and land formations around me. As I heard night insects and animals, I ran for miles in search for help while paw marks from animals and big scary deers running next to me scared the hell out of me. I ran out of water to drink as a couple of cars going by me did not stop for help calls. Eventually some construction workers were able to help me and take me to the rangers office and then a man from there offered me a ride to find my car and then finally I was able to drive my way to the nearest motel in town. It all sounds fun writing now but it was scary for the 2 hours of helplessness. This experience will require a detailed write up later but for now here are my recent updates on the progress.

new connections so far:
37. crazy poet in Minnesota
38. dude helping me with buying my stuff in Minnesota
39. dude who thought i was planning for a black out
40. manager at days inn and his directions and advice for badlands
41. helpful lady at the badlands visitor center
42. helpful construction workers after getting lost in badlands
43. helpful man at the rangers office who drove me to my car after getting lost in the dark
44. crazy stalking dude
45. friendly lady at the front desk of super 8 motel

new good deeds so far:
17. Pen donation to the crazy poet
18. extravagant $10 Money donation to the cleaning lady at days inn.
19. Helping out the crazy stalking dude by helping him lessen his stress by a normal conversation although I totally found him creepy.