James P. Peeples TRIP TO SOUTH DAKOTA              May 2004
	The Black Hills are Black, the Badlands are BAD (they bad, they bad!), and the Buffalo Burgers taste just like chicken!!!  I kid!!  I told Kelly and Rose that all I did while I was there was go to the Pirates Cove Adventure Golf, which was just down the street from my hotel, and she said "yeah, I know, you never really even left Redwood City!!!"  Then, I said "I got to know Rapid City pretty well; I figured out where the Adult Bookstore, the Strip Club and the Massage Parlor were located, and I was set for the week!!!"  Just kidding again!!! My flight on Monday was scheduled to leave at 6:00 a.m., which was the only flight I could get at the rate I wanted on Priceline.com (if you travel, book it online with Priceline or Expedia or one of those), and Kelly at first said she would come down and drive me to the airport, but when I told her I had to be at the airport at 4:00 a.m., she said "you better call a Super Shuttle!" so I did.  He got to my place at 3:00 a.m., and drove like a bat out of hell, so I got to the airport at 3:30, and nothing was open, so I had to sit and wait (I had gotten no sleep the night before, you know, the excitement of travel).  Across from me was a guy from Scotland, soundly sleeping on the chairs.  He was wearing a kilt, and I almost got to see what they wear under those things!!!  The plane to Denver was a 767, a VERY large plane, but the plane from Denver to Rapid City was a VERY small prop plane (only held 15 people, and when somebody wanted to use the bathroom, the stewardess had to get up and move!  It was a rather rough ride (almost like an amusement park ride), the plane bounced around quite a bit.  In fact, it dropped several times, leaving our stomachs behind!!!  Arrived in Rapid City in the afternoon, and spent the first afternoon visiting with Ron and Betty Mayer (Leo's brother, who just moved to Rapid City the first of May; he is a care taker in a recreational vehicle park just outside of Rapid City).  They kept telling me that I just HAD to visit the Reptile Gardens, which is on highway 16, but, of course, on the way there, I had taken the WRONG highway 16, highway 16T which is for trucks, and didn't even SEE the Reptile Gardens.  Anyway, after I left their place, I found my way to the RIGHT highway 16, and found the Reptile Gardens, which is supposedly the largest collection of reptiles in the world, only it was only open until 5:00, and it was 6:00 when I got there; however, the gift shop was open, so I bought a few gifts there, and noticed a Buffalo head magnet (made out of rubber, with South Dakota under it, and I debated with myself as to whether to get it, and talked myself out of it.  I was sure I could probably find one at any gift shop in the Black Hills area (boy, was I wrong!!!)  Anyway, Ron and Betty had wanted to have dinner with me, and were disappointed when I told them I had already eaten, so we made plans to have dinner on the next night, Tuesday in Rapid City. Well, I'm getting tired (had to do my laundry this morning, and will tell you more about the trip later.  Make it like a book:  Tomorrow's episode:  DEADWOOD!!!