Imagine this beautiful new pickup truck with all the bells and whistles and a big back seat with leg room to spare, cold water bottles in the cooler in back, AC and a knowledgeable guide to take you all over farm country for a few hours outside your hometown in central South Dakota. I was invited to do that drive with four others who were related to one another, plus the driver, Mike McKernan. He’s the guy, THE GUY.
We left early before it got hot. We met at Mike’s house in Murdo about 9:00 am. We loaded up the cooler and were told where we were going north of town, and that it would be a few hours on dirt and gravel roads outside town. The tour was leaving, so buckle up. Unfortunately two of us in the backseat had to buckle up together so we had the married couple do that. They got to jostling around to get comfy buckled together and then were giggling. It was like a couple teenagers in the backseat of a 1958 Chevy back in the day. Ralph and I were good friends in the backseat behaving nicely. Paul was riding shotgun.
Mike told us stories of an old town in Jones County called Van Metre which no longer exists and also Capa. Ralph Thomas and his family used to visit a family that lived there a long time ago. Mike drove us by fields planted in oats, millet, corn and other crops some of which were being harvested and some just not ready. These fields were lovely shades of gold, and tawny and also deep green corn with the crops growing on into the horizon, unable to see where they ended. We all craned our necks looking out the pickup truck windows, getting pictures on our phones. Paul Thomas added his knowledge of farming and what he knew of the area. Mike said South Dakota farmers used to grow the same things over and over but then branched out into a variety of crops: soybeans, sunflowers and others.
Every now and then Mike would point to this special buffalo fence which was taller and stronger than regular fencing. Buffalo could break through regular fencing easily. He said about 100,000 acres out there was owned by Ted Turners Corporation and it was fenced with the stronger fence.
Mike was clearly in charge, like the high school teacher he had been. He was not overly talkative nor taking over the entire conversation. He was just being a gracious intelligent story teller and narrator offering us an objective view of what farm country holds, what it offers, what impact it plays in our community and country.
We were hooked, all of us experiencing a grand, free feeling, free wheeling high and a “peaceful easy feeling” when whoops…Mike said we were stopping for a break. He pulled his beautiful Maserati…heh heh…Ford truck up to a driveway skirting a rangy looking old cemetery on a small hill with a cute little white church across from it with an outhouse to boot. Some of us checked out the Lutheran Church but it was locked up tightly.
We jumped out and I went in through the cemetery gate to our left, spotting a bird flying past us with a broken wing. Except it wasn’t a bird with a broken wing because someone in our group spotted the two darling baby birds on the ground in the cemetery with half eaten cactus all around the babies. That one flying past had been the mama bird trying to distract us.
Susan – another Thomas relative – said that deer probably nibbled on the small cactus since each one was clipped short. We all checked out the two gray baby birds and they just looked frozen, not moving an inch and facing uphill seeming as dead as the residents of this old cemetery. But they were alive.
We studied each gravestone noting that some were people born pre- Civil War days: 1850, 1860 and some after the Civil War 1872, 1875. The names were given and some couples were titled Father or Mother. A few had the same birth and death years, babes that hadn’t made it on earth for long.
We were back on the road after hydrating and back on the road along with Mike telling stories about hunting around the area. He said that there are a lot of Road Hunters who park off the road on the shoulder during hunting season and must close and lock their vehicle door, shooting game between road and private property. We discussed how many pheasant it takes after it’s dressed and cooked to feed a person. That wasn’t resolved but the pheasant meat sounded delicious. I remember it when I was 12 or 13 and also eating grouse. It was gamey but good.
We saw a few pheasants and a deer or two, one doe with two fawns. The black angus herds looked hearty.
The next stop was surprising. Mike drove off the road and entered a wooden entrance through a ranch gate. We were surprised when Mike drove us to a big red barn that ended up being a hunting lodge. We didn’t see anyone so we went in by a side door and walked down a long hall opening onto lovely bedrooms neatly made ready for lodgers, nothing fancy just clean, simple beds and each room had a window and an air conditioner. We walked through another part with a big dining hall, heavy duty kitchen at the rear and then to a bar well stocked with booze, big stools and fancy chandelier overhead. We used the restroom and walked up stairs to a balcony and display of stuffed grouse.
Mike had found the manager and a hired hand outside and we all stood in a circle listening to him talk and joke around with Mike who seemed like an old friend to the lodge manager. He explained that they had six hunting dogs and were expecting some 12 Veterans that weekend to stay a few days and hunt Prairie Dogs. They told us about hunters, their chef and who had to clean the place. It was something we all weren’t expecting way out on the prairie plains. It was a bonus surprise to see the beautiful lodge and Mike seemed to know this location well. He talked like old friends to the man who ran it.
Imagine being out for an adventurous road trip with an incredibly comfy ride and with a well educated driver who can tell you about hunting the land, crops that grow well there, the people who live and had lived out on this road and your driver made it interesting. He took you to historic places and made it fun. I felt like I was on South Dakota safari.
We saw feed lots on our way back which were spacious, and canyons carved out of the earth giving the flat plains topography a contrasting view.
It was an experience I hold dear and proudly admit it was a pleasure riding with Mike, the driver. Like my Grandpa Sanderson used to say as he drove us little kids around South Dakota, “This country’s looking good.”
Those 70ish Girls 