Train o'clock

I've never lived in a town that had any regular train activity. Now I do.

There are tracks running roughly parallel to the main drag, and they cross many of the connecting streets. The best part of the conductor's (do they still call them that?) day must be rolling through Pierre and laying on the horn. When we first arrived, our hotel was right next to the tracks and that was an experience.

Train o'clock happens about 3 times a day, and so far, I've missed getting stopped at one of the many train crossings in town. Sometimes train o'clock is 5 AM, but I usually sleep through it.

Snow!

Red arrow = the road

I thought I'd post some photographic evidence of the lack of plow activity in my new hometown. This is the view from my office parking lot with the red arrow indicating the road. Beyond the road is the Missouri River and you can kind of see the bluffs on the other side. The snow was very pretty when I wasn't driving on it.

This same road was extra fun today since the high was maybe 15 degrees F. It will all melt by this weekend when we return to the balmy mid-30s!

If a snowflake falls in Pierre, does anybody care?

The short answer to that question is 'no.'

As we rolled into town, the hills were covered in snow and we could see it drifting. Not long after that we had a bit of a heat wave and everything melted. Not long after that it snowed again. So much like every other location that experiences the four seasons, people would say something along the lines of "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes."

Back to the snow. It was covering the roads. I was expecting snow plows, maybe some salt, really anything that would make them a bit more passable for my non-4 wheel drive vehicle. None of that happened.

It turns out that due to a combination of money, frequent wind, and cold temperatures, they don't do much by way of road treatment out here. Luckily, everyone seems to know how to drive in the snow, so my short commute is only slightly terrifying. I did find it funny that when they plowed some of the wider streets there was a decent wall of snow left in place of the double yellow lines. Good luck making left hand turns!

Welcome!

View from a rest stop overlooking Chamberlain and the Missouri River

I live in the Great Plains now. Or the Midwest. I'm fairly certain that nobody wants to claim the Dakotas too forcefully for their own, but someone has to.

Anyway, my husband and I moved over 1300 miles from Central PA to Central SD, because I got a job and I'm really good at living in the center of a state.

Moving is hard. Packing up everything you own and transporting it over any sort of distance is no easy task. Then comes the unpacking, also known as sorting through everything you previously packed up and wondering why it was worthy of the journey, especially the phone books.

In short, welcome to my blog chronicling our adventures in South Dakota!