HHH and I are going on safari. Not Africa. Not Kenya. Not even someplace requiring a passport. We’re flying to South Dakota.
Next week, thousands of people will converge on Custer State Park to watch one of the great spectacles of the American West—the annual Buffalo Roundup. And we’re going to be there.
This has been on my bucket list ever since I first heard about it. There is something almost unimaginable about hundreds of buffalo thundering across the prairie while cowboys and cowgirls on horseback bring them together. Dust flying. Hooves pounding. Riders calling. The Black Hills rising in the distance. I’ve seen pictures. I’ve watched videos. But there are some things you simply need to experience for yourself. This is one of mine.
It’s been sitting on the bucket list, waiting patiently for its turn. Next week, I get to check it off.
South Dakota is a long way from Winterpast, and we have a lot we want to see once we get there. Rather than spend days driving there and days driving back, we’re hopping on a plane. We’re maximizing adventure time.
Of course, HHH and I aren’t going all the way to South Dakota for only one adventure. There will be time for Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Deadwood, and the Badlands. We’ll explore the Black Hills, wander into places that look interesting, and undoubtedly find a few things we didn’t know we needed to see until we got there. Those are often the best parts of a trip anyway.
But just seeing the buffalo isn’t the only reason we’re going. I want to hear them. That’s the part a photograph can’t give me. I want to hear thousands of hooves hitting the earth. I want to see the dust rise from the prairie. I want to watch the riders work together to move an enormous herd across open country. I want to stand there and think, I’m really seeing this.
There are things we put on our bucket lists and carry around for years. Someday I’ll go there. Someday I’ll see that. Someday I’ll do it. But one of the things I’ve learned over the last several years is that someday isn’t promised to any of us.
So we’re going. We’re getting on the airplane. We’re flying to South Dakota. We’re going to see Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse. We’re going to poke around Deadwood and Wall. We’re going to fill our days with as much South Dakota as we possibly can.
And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I’ll stand on the prairie with HHH beside me and watch one of my bucket-list dreams come thundering toward us.
HHH and I are going on safari. South Dakota, here we come.
And buffalo? You might want to start running.
Have a great weekend. If you get bored, start your own bucket list. You can always start by learning about your dream destinations on YouTube. There is an entire world waiting outside your door. Go see it. Have a great weekend!