What do you think about when you hear South Dakota? If you’ve watched Fargo, maybe it will take you to the motel shootout scene in season two. Or maybe you’ll remember that the governor of South Dakota gained some temporary popularity in 2020 for refusing to protect her citizens from the virus. But, at least for me, I think of a state with an extensive tribal history and also Mount Rushmore.
While South Dakota has some level of popularity for all of the reasons listed above, one of the things that stood out to me while in The Mount Rushmore State (did you know it was officially The Sunshine State until 1992?) was noticing a few pop-up stores with the name “The Trump Shop.” Yes, I also assumed it was a place for Trump supporters to pick up their porn and animal sex toys, but as it turns out it is a fanatical front for consumers who don’t want to fly all the way to China to get all of their pro-Trump campaign items.
I immediately appreciated that Oklahoma was not the home to any of these shops (I think I may have seen three of them during my 40ish hours in South Dakota) but it seemed like a quick money grab idea that reminded me of the clean air pop-up stands I used to see in Las Vegas in the early 2000’s. But after spending some time in South Dakota during my trip, I realized this is exactly the part of America that is driving the craziness that makes Donald Trump popular among very limited circles.
For the most part, the tourists were respecting social distancing protocols and walked around wearing masks at my stops in South Dakota, which included Badlands National Park, Wall Drug Store, Mount Rushmore (of course!), Crazy Horse National Monument, The Mammoth Site and Deadwood. However, the more of South Dakota I took in, the more I realized that 100 percent of those wearing a red MAGA hat or wearing some sort of pro-Trump clothing also were maskless and more than eager to get close to any one of us wearing a mask.
Now, I can see why in March and April they might have been instructed to believe the CoronaVirus was a hoax or at least wasn’t as bad as we know it is now. And honestly, even in May, June and July, there was a feeling that it might get better even if the data wasn’t telling us that it was. But as we got into August, September (which was when I was on my trip) and now October, it is obvious that the Covidiots and Freedumb Fighters are exactly what is making America the laughing stock of the world.
And South Dakota was the one state that seemed to be on the extreme side of that.
I felt out of my element while in South Dakota but especially so while at Mount Rushmore and during my overnight stay in Deadwood. It just seemed like I was surrounded by COVID-19 or at least the threat of it. As it turns out, I wasn’t wrong. Upon returning home a week later, I read that South Dakota was among the leading states when it came to surges in reported cases. And my guess is this was just the number of people who were being tested in South Dakota.
As far as I know, I left the state virus-free but I could have easily been asymptomatic and passed it along to anyone around me who chose to go maskless. As we have determined through the pandemic, masks are great at slowing the spread but aren’t 100 percent at stopping it anymore than a bullet-proof vest will stop all bullets every single time. There are risks with everything and safety measures to limit exposure to the CoronaVirus is no different - there is always some level of risk.
The South Dakota portion of my trip was enjoyable despite the constant exposure to Trump fandom and a lack of respect for a virus that currently has touched 8 million Americans while killing 220,000 of them. The Badlands was a great place to camp out and I enjoyed seeing a lot of the small towns in the Black Hills that were destinations for lots of tourists and bikers (Keystone, Custer, Deadwood, Sturgis). And the Wall Drug Store was a cool place that had good donuts (but not the best).
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