The Police Saves Us

 

Buffalo, South Dakota (pop. around 350)

I had some business to take care of in Rapid City, SD and then we spent the night at Walmart Camperland.  The next day we headed north into a lot of nothingness as far as towns go.  I had a small town camp lined up and was dismayed to be greeted with this sign.  The app I use to find these places would get an update by me.  What to do?  There was no place else to go within hours of driving and I was tired.  

Back on Main Street I saw the police sign.  I have never resorted to the police before for permission to stay somewhere.  There’s always a first.  Inside the municipal building which must serve the entire county I stopped at an open doorway where several office ladies were chatting away.  “Excuse me, I’m looking for the police department.”  A tall blonde woman said “Well that would be me.”  Turned out she was the entire police force for Buffalo.  

Nice police lady Cheryl (she was unaware of the new sign) directed me over to the rodeo grounds. 

“You’ll be fine there.”

And we were with a nice quiet afternoon and night except for the flies.

Well after all, it was a rodeo arena with horses and their waste material.

I don’t know rodeo stuff.  It is a whole different culture to me.

So is it just me or is this sign a bit difficult to understand without a law degree?

A cute observation: I watch a young new mother carrying her baby daughter over her shoulder, her little cradle in the other hand and leading her horse all the same time.  They got over in the shade where the horse trailer was parked and she leaned over to set down the cradle and switch arms with the baby while her horse body-checks, bumping into her on purpose.  She ignores the horse, sets the cradle down on the ground, puts her daughter in and covers her with a cheesecloth material to keep the flies off of her.  Then she loaded her horse into the trailer.  Made me think of so many scenes I see all the time with frazzled mothers and their newborns and this woman was doing it all with a sassy horse added to the mix.