Traveling to Watertown for the state track meet my freshman year, Doc Vance had us play a game to shorten the drive.
It didn’t, of course. It didn’t make the trip shorter. But it took our minds off the drive for a while. Doc liked to do things like that.
Doc was Dale Vance, a coach and athletic director at Chamberlain High. He drove. It was his station wagon. Don Giese, another coach who worked with the runners, rode shotgun. I was crammed in the back seat between two seniors, a thrower and a jumper. The jumper also vaulted. Doc lashed the vault pole to the passenger side of the wagon. We all entered and exited through the driver’s side doors. It could have been a long, boring trip.
Well, it was long, sure. But about 30 miles into the drive, somewhere on Highway 34 east of Lee’s Corner, we topped a rise in the road and saw a long, shallow valley. Doc pointed across and asked us how far it was to the top of the next hill. He marked the current mileage on his odometer, we all guessed the distance and the wagon plunged down and across the valley floor.
I can’t remember how far it was to the top of the next hill. I remember Doc saying something about many people believing South Dakota is flat country when, in fact, it is quite hilly in many places. When I traveled across the state from border to border during my news reporting years, I saw for myself how much contour there is in this land. Buttes and valleys, draws and ridges, plateaus and river bottoms. A guy could call it the Land of Infinite Variety.
I’m sure travelers intent on reaching a destination think much of South Dakota is flat. If you drive Interstate 90 from Brandon to Spearfish, you speed across a lot of country that seems to have few distinguishing characteristics. The back roads show a different South Dakota, but you must be willing to take a little more time. That’s difficult for people who have a goal of being deep into Montana before sundown.
Here’s something I didn’t know until I idled away some time on the internet. Actual research has been done on which states are the flattest. If the folks who did this research are correct, South Dakota doesn’t even crack the Top 10 flattest states. Maybe a new tourism slogan? “South Dakota. We aren’t as flat as you think.’’
Ten or so years ago, geographers from the University of Kansas came up with a way to measure “flatness.’’ Their method was the equivalent of standing in one spot in a state and rotating a complete circle to see, well, to see how far they could see. The article said the researchers were trying to find out if Kansas was the flattest state in the country. And, using their method, it isn’t.
Florida came in first because, the research said, of “its Coastal Plain setting with no mountains.’’ Illinois was second, North Dakota third, Louisiana fourth and Minnesota fifth. Kansas ranked seventh. South Dakota clocked in at 11 and Nebraska at 19.
Now, being No. 11 doesn’t mean South Dakota is all mountains and canyons. Where I grew up west of the Missouri River in Lyman County, a kid riding a John Deere tractor pulling a disc plow could see a far piece in most directions. The land rolled a bit, you might say, but it didn’t obstruct the view.
The same kid hauling a load of wheat to Reliance in an aging grain truck could sense the ups and downs of the landscape as the motor lugged down on a modest hill in the road or the truck picked up speed down the other side. Small hills, perhaps, but they made the kid wonder if he needed to downshift to make the summit.
Truth be told, I love living where I have a long view of the countryside. South Dakota is kind of flat, but not so flat an old coach couldn’t come up with a guessing game on a car ride.
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Publish date : 2024-09-07 04:10:00
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