South Dakota

Living in South Dakota, most of the motorcyclists around here don't really get their bikes and trikes out until May. However, as one that likes to ride all year around, I'm in full swing by the start of April. Yesterday with the temperatures in the 50s, I decided to take a solo ride to knock the winter dust off my Can-Am Spyder. I had no destination in mind beyond finding some county roads I've never ridden on before.

My catch phrase when riding is that "Random roads take me to random places. I like it!". In this case the South Dakota roads took me to Parker, Monroe, Lake Vermillion, and Montrose. From Montrose I took Highway 38 back to more familiar well-ridden territory of Humboldt, Hartford, and of course Sioux Falls. 

With temperatures in the 50s, our dog Jasmine wanted to hit the bike path.

She's had enough of winter, the pandemic, and possibly humans.

Skunk Creek in the background is still pretty much frozen over due to the cold temperatures we have had the past several weeks.

I've heard lots of opinions these past couple months from family and friends that vaccines against COVID-19 work. I've also heard from other family members and friends, some of them anti-vaccine folks, that if/once you have survived COVID-19 you have natural immunity that protects you during future exposures to the virus. To me, the comforting news is the numbers collected here in South Dakota, both sides of this discussion are correct.

Month after month, analysis by local papers and our hospital system have consistently shown the following to be true.

This time of year, we're always on a roller coaster ride of weather with a mixture of winter and spring often rolled into one week. The past several days was no exception, with temperatures in the early week reaching highs in the 50s, 60s, and even 70s but this morning greeting us South Dakotans with temperatures in the teens.

But for the warmer days, they're perfect days to pull the motorcycle out of the garage, dust it off, and go for a ride. Every time I get on a motorcycle (or bicycle) this time of year, I'm just grateful that summer is approaching and have the opportunity to once again enjoy the open road.

Like most of the country, winter-like temperatures came early to South Dakota. But this past Saturday southerly winds brought warmer temperatures briefly back to my neck of the woods. I of course took full advantage of the opportunity to ride my 2017 Cam-Am Spyder RT within and outside the city limits. All in all, I put close to 60 miles on my three-wheeler.

A couple weeks ago I rode my Can-Am Spyder southward from Sioux Falls to Lennox, headed west to Parker then looped north back to home. On my trip, I stopped by Chancellor, SD for a photo opportunity. My Spyder hit 3000 miles while on this trip and I wanted to record the occasion.

April 27, 2019. Perhaps why people that live in South Dakota drink a little too much.

This morning, we woke up to a record low temperature in Sioux Falls, SD with the mercury dropping down to -17°F. This beat the previous record for March 3rd of -15°F established in 1916 and tied again in 2014.

We have had colder temperatures of course, but when these cold temperatures and the snow are seen in early March...it feels like Spring is never going to reach South Dakota. Normal high temperatures for this time of year is in the mid to upper 30s with lows in the teens (above zero!).

It's a record breaking day here in Sioux Falls and in many areas.

We've checked the boxes for three of these records, will we complete the sweep? pic.twitter.com/2MedTc9uKW

I was recently asked by the Argus Leader, a local newspaper in Sioux Falls, to give my two cents on the controversial South Dakota #DontJerkandDrive campaign. Since then the article has been syndicated out to USA Today and other publications. It seems that I caught the attention of a reporter when I labeled the campaign as "brilliant" on Twitter.