Travel!! With Covid sending us home from work for over two years (!!!), work-related travel also came to a complete stop. A short trip across the state to the Black Hills last week for a conference speaking engagement was my first work trip since February, 2020. Given I hadn’t spent any birding time in the Black Hills for quite some time, I took an extra day and a half on my own and had a great time in Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, Spearfish Canyon, and other great spots in the Hills.

However, not all was well in the Hills! Ever since the 2016 election, the Black Hills really has become a magnet for the far right. Hill City, Keystone, Sturgis and other little towns in the area are…bad…to the point that I treat them as drive through areas to get to the hikes, fishing, and birding that I want to do. Each has entire STORES devoted to far-right wing paraphernalia (think Donald Trump dressed as Rambo, shooting Nancy Pelosi…THAT kind of paraphernalia).

I have had the magnet below on the tailgate of my Tacoma for a couple of years. Well, I should say I’ve had a COPY of this magnet during that time, because this is my 3rd copy after the first 2 were taken off by the lovely citizens of South Dakota. While photographing American Dippers at Roughlock Falls this weekend, there were many ATVs moving around the area…many flying Trump flags, or Don’t Tread On Me flags. I assume it was one of them that added the “Don’t” in permanent sharpie on the back of my tailgate.

Not an uncommon incident in South Dakota, where “midwestern nice” is far too often complete bullshit. Since 2016, it’s almost become acceptable to trash Democratic or liberal political signs, vandalize vehicles like this, or verbally accost people wearing (gasp!) messages of tolerance and equality. What the hell is it about American tribalism…for SO many people to lead their lives based on an “us vs. them” mentality, where the only thing that seems to give people satisfaction is tearing down others?

Add it to the list…having my political yard signs stomped on, having them plucked up and thrown in the trash, dealing with people flipping me off and yelling because of the magnet above (really!??!?!)…just another day in South Dakota, where evidently a message of equality and kindness is offensive to folks. I’ll let you come to your own conclusions what that means about people in the state.