The following details my trip to and from Bonesteel, South Dakota, a voyage I undertook with the simple mission of finding out why on earth there's a town called Bonesteel in the middle of the Midwest. I called the Chamber of Commerce in the nearby city of Gregory, SD where I was invited to take photos of their Fall Fest, meet the locals, and explore their history during my 3-day stay. Having never traveled to the Midwest before, I figured it was worth writing my impressions.

Blurry because captured while driving Day 2 Evening: setting the tone by putting on Gunsmoke on the motel TV. The hot water (all across South Dakota so far) is unrepentantly hot. The shower did me well: I'll try to recall today's events. Anxious dreams about missing flights, losing luggage, forgetting my wallet. Disappointing, expensive omelette from the sports bar in the morning, but had to eat something prior to shoving off West towards Gregory. Rough start to the day. Che

Day 3 Starting early (ish). Apparently you can eat granola with a fork, which is the only utensil the girls at the local restaurant/store gave me along with my meat/potatoes/eggs/cheese breakfast bowl. That lineup of ingredients seems so common here, must be "rancher" food. Gratefully, the store attached to the restaurant offered gluten free granola, fruit, non-dairy milk, etc. I'm definitely the outlier in this region in terms of dietary restrictions, although I wonder if so

Dayspring Coffee Co in downtown Gregory Day 4, final day and departure Started day at 6:15am for my first shoot at 8:00, more leisurely morning because the elementary/middle/high school complex is fewer than 3 minutes away. I played a song in the car and reached my destination before the first chorus, to give an impression of how near everything is. Given I had an extra few minutes, stopped at Dayspring coffee (an old bank converted into a coffee/flower shop), asked for the

Resolution of sorts, typed at a small in-airport cafe with a cold gluten-free muffin. Just completed the 2 hour flight from Sioux Falls to Dallas. Ordinarily no problem, everyone's sleepy since the flight is 6am. All board the plane, and there's a free row in the back, directly behind me. A man flags down a flight attendant, I figure he's going to ask if he can sit there. He does.. and he invites this older lady from a few rows down to join, and she's ecstatic. RANT AHEAD: