Random Thoughts From Our Black Hills Road Trip
In which I share a lot of photos from our road trip to the Black Hills and ponder what it means to take a break.
The Black Hills in South Dakota have long been on our list of places to visit. Sure Mt. Rushmore, but also Custer State Park, and all the good trails, the lakes, the scenic vistas and it’s only a day’s drive from Park City. We’ve meant to go for years, but whenever we had time, hot temps or the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally inclined us to travel elsewhere.
This year, we thought, was our year. But the temps were still warm, and the rally, while not officially started, was basically happening. I should also preface this by saying, I did not make any art while on this trip, so if you were hoping for glory shots of a sketchbook painting in front of Mt. Rushmore, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.
Usually on our annual summer roadtrip, we visit beautiful places, go for long hikes, lounge next to rivers or lakes, and bask in the glory. I bring my sketchbook. We bring picnic lunches. Matt plays with Boone while I paint away. But this year we have two dogs, and whoever said having two dogs was easier than having one, is lying to you.1
“Get two dogs, they say. It’ll be fun!”
Sure they play with each other for like 5 minutes, but it’s not like I can ask my 5 year old dog to watch his little brother and expect that they won’t find something to random to eat or poop to roll in. They just encourage each other, one finding the goods and then egging the other on. All of sudden you’re finding a well pump in a campground to wash them both off.2
Regardless, should you be on the hunt for your next family vacation, or even family reunion, keep the Black Hills in mind. But if you like your hearing, I might suggest avoiding the beginning part of August, which is when the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally happens. This was it’s 84TH year, which boggles the mind. The rally is an institution and is not limited to just Sturgis, SD. It’s really the whole region and now after having driven around it, I can understand why South Dakota is such a draw for the motorcycles and for other people too.
It’s super scenic, it’s beautiful, and there is a lot to see. National Monuments, State Parks, Scenic Byways, lovely lakes, charming forests, lots of windy twisty roads.
Mt Rushmore It’s historic. Native lands, wars to take said native lands, lots of mining history, people who thought it was a good idea to carve giant faces into rocks, crazy and interesting roads built by men who put looping wooden trestles, and dynamited through rock tunnels because they could, not because they had to. I read a sign about the highways and they asked the guy building the road whether or not he could do it. He responded by saying he could build anything if he had enough dynamite.
Deadwood, South Dakota. So. Many. Motorcycles. We were a big fan of the show Deadwood, so it was cool to see the real town and see where American Pimp (and probably not very nice man) Al Swearengen had his Gem Theater and where Seth Bullock attempted to bring order to the town. Ps. If you’re a fan of ghosts, according to the people behind the desk at the Historic Bullock Hotel, Seth is still there making sure his hotel is run properly and gives the staff a hard time if they are slacking off.
Measure your RV before you attempt some of these highways because of the crazy tunnels they blasted through. The roads are really good. Seriously, the Black Hills area of South Dakota has some super smooth roads. I don’t know if this extends to the rest of the state, but I’m certain Big Motorcycle lobbied hard to make sure the roads are great. There are also tons of loop drives that are really interesting to drive, and like I said, the crazy trestle spirals.
The lakes. Lots of gorgeous lakes with rock spires jutting out. So many places to paddle board and jump in. We had to find water on the regular, both for us and the dogs. Turns out it was hotter than we expected it would be, so all the water was very lovely.
The wildflowers. Matt reminded me when I was upset about the heat, that we have to travel this time of year so we can see all the wildflowers. Yes. You are right my love, they are wonderful. And they were. Wild Bergamot, Tansy, Yellow Coneflower, Asters, Daisies, Goldenrod, Fireweed, Joepyeweed, Red Clover, and others that I didn’t know. What’s the bumper sticker? Will brake for Wildflowers.
But I didn’t paint at all. In fact, I didn’t even pull the kit out of my bag, not even once. I meant to. Had time to. But at the end of the day or when we were hanging out at a campsite, I sat there. I watched the dogs and threw sticks for them. I read, a lot.3 We played Wingspan on our Tablet. I learned about the local area as we drove around and read out loud to Matt. We went to bed early and then slept in. I watched clouds.
What I’m saying is: I ACTUALLY TOOK A BREAK.
But it took me a couple of days into the trip to get there. On the first day, we were eating lunch in a lovely little park en route to our first stop, I couldn’t help but feel, “I should be doing something right now”. I felt lazy, that I should have been working, should have been productive, should have been promoting, drawing, painting, writing, communicating, thinking, pondering. Something. Anything.
And I think we are all like this now. This constant nagging in our minds that if we aren’t working every minute of the day, we aren’t productive humans. I can’t speak to a cure, although I wish there were a tonic to help us care a little less about the stuff that isn’t important, and more about the stuff that is.4 But vacation does a pretty good job when you can get a real one in. Not a “working vacation” or “I just need to do a few things in the morning”, but like a real honest to god break. One where you leave it at home and let it all go.
Truthfully, I’m not good about taking breaks. As an artist, I bring my work with my everywhere. Literally, I take my sketchbook kit with me all the time, but mentally, I carry around the weight of art with me constantly. Sitting in line at a traffic light, I’m thinking about the next painting. Walking the dogs in the morning, I think about how I would paint that sky, which colors and which order would I put the paint down. In the shower, I’m pondering the meaning of it all or how to organize around a theme I heard about on the latest podcast I listened to and how it relates to the feeling of embodying the act of making the work.5 On a bike ride, I’m coming up with new ways to market the work, or thinking up ridiculous ideas like “Make 100 Cold Wax Paintings in less than 3 months!”
PS. Patrons of my cold wax project can subscribe for as low as $5 a month to see all the new work, get discounts to purchase when the works are available, AND help me choose the 12 images to use in the calendar. My next patron-only post is Monday, August 19th.
Artists are terrible at taking breaks. We love making art, obsessed with it even, but also the work is NEVER done.6 There is no, “oh phew, I finished that painting and now I can really knock off.” Nope. Because, there’s another painting after that. And another after that. Sometimes I think it’s because our soul is spilling out of us all the time, and the best you can do is try and catch it with a canvas. It’s like an open wound that never heals, and the only thing that helps is to let it out. But if you do nothing with it and let it just leak out, it gets messy real quick, or you get it all over your partner, and your dogs, or your friends, and the house. And if you don’t do something with it, the ideas rot, they fester, and they spoil. So, we do whatever we can to deal with it through art.
We all need to turn our brains off though (not just us artists), but it’s hard, because no paintings get made when I go on vacation. And even if we want to work, and have ideas or deadlines, the work suffers without giving our brains and bodies time to recover. It took days for my brain to relax, and when it finally did, then I didn’t want to come home. But actually then I did because it was too hot and climate change is ruining everything, and we couldn’t bike or hike, or go see Devil’s Tower because we couldn’t leave the dogs in the hot car.7 And then we came home and unpacked, and I immediately went back to work, because it had been 7 WHOLE DAYS SINCE I MADE ANYTHING, AND I WAS ABOUT TO EXPLODE.8
It’s complicated.
Next week, another update on my 100 cold wax paintings. Supporting this project means you get first dibs on the paintings at a discount.
$5 a month or $50 for the year.
This must also be true with children. Kid and dog math is weird. 1 dog + 1 dog = >/ 2 dogs minimum. I can guarantee that it equals at least 2.5 dogs worth of shedding. And there are no discounts on dog food or treats for more dogs. It’s now a bag of dog food every other week. People with kids, please confirm, what is the math on this?
Yes, this in fact did happen.
A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas. As well as an obscure biography about Jay Gould, robber baron of the Gilded Age. Dry, but very interesting. I have eclectic book tastes…
Oh wait, there is. It’s called weed.
That concept makes zero sense. I’m workshopping the idea.
We also hate it too. It’s complicated.
Is this what Summer is now?!! Has climate change already made it too hot anywhere to do anything?!!
I’m sorry for all the yelling.