Diddlie Diddlie Diddlie Diddlie Diddlie Diddlie Dum

Well howdy y'all. I'm here in deepest darkest western territory, there's country on the radio and Jesus in my heart!

Ahem, sorry bit carried away there. Actually there is only country music on the radio, or christian music. Or christian country music. All tastes catered to in these parts. Apparently South Dakota is one of the most religious states in North America. Don't ask me what that actually means but it's right up there with Mississippi and Alabama in the number of people who profess to having religion. Here ~95% say they believe in God, in the UK it's ~35%, in Sweden it's ~20%. Yay Sweden. Needless to say I'll not be wearing the "Jesus Raves" t-shirt round here, just in case they try to lynch me in that good christian way that some people seem to have. 

Flight from Vancouver to Denver was uneventful except, for once, Un-organised Airlines actually got us there ahead of schedule by 15 minutes. So we had to sit on the taxiway for 35 minutes to make up for that. From Denver to Rapid City was interesting. The plane was tiny (oh! joy) and I was sitting by a loony. Every time he spoke he spat, he coughed all over me and smelt of gum disease. My ideal travelling companion then. To be fair he was pretty friendly and thank god it was only a 65 minute flight but I was off that 'plane like a rocket.

Have picked up the hire car and managed to drive the 60 mile form Rapid City to Spearfish on the right (i.e. the wrong side, the right hand) side of the road. Not gone the wrong way yet but I am trying to avoid left turns and if there are any roundabouts in South Dakota I may have to just get out and abandon the vehicle. The car came with satnav which I have never used before. It's great but you have to trust it. To start with I thought it was sending me down farm tracks to get to the Interstate but it does actually seem to know the way. Even though I did do a few u-turns just to bait it. Speaking of the car I was looking forward to come here and hire a big, underpowered, softly sprung yank-o-barge. I even specifically booked with Alamo as they had the worst line up of Pontiac Blancmange LTDs. I know it's sad but I like cars and wanted an American one to drive round in. So they gave me a Nissan. 

I've just spent the last 10 minutes changing all the gauges and trip computers to metric. That'll teach them.