Westward Ho!

Or should that be .... Westward, 'ho?

You see, I'm a gal with a dream. I don't want to find a cure for cancer. I could care less about amassing a fortune. Eternal youth and ravishing beauty aren't really high on my list of priorities. My dream? To go to South Dakota. Specifically, I want to go to De Smet, South Dakota.

I'll pause here while you snicker and chortle. Go ahead, it's okay. I'm quickly getting used to that reaction. My boyfriend reacted splendidly: "Well, Jen, most normal people save and plan to go to places like Cancun. South Dakota? My ass." Still, I'm undeterred.

I decided that today's as good a day as any to start a little record of my adventure. I opened a savings account this morning to finance my trip so I'm already $100. into this. I spent the last few days contacting various Departments of Tourism and requesting information. I've used hypothetical dates on various travel sites to come up with flight and car rental rates (Dance, Hotwire! Dance!).

You see, I was hooked on the Little House books as a child. I recently bought the entire series as an adult and reread them. Man, those things are like crack! I mean, you think to yourself: Okay. I'll just sample a little Farmer Boy for fun, just to see what it's like. The next thing you know, you're pale and shaking as you crawl into Borders to pick up a copy of By the Banks of Plum Creek. You know you've hit bottom when you forgo the light bill so that you can get your crazy paws on These Happy Golden Years.

Okay. I exaggerate. But only a little.

At any rate, I reread the series in its entirety and thought to myself, "Self, wouldn't it be really cool to check out some of these places that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about?" Just for fun, I googled around a bit, and I found out that I can, indeed, visit the Ingalls homestead. In fact, I can camp on it! Suddenly, it occurred to me that I really could go there. I mean, there's no reason why I couldn't - I'm a single, childless, 35-year-old woman (spinster), and my responsibilities are few. Sure, I'll need to pack up my (obligatory, since I'm a spinster) cats and ship 'em to a kennel, but aside from that ....

So I've begun to save. Tomorrow, I'm cashing in my change jars and adding that to my total. I'm planning on going in July, 2007, and I'm planning on going alone. In fact, I somehow think it's important that I do go alone - (upcoming navel-gazing in 3 ..2 ..1 ..) I keep meaning to do things in my life that are important to me, and I keep letting things get in my way. Things like disapproving boyfriends, procrastination, and self-doubt rear their ugly heads, and as a result, I let myself miss out on so much. I just want to sort of even up the ledger, you know? Bravely do something simply because I want to and because I'm able to do it myself. (/navel-gazing)

At any rate, here's a little haiku summary *snerk*:

Crazy as it seems,
I dream of South Dakota
I'll go there next year

Bright lights of Scranton
So long! This spinster's going
To see some prairie

Days until trip: between 321 - 351 (methinks)
Cash saved: $100.00