Day 18: Broadus, MT to Rapid City, SD, and Day 19: Rest Day

…by way of Wyoming! Justin (an actual human angel) and I were in the host van for this day, which was quite the adventure.

I suppose that now I should explain what the host van is and does. When you’re in host van, you don’t run. It’s a 2 person cargo van. In the morning, the host van people pack up everyone’s sh*t (duffels, backpacks, all the food that isn’t going in the vans), goes out and tries to score food donations, drives to that night’s host site, and unloads everyone’s sh*t at the host. Sometimes, the host van will also deliver lunch.

Justin is a homie and extraordinarily trustworhy, but since he’s not 21, I drove all day to Rapid City. I didn’t mind at all, the scenery on the drive was gorgeous. We basically drove southeast out of Montana, through the northeast corner of Wyoming, and then into South Dakota. After two unsuccessful asks (being told a store was permanently closed, and then getting a FIRM no), we found all of our donation needs in the city of Belle Fourche, SD, where they were on the brink of having their 100th iteration of the Belle Fourche roundup, a historical rodeo. This was an absolute cowboy town, it was really quaint. Let me just say, the highs and lows of host van are SO real. Getting told “No” outright is the lowest of lows, from there, the path to despair is but a brief promenade. However, getting a string of “Yes” responses is such a rush; all you can do is ride it out until, like Icarus, you inevitably become too confident and fly too close to the sun. The higher you get, the longer the fall back down to earth.

We had a rest day the following day, July 4th, in Rapid City. Just gonna talk about that here because it was incredibly uneventful (for me). The team went to Mt. Rushmore for the day, but I stayed back. As people know, I’m applying for medical schools throughout this trip which has made things… interesting, on the one hand, and stressful on the other hand. Secondary apps have started to roll in and pile up. I’d heard that Rushmore was underwhelming, so I felt that my time was better spent working on secondaries throughout the day so that I’d be able to enjoy my afternoon and evening, since it was also Rizwan’s birthday.

I think I made the right call, because I got drafts of 3 secondaries done (lol only 26 more!) and was able to take Riz out to a wine bar downtown and have some fun that night. Overall Rapid City was a weird place, 7.3/10, would return for 2 nights but not any longer than that.