June 22, 2016 Going to Church in South Dakota

Start/Lemmon, SD

End/Belle Fourche, SD

183 miles

Lunch in Ludlow at the Crooked Creek Cafe

Chris took his mini tour group into Rapid City to have the windshield repaired.  My group dilly-dallied in northwestern SD on this down day before rolling into Belle Fourche for the night.  There was a moderate risk of severe weather, with a very decent chance of strong tornadoes, in northern Illinois.  That was too far away for this group, given our starting point at Lemmon along the western SD/ND border.  Strong storms did develop in IL by early evening, but tornado-wise the event was a bust for most chasers.  The one or two longer-lived tornadoes which developed before dark were difficult to catch and were involved with rain.

Detailed maps of South Dakota show numerous churches in the middle of nowhere, notably along the lonely roads from Lodgepole to Ludlow in Perkins and Harding counties.  We had a leisurely drive along this route and stopped at about a half dozen churches.  Some were still in use and some were in serious disrepair.  Among those visited were (east to west) Duck Creek Church, Bethany Church, Golden Valley Church, St. Isadore Church, and Immanuel Church.