Welcome to the launch of The South Dakota Standard! Tom Lawrence and I will bring you thoughts and ideas concerning issues pertinent to the health and well-being of our political culture. Feel free to let us know what you are thinking.

Our truck came with a custom-fitted tent, though that’s not why we bought it. You can get tents cheaper. But a tent that fits into the back of a truck does seem like a swell idea—until you think about it very long.

The drawback is that in order to set up the tent, you must first remove the cover off the truck bed, take everything out, and put it somewhere else. Naturally, you put it in the front your truck because it wouldn’t be right to put it in the front of someone else’s truck. But you have now rendered your own vehicle useless. That’s okay, because driving with a tent on the back of your truck might not be the best thing for your gas mileage anyway—or for your tent.

To complete the ensemble, my husband and I bought an air mattress so puffy that it goes practically to the top of the tent. As lovely as that sounds, getting out of smoky, tick-infested clothing and into jammies while sitting on a fluffy air mattress that goes practically to the top of your tent, does nothing to help you relax before bed. Those watching from outside the tent might even think there’s a fight going on in there. There’s a lot of grumbling and swearing and an occasional punch to the side of the tent as someone loses their balance and tumbles off the mattress into the valley between it and the tent. I’m not saying who. 

Next time, I’m putting my PJs on in the morning when the mattress is flat and I’ll wear them all day. That will be easier. And the mattress is always flat by morning. We wakeup on a hard truck bed and all that remains of the mattress that once was are a few air bubbles around the edges. In the dim light it looks like a couple of very small campers crawled in during the night. 

I’m going off on a tangent here, but I defy you to show me the air mattress that doesn’t leak. I want proof. I want before and after photos and measurements certified by someone who is certifiable that your air mattress is the same size in the morning as it was the night before. And if it really is, could I have it?

Despite these drawbacks, we were lured back to a favorite campground in northwest South Dakota’s Harding County (which features natural wonders like Cave Hills, pictured above in an image from South Dakota Public Broadcasting). Among its many charms is the fact that it is a well-kept secret. And it was particularly well-kept on the weekend we went camping. Or maybe everyone else had read the weather report.

The first day of our campout was one of those “Don’t-put-down-your-paper-plate- unless-you-want-someone-in-the-next-county-to-have-your-hamburger-and-baked-beans” kind of days. But I’m proud to say, our custom-made tent stood firm in the wind, even if our paper plates did not.

At last the wind quit blowing. That was lucky because then it started raining and I prefer it rain straight down rather than sideways, especially if it’s going to rain all dang day.

During a break in the rain, our fellow campers came to see us in our custom-fitted tent, high off the wet ground in the back of the truck to report that the lake was now lapping at their tent. This was cause for concern for many reasons, the main one being there had been no lake when we arrived at the campground.

I looked at them from inside my cozy tent. And while I sympathized, I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful rainbow in the distance. I also realized that while my air mattress might have leaked, my fabulous custom-fitted tent had not.

Dorothy Rosby of Rapid City is a syndicated humor columnist and the author of several humor books including Alexa’s a Spy and Other Things to be Ticked Off  About:  Humorous Essays on the Hassles of our Time.  Contact her at drosby@rushmore.com

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