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I recently found myself in something of an old stomping ground when I had to spend some time in Sioux Falls.

It’s been years since I’ve been in the community and there was some real concern as to how difficult it was going to be to get where I needed to get to. Oddly enough, looking at a map didn’t do me much good either, which heightened that anxiety just a touch.

During the years that I spent living in Brookings and Huron, Sioux Falls represented the big city most of the time, a continuation of how it felt when I was in high school took a Saturday jaunt to South Dakota’s biggest metropolis.

Coming from such a small town as I did, the girth of Sioux Falls always felt grander than it really was. Is it a big community? Yes and it’s growing daily, much the same way as Rochester is.

But even just getting there proved something of a jarring experience.

Since leaving South Dakota, I haven’t given it much thought aside from the occasional remembrances of Huron or my time in college in Brookings.

So it was a bit of a surprise that when I crossed the border, and after I had just complained about somebody going too slow, I discovered that I was now the one person going too slow. I had absolutely no idea that South Dakota had ramped things up to 80 mph on the interstate.

I should add, thought, I’ve had training for just this experience. Driving I-5 in Florida prepared me for driving at breakneck speeds on the interstate just to stay alive.

So with the confidence of a lunatic driving in Florida, I amped up my vehicle to 80 and charged headlong into the surprisingly familiar flatness of South Dakota. Not a whole lot had changed really and I found myself quickly starting to familiarize myself with the overabundance of dullness that the state truly has to offer in terms of scenery.

Not that southern Minnesota is a joy to drive across, but there was a hope that after not having crossed the border in a while that I might be happy with even a little bit of a change of scenery.

Nope. It was just as drab as I remember.

Still, there was also a note of fondness as I passed familiar signs denoting directions to Brandon and Corson, along with other destinations that triggered memories for me.

I reached Interstate 229, where I needed to turn off, and so pointed the bow into the wind and exited south toward the port of Sioux Falls.

Here is where I started to get intrigued because there was a new-found curiosity I hadn’t really thought of before.

I’ve known that Sioux Falls has been growing at an astounding rate the last three decades or so, so I was interested to see what might be waiting for me. What kind of news was there? Was there any old that was still there and on that note was there any old I remember that was gone.

Round-about where I was getting off there used to be a Perkins restaurant that is no longer there so that was my first real indication of change, but as I drove further south I started to note that really, very little else did.

At least in the neck of the woods I was heading. Just east of the downtown area, though a bit tricky to refamiliarize myself with initially, proved to be very similar to what I remembered back in the day.

As I drove through this bustling area I recognized several areas that remained fairly standard to when I had visited in what we will affectionately call — the olden days.

I contemplated saying ye olden days, but it hasn’t been that long.

Later, on the hunt for food in more of the business district, I recognized even more from “the olden days” and found myself becoming more and more comfortable with where I was, if not a little bit disappointed.

Apparently, Sioux Falls has been growing to the west and south, but still I had hoped it wasn’t so familiar as to remind me of the usual haunts me and friends made when visiting.

Even the Empire Mall looked irritatingly familiar.

I’m not sure why this bugged me so much. It’s not like I was going to stay long term, but I had hoped there might be some interesting places to visit during my short stop over.

Such wasn’t the case. Still, I will give South Dakota credit for its views on getting places quicker, though again it’s bothersome that they are ahead of Minnesota on something.

Come on Minnesota! Let’s fire up those speed limits a little bit. We can’t be behind South Dakota for cryin’ out loud.

Let’s enter — the danger zone.