“THE STARS ALIGN & WE GET-ER-DONE”

ADOPT-A-HIGHWAY

2019 proved to be a challenging year for the South Dakota Adopt-A-Highway program. It is only now, as I sit here composing this report, that I realize what circumstances have conspired to confound efforts to keep our ditches free of litter. First and foremost is a design issue. By creating depressions in the landscape that run parallel to the roadway, Man has intentionally created areas that attract and collect excess rainfall and debris. This year Nature provided rainfall on a regular basis totaling twice our normal amounts.

The irony of the situation is that this design worked so well that the debris was sequestered under a layer of water for all of Spring. Now hopes to cleanse our adopted highway would rest with a successful Fall cleanup. Nature would once again conspire against our efforts. Upon inspecting the ditches in September the knee high grass was hardly noticeable beneath the shoulder high canopy of ragweed. One of our allies in the war against litter is Bruce Comb with the Lincoln County Highway Department. Bruce had plans to get a mower on our ditches the first part of October. One star becomes visible.

It is announced at the Club’s September meeting that the last Saturday of October will be our Cleanup Day. During a string of “historically cold days”, that particular Saturday would yield up one day of pleasant temperatures. Our second star comes into sight.

A steady Southerly wind is present. Being a glass half full kind of person, a Southerly wind will help keep the mouths of our bright orange trash bags open. Another star? (And from the CHIPS Editor...'We hear they found some very 'interesting' objects

in those ditches!')

At 9:30 am on October 26th a dozen stars departed Dareo’s Pizza to collect trash from our adopted highway. They would align themselves in our four ditches and all walk one mile South before returning for pizza and refreshments shortly after 11:00. I am going to count the Club picking up the tab for our lunch and Dareo’s checkered flag flooring as two more stars.

Thank you so much to the following Stars of the Sioux Falls Corvette Club that helped keep our commitment to the Adopt-A-Highway program: John Becker, Eric Bertrand, Roger Coon, Lori Dyke, Paul Dyke, Brad Haase, John Kladstrop, Kathy Miller, Dusty Miller, Dave Rowe, Joyce Vanderwilt, and Jim Waring.