Roger’s usual diligence turned up one of the best places to stay on our trip so far. We needed a place northeast of the Badlands that we could get to without biking along the interstate. The solution? Triangle Ranch B&B outside of Philip, SD.

It’s a lovely old Sears home down on the Bad River breaks that has been in Lyndy’s family since it was built. Her great grandparents were homesteaders, which was something that came late to western South Dakota. I’m probably going to get this dates wrong (sorry Lyndy!) but I think her folks came out to the area in 1904(ish). She tells an amazing tale (well, to be fair, both Lyndy and Kenny tell incredible tales at least to the ears of easterners, which upon reflection, is probably something that’s been going on for some 150 years or so) about how the canniness of her great-grandfather in scoping out the land where he wanted to homestead (before the area was opened up to homesteading) was undone by the weather and a crafty local woman. Seems the g-g’father had his eye on a piece of land that he made his peace about with a squatter so he would have clear title once the homesteading would begin and he prepositioned some cottonwood logs there so he could build a house.

Well, he left on account of the winter and the land not yet being open to homesteading, but when he came back, he discovered that the woman who lived downstream of where he was going to build his house had “scooted” his logs down the frozen river. Her response to his indignation was “I didn’t see your brand on the logs.”

Back then that meant that the family lived in a dugout in the ground until a house could be built. That was all fine and good until the heavy rains caused the river to flood in the area where Lyndy’s folks were living. The g-g’father was away at the time and the river was flooding on both sides of the bend and Lyndy’s g-g’ma was in the dugout with the kids as the flood waters were getting ever closer.

Lyndy says her g-g’ma “was not a panicky woman,” and she took the kids in the wagon up to higher ground and they turned the wagon over and stayed underneath it until the rains were over.

And that’s just one tale. Kenny, who at one point was nationally ranked at no. 6 in the bull-riding rodeo circuit, is full of more stories than we had the time to listen to. He’s a great raconteur who blades a mean gravel road and grills a tasty pork chop. You would be hard-pressed to find more gracious and delightful hosts.

They got into the B&B business with the help of a feasibility study done by students at Black Hill State University in Spearfish, and they have carved out a niche for themselves on a ranch that’s been in the family for more than 100 years.

Here’s Lyndy in her kitchen under a picture of herself at four years old when she was competing to be a Sunbeam bread girl:

If you ever go to the Badlands, build in some time and go to Triangle Ranch B&B – hey we went there by bicycle – you will be delighted!