What flying, cornfields and the DMV have in common

And why you might need a passport to go to South Dakota

I never expected that a trip to South Dakota would be part of our worldschool prep, but life is full of things you can’t necessarily anticipate. So in the midst of researching places we might want to go in Europe, I was also researching the most direct way to get to South Dakota. Why? To change our state residency while we travel. South Dakota has no state income tax and, though we won’t be earning a traditional income, this will give us flexibility to leverage investments, if needed, while gone. It’s also very easy to get residency in South Dakota; in fact, they cater to full-time travelers.

That said, it turns out it isn’t particularly easy to get there from the West Coast. There are only three “direct” ways: Fly into Omaha and drive to Sioux Falls, fly into Minneapolis and drive, or fly into Kansas City and drive. Yes, we could’ve flown through Colorado and then on, but I’m not a fan of layovers, so Omaha won because it was the shortest travel time overall. And there’s just one direct flight to Omaha a day on United, so that decision was easy, at least.

Funny enough, the flight left from the international terminal at SFO. And we actually needed our passports for the trip (required for real IDs — that or your Social Security card) only, as we were packing to leave, we couldn’t find them anywhere! We turned things upside down and were almost at a point where we thought we were going to have to expedite new passports for the big trip, which would’ve put a huge wrinkle in our overall plans. I mean, can you imagine? No job nor health insurance while we wait on new passports?! Given how backlogged the passport process is right now, that could’ve been a nightmare! Fortunately, I found the passports tucked away in a random box at the top of the closet. What was I thinking putting them there?! Tell me I’m not the only one who’s done this. (Now go make sure yours are in their normal, safe place, LOL. And if you don’t have a passport or yours is nearing expiration, go take care of that while you’re not in a rush! Remember, you need at least six months remaining on your passport to be able to fly internationally.)

The trip ended up being a bit of a test run for the real deal, which was helpful. I used my new travel purse (liked it!), new backpack (fine—I wish it was just a tad bit bigger), and new packing cubes (loved them). I wore my new wrap (loved it) and the running shoes I’ll be taking with us. While my feet were plenty comfortable, I really missed my Birkenstocks; I’m used to wearing them 90% of the time, LOL. While I’ll be taking them abroad, I don’t imagine I’ll be able to wear them as much since it rains more pretty much everywhere else outside of California.

I also tested out how to get a refund on United, LOL. We paid for extra legroom on both flights (out and back) and ended up on an old plane that wasn’t configured to offer it. Instead, we were packed in like sardines; joy. While it was really easy to request the refund, it’s irritating that I had to proactively go after it. (Side note: Definitely bring your own snacks on United flights within the US; they’ve downgraded what they offer. I always bring food, but if you leave this to chance, you’ll be hungry.)

Despite flying into Omaha, we spent little time in Nebraska. We landed at midnight local time and went straight to the hotel to sleep. In the morning we rented a car and drove north. The interstate that goes to Sioux Falls runs up the very western side of Iowa (which I didn’t realize) and then into South Dakota. We’ve done lots of road trips; I know how open the land is in the middle of the US and, still, it surprises me every time.

What was most notable about this trip is that a) it was much greener than California this time of year and b) there weren’t very many places to stop along the interstate — hardly any truck stops or McDonald’s — just highway rest stops, really. (So, again, bring food with you!) Other than that, it was corn field after corn field, with trees here and there that had lovely autumnal colors, all under a wide open sky. For us it was beautiful, but I would not want to be on that interstate in bad weather; there’s nowhere to seek protection from a storm (snow, sleet, hail, tornadoes, or otherwise)! Indeed, we saw abandoned cars in the center median here and there — clearly left behind following a prior weather event.

I’m happy to say our drive was smooth sailing. We checked into our hotel and I went in search of food, as I hadn’t eaten anything substantive since breakfast. (C was fasting.) Fortunately, there was a Mexican place within walking distance. It felt good to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. Walking through the parking lot I saw plates from Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Rhode Island (wow), South Dakota (of course), Washington, and Wyoming. I hadn’t expected to see such variety; it was fun.

But as we moved into evening I started to panic: What if we didn’t have everything we needed for our appointment in the morning? We had what Lynne at South Dakota Residency Center had advised us to bring, but then I was reading the SD DMV site and they referenced pieces of mail (which we didn’t have) and my anxiety creeped up. It made sleeping that night difficult. Indeed, I woke up at 5am as if someone had given me a shot of adrenaline. I could not go back to sleep, so I got online and checked our list again and made a note to print out a couple more things from the business center before our appointment.

Good thing I did because we hadn’t actually filled out the application (though we could’ve done that at the DMV). I printed that when I grabbed breakfast, which I forced myself to eat a few bites of; my stomach was in knots. C had already asked for a copy of our hotel receipt, so we were as set as we could be and headed off.

Thank goodness for coffee! These were in one of the coffee shops we stopped at in Omaha.

I have to say, the Sioux Falls Express DMV location is the friendliest DMV I’ve been to, and I’ve gotten my license in four states now as an adult. We showed up and had everything we needed (phew!), except the hotel receipt had our California address on it; we needed it to show our South Dakota address. Dang it; I knew that and thought it’s what I had given the hotel, but clearly not. Fortunately, the DMV guy simply suggested that we run back and get a new print out with it fixed and then pop back to the DMV; no muss, no fuss. (I could never imagine that happening in California; they would’ve made you get back in line or make a new appointment.) And it really was that simple — except that C spilled some of his tea on the new printout, so it was a bit soggy looking, LOL. He was afraid it wouldn’t be accepted, but it was fine. Within a half hour we were holding newly printed SD licenses and were heading out the door. (I’m still amazed that they printed the licenses onsite; it took me weeks to get my CA license by mail.)

You would’ve thought my anxiety would’ve been quelled by this point, but no. Whereas C felt giddy, I felt a mix of emotions. Relief, yes, but also sadness and a bit of panic. What if there was still something I needed to take care of before we leave the US that I needed my CA license for? I don’t know what, but I had a latent panicky feeling. Also, I’ve never had a state license for an address I haven’t seen before. Our address is on the western side of South Dakota and, while we would actually like to visit there, we don’t have time right now. In a weird way, I guess it’s similar to having owned our Raleigh, NC, duplex for all these years without having ever seen it. #TrueStory

The rest of our trip was uneventful, except for the terrible night of sleep I got once we were back in Omaha. C woke up in the middle of the night, which woke me up. Yes, just his movement made my eyes pop wide open and I was unable to go back to sleep after that, so I operated on just over four hours of sleep the rest of the day, which was brutal since I was already running several days’ worth of sleep deficit. But then, I’m no stranger to sleep deficits. In fact, I’ve basically been running an ongoing one since the beginning of June when I started weaning off the prescription sleep meds I’ve been taking for 13 years. But that, friends, is a saga for another day. (And it is truly a saga.)

I hadn't seen gas this cheap in many years! It's currently $5 to $6 per gallon in CA. Also, we drove by the Gallup headquarters in Omaha; they're in the distance behind the yellow trees.

Anyway, now we’re residents of South Dakota and need to update all of our accounts. I always forget what a hassle this is. Do you have any noteworthy relocation stories? I’d love to hear!