From a reader:

As a South Dakotan, it saddens me to agree that Pierre is such a bleak town. With the Missouri River dividing the state it becomes very obvious that East River and West River South Dakota are two very separate places and Pierre, though on the east side, is a very West River kind of place. It is a prairie outpost and little more. It is always 10 degrees hotter in the summer and 20 degrees colder in the winter than the rest of the state. Kind of God’s little joke. Did you venture into Fort Pierre? Oh, my. You mention the hotel and the “bad” neighborhood surrounding the capital building which is, itself, quite nice, but you don’t mention the large number of strip clubs or the scantily dressed skanky looking women with no teeth walking the streets. I’m sure that being a family kind of guy, you politely didn’t notice. A former Congressman in South Dakota, who was briefly the Marlboro Man, actually rode a horse into a Pierre bar. No one thought much of it. Just our own little bit of Americana. And yet, I would rather have Pierre represent my state than the horribly up-town wannabe Minneapolis, Sioux Falls.