Why South Dakota?

When telling people about our plans to sell everything, buy a van, go to South Dakota to establish residency, then go West to go bike touring and backpacking, the first question they ask is, "Why South Dakota?"

South Dakota, it turns out, is pretty cool. It has the Badlands, the Black Hills, and the Grasslands.  "Rocky Raccoon", and "The Ballad of Hollis Brown" both take place in South Dakota. It was the home and setting for three of Laura Ingalls Wilder's books, and currently the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Homestead.  For motorcycle fans there is the Sturgis Motorcyle rally every August. An event that draws over 460,000 attendees, increasing the state population by almost half. Apparently it is also a state that sells itself as being a better place to live than Mars.

But until that campaign catches on, South Dakota is the the 5th least populated, 5th least densely populated state in the union. In 2013 the population of South Dakota totaled 853,175 and was composed of 323,136 households, each with 2.45 people per household.

While all those  reasons are great. The real reason we want to become two of the 61516 "residents" without a household is because South Dakota is the perfect place to 'live' without having to live there. The state laws, taxes, vehicle registration and licensing requirements make it the perfect home for nomads.