Where did South Dakota guidebooks go?

When I first visited South Dakota in 1994, my parents toted along a big guidebook for the state. In addition, we had a Mobil Travel Guide that covered the state. Having them were good ideas, given how tourist-oriented the state is, especially in the western half centered around the Badlands and the Black Hills.  

That area of South Dakota is a tourist trap/tourist delight. But fast-forward to 2011, when I revisited the state with my mom and brother. Not a single guide book could be found in the car.   Why? The world wide web provided the information needed on that jaunt via a lap top and an iPad.

Looking back, this brings a question to mind: Where did South Dakota guidebooks go?  There are free ones available at Free South Dakota Vacation Guides that includes the city; a for-sale one is the Explorer's Guide South Dakota. There are, however, several guides to the Badlands and Black Hills such as the Insiders' Guide to South Dakota's Black Hills and Badlands.

Despite these holdouts, by and large the Internet has superseded the age of the good ol' guide book.  There are no longer any printed Mobile Travel Guides, for one thing; those have been taken over by both Forbes and now are this part of their website.  

Bookstores still carry map atlases, but state by state guidebooks are scarce on their shelves. So if you are planning a trip to South Dakota, or any other city, state, or country, your best travel guide resources are with web text rather than print text.  Unless, that is, you hunt around and are able to come up with a few.  The web is a handy tool, but sometimes a printed source cannot be beat.  They are simple to use and ultra low-tech with no need to worry about missed web connections, breaking if dropped, etc.

Photo courtesy of Richard H.