Well, actually, before we got to South Dakota, we stopped at Devil’s Tower WY.
Anyone who was watching movies in the 70’s will easily recognize it from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
I really enjoyed that movie although, given the opportunity to see it again, we decided against it. The RV Park we stayed in had an awesome view of the tower, and they show the movie every night at 7 pm.
We spent the afternoon hiking around the base of it, and watched some climbers descending for a little while.
Deadwood:
Deadwood was home to Calamity Jane, and Wild Bill Hickok, both of whom were real people and are buried in the nearby cemetery. I’m sure she didn’t look like Doris Day though, and she actually was one tough character, as was Wild Bill. Deadwood popped up as a mining town in the 1800s when gold was discovered in the Black Hills. Although numerous fires have destroyed buildings, the town still retains the feeling of the wild west. In the 1980s the townspeople realized that in order to maintain the tourist trade, the time had come to refurbish some of the old buildings. Of course, there was no money to actually do that, so after a prolonged discussion/argument, the decision was made to legalize gambling in the town, with the proceeds going towards restoring historic buildings. They had no idea how successful that would be, but instead of the 40 years they planned for, they had enough money within one year for the first phase. Every day Deadwood has several “shoot outs”, a reenactment of the murder of Wild Bill Hickok, and you can pay a few bucks to witness the trial of the guy who murdered Wild Bill. The rodeo, one of the best small rodeos in the country, was in town, but at 96 degrees outside, we elected not to go.
Sturgis…
What could be better than Sturgis, SD during the yearly motorcycle rally? Being in Sturgis SD the week Before the rally. All of the excitement without the sound of a half a million motorcycles!!
This picture is actually a poster on the side of a building, and Paul is standing in front of it.
Seriously, the rally is next week, and we will be gone by then. This is a cool town, and we’d probably stay for the rally if we were with our “motorcycle enthusiast” friends, but once the rally starts- no cars or trucks are allowed on the main drag. Just motorcycles. In theory this is a fun place, but from a practical standpoint, we’re not really sure what to do to have fun!
The campground we are staying in is outside of town, and we passed by a doe and her 3 fawns the other day. So cute!
The Black Hills:
There are many scenic drives around here and we’ve driven several of them. Today we took a scenic drive to a hiking trail called the Flume. Back in the 1800s this Rockerville Flume carried water from Spring Creek all the way to Rockerville, 20 miles away. The trail follows the remains of the old flume.
The trail took us through two tunnels- a unique and pretty cool experience.
On the way home, we passed by an old fashioned 50s type diner. A few seconds later Paul asked if I thought they had milkshakes on the menu. Well, heck, that was enough urging for me, and he turned the truck around so we could enjoy some excellent milk shakes.
Bear Butte:
Bear Butte has been a landmark for thousands of years. It is the only hill for miles around and is easily recognizable. This butte is sacred ground for the Cheyenne and Sioux Indians in this area. They have religious ceremonies at the top of the butte and place bright colored material on prayer trees.
They request that you don’t take pictures, so I didn’t, but there were brightly colored prayer trees all over the mountain. We planned on hiking the 2 miles to the top, but I wimped out 3/4 of the way up because I wasn’t feeling that well.
Fort Mead:
The Star Spangled Banner’s road to becoming our National Anthem started at Fort Mead. In 1892, Colonel Carlton, the Post Commander, felt the U.S. needed a national song, and thought the Star Spangled Banner would make a good one. He ordered it played at retreat and at the end of parades and concerts. When the governor visited, and the custom was explained, the governor thought it was great and promised to push the idea with other leaders. Soon thereafter, the Secretary of War ordered it played at every Army post in the evening. In 1931, congress declared it the National Anthem.
There was a small museum at the fort, which was the last horse cavalry post in the U.S. It converted to a mechanized cavalry in 1942. One of my favorite displays was a flag with 39 stars on it. It was made in anticipation of South Dakota being made a state, but in the end, both North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted to the union at the same time, so the official flag went from 38 stars to 40-it never had 39 stars on it. When signing the statehood documents, the President deliberately shuffled the papers so that neither state would know which was signed first.
