Sturgis to the Corn Palace

We arrived in Sturgis at about 6pm on a Sunday night after a long days traveling with the navigator very tired and grumpy. The driver was keeping his distance and trying to ensure that tea was underway and an early night was had by all. It worked because the navigator was very chirpy and full of energy the next day.

Like the two states we had previously visited Sth Dakota has a no helmet law for motorcyclists. They are a very bike friendly state and even publish a brochure telling of great motorcycling routes and advising all the laws pertaining to motorcycling. This is in their best interests as the annual week long rally held in Sturgis each August brings in millions of dollars each year. The town’s population rockest from 7000 to over 500,000. The ATM machines in Sturgis chuck out over $1.5million to bikers during the week. Goodness how much goes over the bars and casino tables in that time. Not to mention merchandise so necessary for the Harley riders. We were not there in bike week but there were still quite a few bikes in town. Main Street shops consist of bars (some not yet open) and souvenir shops selling rally T shirts, sweatshirts etc. All other businesses seem to have moved to other parts of town. We spent a morning wandering the street and checking out the shops and a Motorcycle Museum. This had some quite interesting bikes in it. Not all were Harley’s or Indians. There were some British Bikes there as well.

We rode up to Bear Butte State Park and as has become normal when we go out on the bike the rain clouds started to appear. We had a good look around the info centre which had a very good display of the areas Indian history. Bear Butte is a holy mountain and founding place of religion for several tribes of the Plains Indians. I got up close to a buffalo here but thankfully its head wasn’t attached to its body. We didn’t walk to the top of the Butte as Marty’s hip wasn’t up to it. Instead we went to Fort Meade Museum which has a history of the Army’s Calvary Division during the 1880’s. As normal we seemed to be first in last out of these places. Amazingly we got home without getting wet. That could have been because Marty was doing the ton on the motorway. Great idea with no helmets and dressed in shorts and T shirts so he got a little whack on the leg when his pillion realized what was going on!! I don’t mind speed but I like to be dressed for it.

Next outing was to a town called Deadwood. There is a television programme based on it that some of you may have seen. Went there with high expectations and were disappointed. The town is now the gambling centre of Sth Dakota. Casinos line the main street and there is nothing of the original town left. The casinos take in over $2billion dollars a year and casino bill boards advertise that they pay out over 1.5 million dollars a month and offer high returns – 80% of monies being paid out. My luck I’d be the 20% that got nothing so I didn’t bother. There was a hotel that had an exhibit of Hollywood memorabilia that was interesting especially the guitars on display from the likes of Mike Jagger, Eric Clapton, Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney. If you were a car fan there was a James Bond Aston Martin, the Transam used in Smokey and the Bandit complete with Burt Reynolds signature on the dash but my favourite was the little V Dub used in the Herbie movies.

Deadwood’s other claim to fame is that it is the town where Wild Bill Hickok lived and died along with Calamity Jane. Both are buried in the local cemetery. I had planned to visit the graves but having to pay an entry fee to a cemetery didn’t feel right to me so we didn’t bother.

We decided to take a look at the statue gardens just north of Lead then ride back to camp through Spearfish canyon, a highly recommend bike ride. The gardens contain huge statues of all the US presidents including today’s nutter G Bush. We never got to see these or ride the Canyon route as about a mile before the heavens opened so we turned tail for camp. I got to test out the new rain gear I had bought. It was great. I got home dry as a bone but Marty was soaked. We spent the afternoon doing the laundry and generally taking it easy.

We had a good study of the map during our wet afternoon and planned our route to go to Mt Rushmore. Went down through Spearfish Canyon, a lovely road that claims Harleys by the dozen in Sturgis week, to have a look at the Crazy Horse memorial carving that is taking place a little to the SW of Rushmore. It is the local Indians version of Rushmore and was started in 1949. Had a look from the road and decided not to go in. Headed back to the Needles Highway. This was a magic road leading into Custer State Park from the west. Only bad thing about it is that they let cars use it!! Nice and windy with tunnels and stunning scenery. It was plotted by a Governor in the 1930’s. He marked out the route by horseback, making the journey several times, as he wanted people to see the views from the best vantage points. From this road you take the Iron Mountain Road which is just as magnificent. There are tunnels and pigtail bridges, hairpin corners and of course wildlife and breathtaking scenery. As you come out of three of the tunnels you look straight at Mt. Rushmore and those famous faces. We were a little disappointed with Mt. Rushmore. We both expected it to be bigger and more imposing. Never mind these things happen and the roads to it more than made up for the disappointment.

Custer State Park has the largest wild buffalo herd in the country with some 1600 animals wandering the area. We only saw one!! They are rounded up each year and 500 are sold to the public so for between $500 and $1000 you can own your own buffalo or fill your freezer with steak and have a nice hide on your floor.

To top off the day we headed on towards the Badlands. We stopped for gas at an out of the way gas station and had a study of the map and a talk to the lady in the store and decided we were trying to be too ambitious in fitting the Badlands into our day. We still had 180 miles of riding to do to see them and get back, so we turned around and headed home. We still managed to clock up over 260 miles for the day.

We toured the Badlands in the camper. This is a stunningly beautiful place. There were signs everywhere telling you to watch out for rattlesnakes. I only saw a rattlesnake’s dinner. We walked to the “Big Pig Dig”. This is a site where for the past 12 years they have been excavating and digging up fossils and bones. We spent some time there talking to the ranger guide and one of the archeologists. She was in the process of unearthing a bone of some sort. It was interesting but I don’t think I could sit there day in day out with a paint brush and a dentists pick looking for old bones and fossils. They hadn’t found any Harley bits so were struggling for funding.

Before the day was up we visited an old west town. One of the attractions was props and stuff from the movie Dances with Wolves which was filmed in the area. Here we got to get up close and quite personnel with three movie stars. They were Cisco the horse ridden by Kevin Costner and Jim and Jack the two lead mules in the film. They are living out their days here. They were quite friendly and not at all stand offish like some stars. Cisco is now 33 and like all stars is aging very well.

We left there about 8.30pm and we’d only gone up the road about 10 miles when were in another time zone and it was suddenly 9.30pm. Thought we better find somewhere to park for the night. I spotted a sign that said Ghost Town, so figured there wouldn’t be too many people living there so we could probably park up without any hassles.
We survived the night. There were no strange happenings or anything, which was a little disappointing. We had a wander through the town and a sort of museum before we left. All a bit sad really as it is just a town people have left to live in a larger, busier town nearby and the few people left behind are trying unsuccessfully to keep it alive.

Mitchell, a town further along the I29 is thriving. Its main claim to fame is the Corn Palace. This is a building that each year is decorated with over 275,000 pieces of corn. The current building is the 3rd built for the purpose. The earlier two buildings becoming too small and not meeting standards of the day. The festival associated with the decorating of the building has been going on since about 1900. The war years and depression only meant that pictures were used instead of corn as there was quite a shortage of corn. Decorating for 2007’s festival was underway when we arrived. It is quite spectacular.

And so we leave Sth Dakota. We have to put our thinking caps on now as we have no idea of where we want to go or what we want to see. There is a lot of nothing now. Just miles and miles of open farmland and even more acres of corn.

And yes we did find Rocky raccoon and also saw several of his mates squashed on the side of the road. Must have been some party.