First Day of Summer

Sturgis, SD – Tuesday June 21,2011

As we left the campground this morning, not far up the road, this is what we saw. This is a sight that never fails to have a huge impact on us.  For me, anyway, this is something I expect to see near a large metropolis, not in a remote location such as this.

This is the Black Hills National Cemetery and those are a lot of headstones.  You can tell that the caretakers have a lot of respect for the responsibility they’ve been charged with.  It is a beautiful setting.The grounds are beautiful and well kept.

Next stop was Sturgis.  Did you know that once a year the population swells from 6627 to over 500,000?  In August Sturgis is the site of the worlds largest motorcycle rally.  Where they park all those motorcycles is a mystery.  The town is not that big.

We checked out the downtown area, ate lunch and browsed a couple of T-Shirt stores. One thing I did learn there is “Don’t drink beer from the bottom of the keg”.  Why, cause it’s flat! We also went to the Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame. Lots of cool stuff.

Since it had been drizzling on and off all day, we decided to take a drive to Deadwood, Lead and Spearfish.  Deadwood was also an HBO series set in the 1800’s about the gold rush.  The town has rediscovered gold in the form of gambling.  If I remember correctly there are 32 gambling establishments in town.  There’s GOLD in them thar’ tourists!

As we continued our drive on the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway EJ was on the lookout for waterfalls.  She loves waterfalls.  She guided us to…

Roughlock Falls got its name from the way wagons had to travel the very steep slopes like this during the gold rush days. they would ‘roughlock’ the wheels of their wagons with chains or logs so they wouldn’t turn.  With the horses hitched to the rear, the wagons would slowly skid down the slopes.

It was a beautiful park and falls trail. The weather turned out great. This is one of Roughlock’s critters having lunch.

Happy First Day of Summer!

BG Miles Today	0	BG Total Miles	2498
Eat Out total $	178.35	BG Total Fuel $	1271.39
Entertainment total $	44	Total Camping $	350.23
E Miles Today	88	E Total Miles	763.5
E Total Fuel $	169.19