We Landed Someplace Else

When things don't go as planned, go with the flow.  That is how we roll, and it makes life lighter and more fun.

I hope you too are enjoying your  moments, wherever they take you.  

Before I tell you about any adjustment we made, let me fill you in on our journey yesterday. 

I was right when I told you I probably would not have time to write when Hill City, SD.  It is a town with stuff to do.

The ride from the cottage at Plenty Star Ranch to Custer was almost all downhill.

We dined at a place with a strange name.  Hjem a.m. in Custer is only open 'til 11:00 a.m.  

The menu is different. We got Caesar salads with a poached egg on top and a pancake with real maple syrup and a huge slab of butter on the side.

We didn't have the lobster quiche.  It was $42.

Out of Custer we began to climb.  

We came upon a tiny green snake.  He had his head lifted, but didn't budge when I touched his tail a few times.  I think he must have gotten run over and didn't have any feeling in his back end.

The smoke from Canada seemed to get blown elsewhere for a while and we had some clear views and blue skies.

I had forgotten that we were going to come across the Crazy Horse Monument coming out of Custer.  

We went in.  It was only $10 per person.  The monument had the first blast to the rock in 1948.  The sculpter always knew it would not be finished in one lifetime.  The monument isn't just the huge sculpture of Crazy Horse, but a school and a Native American Museum featuring Native American Art and History.  

We spent about two hours there.  And Steve broke down and grabbed a rock from the box of free rocks that had been blasted off the mountain in the making of the sculpture.  I volunteered to carry it since I have the e-assist.

Some man got pationate about western history and traveled to make portraits of all the survivors of Little Big Horn.

This model of the sculpture is about 1/30th of the size of the actual monument. 

In one room was a time-line of happenings.  For example,  the dedication ceremony with the first blast wasn't followed by another blast for at least a year.  Instead the artist had to make a house for himself and then build a set of stairs to the top of the mountain.

The artist, Ziolkowski was from the east coast, never had any formal training, and carved this wooden statue at age 21.

He carved this horse in nine hours. 

The monument isn't something you can go touch, they are working on it.  The funds from the entry fees and donations are covering the costs for the work as well as the school and museum.

As we approached Hill City we came across this sign.  Apparently some guy with Cottages had the nerve to post a sign directing people on the trail to cut across the neighboring property to get to his Cottages.  The big trouble with that is the neighboring property is a competitor with cottages of their own!  

The nerve!  Lol.

After checking in and hauling our dusty selves and bikes to our room and cleaning ourselves off.  We went exploring.

We found a bar, Chute Rooster, with live music.

I lasted one beer.  I could not keep my eyes open, I had not slept well at Plenty Star because there was no air-conditioning and it was HOT!

We learned that it is Smokey the Bear's 80th birthday.  Happy Birthday, Smokey!

I slept well at Super 8.

Saturday morning we climbed out of Hill City.  The high was in the 80s.  Not so bad.  The sky was clear most the day, lovely!

We were wondering a couple things as we have been riding this trail.  What is the story of the rocks.  We know that the erosion of these old mountains is what helped create the Badlands.  But what created the Black Hills?  Volcanoes?  The collision of land masses?

We passed a field of horses, when I stopped to take a picture, nasty flies started biting.  We have not been plagued by bugs here, but around horses, the flies are biters.

There are several places along the trail that were saw mills or mines or bustling towns serving the railroad or the mining industry or the lumber industry.

This particular site had a geocash or letter box among the junk.

Another thing we wondered about was the piles of dead wood.  We kept seeing piles of fallen wood.  We were guessing that the ranchers were clearing the ground so their cattle could graze.  It seemed like a lot of wood going to waste.

Today we saw a kiosk that explained the piles of dead trees.

It turns out that the CCCs were used to replant the hills with trees after a huge fire.   They used ponderosa pine from Colorado and elsewhere.

But the trees didn't do well here and died off leaving fuel for another disastrous fire.

In 2019 they began clearing the fuel from the land and planting Native ponderosa pines.

We went through, I think, three tunnels today.  

Some of the rock they cut through was full of beautiful patterns and colors.

I kind of remembered that Rochford was a hoot.  We saved our lunch until we got to Rochford.   I had made PB and J sandwiches from the breakfast at the Hill City Super 8.

If the Gulch Saloon was still operating, we might get something to go with our sandwiches.

Holes in a mud cliff by Rochford shows that the cliff swallow have been making nests and like the dirt here.

Mystic was a Trailhead before we arrived at Rochford.  The pictures are out of order again.  So it goes, working on my phone.

This was some kind of rail cart with brakes.  There is a tree growing through it now.

The saloon in Rochford was a happening place.  There were lots of for-wheeling groups, motor cyclists, and bicyclists already seated when we entered.

It was really busy at the saloon, so we went across the street and got an ice cream shake to go with n our sandwiches.  Yum!

Then we stepped into the Small of America and got some postcards and stickers for our diaries.

Rochford was once a town of 500.  But now they claim only eight.

We were reminded constantly on this trail that things change.

A lot of the rock we passed today was flake stuff, coming apart in thin shards.

In an area of about four feet across there were at least three different lichen growing.  We had learned from a kiosk that lichen help turn the rock into soil.

We were gettjng close to Carsten Cottages where I had reservations for the night.

We came to where we could see a place across the road from the trail.  

It was full of Trump 2024 flags.  Arg!  That was the place!

We went down a slippery, steep incline to cross the road.  

The cabins had notes in the door, welcome and a name underneath. But none with the name Susan or Steve on it.

We looked around  for someone and found the owners house /office.  I knocked, I rang, I opened the door and hollered in.  No response. 

After waiting a while we decided to move on.

Back in the trail, Steve wanted me to take his picture overlooking the place.

The good news was that even though we had 18 miles to go to get to Deadwood, most of it would be down Hill.

Only we came to a y in the trail.  We didn't know which to take!

Other riders.said that they end up at the same place.

We passed another old mine.  Only this one was very big, successful for many years and now it is being used for science!  Some nutrino and dark matter research way below the ground.

We paid almost $300 for a room in Deadwood.  It is a Saturday night after all, and half a week before bike week in Sturgis, SD.

We arrived dusty from head to toe.  Our bikes are coated too.  

But the Deadwood Super 8 has nice showers, a creek running behind it, and pizza can be delivered to your room.

Our bike tour is mostly completed.   We will explore Deadwood tomorrow and drive back to our camper.  

Then, in just two days we depart South Dakota and head to Wyoming and beyond.  

We are excited to learn that Erin, Steve's daughter and her boyfriend are going to meet up with us in Idaho.  Yay!  We will have a blast.

Before I end this I gotta do a shout out.

Congratulations to my high-school friend, Bev and God daughter, Jordan.  Bev just became a grandma for the first time!  Jordan is a mom now. A healthy boy.