We crossed the border from Wyoming into South Dakota, and within a few miles we came to the city of Spearfish. We had heard a few people say that the Spearfish Canyon was a great drive to do, so we took a detour there to get a feel for the Black Hills of South Dakota. The area is famous for the gold rush that began in 1874, and the distinctive Black Hills gold jewellery can only be produced in the Black Hills; although these days the gold can be sourced from anywhere in the world. My friends Jan and Dick Brubaker presented me with a beautiful pair of Black Hills gold earrings for my 50th birthday, while we were sipping on red wine and sitting on a balcony overlooking an olive grove in Tuscany. Lovely memories.
The Spearfish Canyon drive was very picturesque, and it passed through the town of Lead where the most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere was located until it closed in 2002. We then came to the historically wild and lawless city of Deadwood with its population of about 1200 people. We had plans on visiting gunslingers Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane's graves, but there were so many tourists in town, we drove through the centre of town and up a few streets, then kept driving right out of town! The crowds of people put us off. Kevin Costner used to own a restaurant and casino in town, but I am not sure if he still does.
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| Downtown Deadwood |
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| During the rally, this street of Sturgis is closed to all traffic except bikes |
From Deadwood we drove about 16 miles (26 km) east to Sturgis, home of the largest annual motorbike event in the world. The rally is held in the first full week of August every year, and one year it attracted 60,000 visitors to the town. Last year I believe it was 400,000. We were told the hotels get up to $500 a night for a room during the rally. The street is closed off and the rally takes over the town. We had lunch in a large hotel there - it was impressive inside with a huge 'Australia' room (as well as a 'New Zealand' and 'Alaska' room upstairs).
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| Small purchases |
We had enough of touring for one day, so we checked into our campground in Rapid City, and Jenny and Peter had a room in the same Canyon Lake Resort where our campground was. A very pretty resort location. The next morning Jenny was waiting near the lake for us to pick her and Peter up, and she looked up and saw a deer several feet away from her motel room door. She was thrilled with her morning visitor. We had a day of sightseeing planned, but hadn't taken into account that we would pass a Christmas Shop on the way. Murray got the message loud and clear that we needed to check it out, and as luck would have it, it turned out to be one of the nicest Christmas shops I have been into - and believe me, I have been into a lot of them. We browsed there for some time, and were very restrained with our purchases. I'm sure Murray and Peter were impressed that we didn't spend more money in there!
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| You can just make out the profile of the head in the centre of the photo |
About 35 miles (56 km) south of Rapid City is the rock sculpture of Crazy Horse. Murray and I had visited the site previously in 2003. The finished product will end up a mountain sculpture of an Indian warrior astride a horse and pointing in front of him. The sculpture was started in 1948 and is still not finished…unlike Mt Rushmore, 17 miles (27 km) away, which was completed in 1941 and attracts over 2 million visitors a year. We enjoyed our drive in the Black Hills as we made our way back to see Mt Rushmore. We had a glorious day for our drive.
After our visit to the noted Mt Rushmore, we called in to Bear Park USA. You pay an entry fee, are advised to keep your windows up in the bear area, and then you drive around to see the animals roaming in their respective areas, separated by cattle grids. It is the main summer holiday here, so there were lots of visitors. The traffic crept slowly around the park, held up as people stopped to take photos of the animals, especially the bears.
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| Bighorn Sheep |
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| Bears watch as we drive past |
At the end of the drive is a large parking area. Visitors to the park can get out of the cars and walk past numerous animal enclosures where you can see skunks, bobcats, badgers, raccoons and some bear cubs. There is also a basic cafe where you can get a cold drink and some snacks - handy stop.
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| Bear cubs frolic in the grass |
As we left Bear Park USA there was a cart loaded with flowers. This was the last photo taken of Jen and I together on this trip, as her and Peter flew to New York the next day. It seemed that every town we passed through had beautiful spring flowers decorating the streets. In one very pretty town (Hill City), most of the shops on the main street had a basket blooming with the same flowers as the next shop, and the next... We asked the cafe owner if the council provided and cared for the flowers. She said a woman on the council ordered all the flower pots from Rapid City, delivered them to each of the stores, and then it was up to each store to water them. Woe betide a store owner who had bedraggled flowers! The pots flowered profusely from April to September.
And so ends Jenny and Peter's US RV travels with us. After 12 days with them onboard, it seems very quiet now with just the two of us. They are now making the most of a week visiting New York.
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