Woke up at the Buffalo Chip Campground in Sturgis, SD at 7:30 and decided to get an early jump on the day. I packed up my things and was on the road by 8am. Even if you’re not a biker, you have probably heard of Sturgis. It hosts one of the largest annual motorcycle events in the world. Luckily or unluckily, I’m still not sure which; I was about a month late. Sturgis is a small town with a run-down feeling. Most of the houses are old and dilapidated. The town feels like it was recently deserted, like a beach town after Labor Day. It would appear, from the outside looking in, that Sturgis’ economy thrives on the once-a-year motorcycle event. There is a “famous” biker bar / saloon on just about every street corner and a tattoo parlor either next door or across the street, almost all of them were closed. I wonder what people do here the other 51 weeks per year?
Next on the agenda was a stop in Spearfish. Spearfish was only about 25 miles from Sturgis but my first impression was strikingly different. Spearfish has a population of approximately 9,000, still small when compared to east coast standards. It got its name from the Native American Indians who used to spear fish the creek prior to the gold rush. Houses were well cared for and modernly updated. Main Street had lots of little shops and there were plenty of pedestrians out walking around. Tall mountains surrounded this small town. I liked it.
I drove the Spearfish Canyon scenic highway on my way to Lead. The canyon road is actually a 19 mile winding gorge with spectacular cliffs and ridge lines, and also the beginning of the Black Hills National Park, when driving from the North. My timing was just right to catch the season’s incredible changing of the leaves. Unfortunately, I didn’t take too many pictures because I used my new video camera to film the drive, now I just have to figure out how to cut and edit a movie file. Give me some time with that one. This was, by far, the most visually impressive part of my trip!
Lead was another small town (2 square miles) with about 3,000 inhabitants. It was founded in 1876 after gold was discovered and is home to the largest, deepest (8,240ft) and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere before it closed in 2002. I stopped in at the Black Hills Mining Museum for a quick walk through and then headed another 4 miles to the town of Deadwood.
Deadwood was settled by the American people in 1870, although the legality of it is disputed due to the fact that the territory had been granted to the Natives in the 1868 Treaty of Laramie. In 1874, General George Custer led an expedition to the Black Hills and announced the abundance of gold, which led to the Gold Rush and gave rise to the lawless town of Deadwood. However, Deadwood is probably more famous for the characters that lived there. Names like Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Potato Creek Johnny, Poker Alice and Deadwood Dick. Wild Bill was gunned down in Saloon #10 while playing poker by Jack McCall, 
who claimed that Wild Bill killed is brother. His lifeless hands let fall onto the table, aces and eights, forever known as the “Dead Man’s Hand”. After visiting the various tourist sites and feeling like moving on, I meandered past Deadwood’s oldest bar “Buffalo”. I had just enough time for a quick pint of Phat Tire.
I left Deadwood around 4pm and figured I would head towards Mt. Rushmore. This was a nice, scenic drive and the only time that I lost cell coverage. I’m currently writing this blog entry from the “Grizzly Creek” Restaurant, while eating a Buffalo burger and sipping on a Burning Sky beer with Mt. Rushmore visible a few miles away.
You know, I poked fun about the laid back, slow moving people here in the Midwest. I won’t lie, it’s all true, but nowhere else will you find such friendly, open and genuine people. It’s uncommon to walk past someone on the street without an exchange of salutations. When is the last time you entered into a 15 minute conversation with someone while filling your car at a gas station?
Now I’m off to find a place to sleep for the night. I’m anxiously awaiting my first campfire.
I'm too tired to go out to my car to give the daily mileage count. From memory, it's a little over 2,000 miles. Instead of finishing off this post with an accurate mileage count and map update, I'm going to leave you all with a picture that makes all of this possible. I had to drive several miles before I could turn around to take this picture, I thought it was that important. Thank you to all of the people, past and present, that have fought to make this the greatest country on earth!
In closing, I highly recommend that everyone quit their job and drive across this beautiful country. You can, and will, thank me later!
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