Our Week in Sturgis

 

All the motorcycles are gone now, and Sturgis is back to being a quiet little town. We booked a week at the Sturgis RV Park, which is situated at the north end of town up against the hillside. It is an easy walk into town if you don't mind the uphill walk back. We opted for the car.

The motorcycles were gone, but we arrived in time for the Mustang Rally. Mark discovered it while he was out on an errand. Sadly, he forgot his phone, so we don't have any pictures for you except this stock photo he found online...

While we were in Sturgis, we took a couple of excursions to surrounding towns. 

First we went north to the little towns of Spearfish and Belle Fourche. There was not much to see in Spearfish (no offense to Spearfish), but Belle Fourche's claim to fame is the Geographic Center of the United States. There's a nice granite marker on the spot, surrounded by flags from the fifty states, a mini-museum, and a tiny cabin. 

The next day we drove to Deadwood and Lead, which are close to each other and about a half hour's drive from Sturgis. Deadwood is a typical tourist town - lots of places to eat and buy trinkets and mementos...and of course jewelry. All these places seem to love selling gold and precious gems, though neither will be in our budget again this side of Glory. (I don't even go in any more.) It was still fun to walk up and down the main street and window shop.

In Lead, we found two very interesting attractions. Lead is all about mining. It has been called "the richest 100 square miles on earth," and for good reason. Over forty million ounces of gold have been pulled from it over the past 125 or so years. Our first stop was the Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center, site of one of the country's biggest open cut mines as well as a system of tunnels that reach as deep as 8,000 feet below ground. The mine closed in 2002 because of the high cost of production and was donated to the state of South Dakota. Now those tunnels are used for science experiments by Sanford Lab.

Next we went to the Black Hills Mining Museum, which was also quite interesting. 

Hilarious "danger" sign. (Enlarge this and read the small print.)

Seen this fellow?

And to top off our week, we were treated to a visit by the local wildlife. I just love deer. I think they're one of God's most beautiful animals. The day was overcast and the deer came out to graze in the middle of the day. In all, we counted about a dozen does and fawns -- no bucks.

We hit the road for parts west on Saturday and arrived in Wallace, Idaho, today. But that is a post for another day. I'll leave you with a few more pictures and best wishes for safe travels wherever you are!

The view from our front door at Sturgis RV Park

Looking out the window

First snow in the hills

Geographic Center marker

Center of the marker

Tiny cabin

Left my mark

Deadwood old hotel. I think it's a casino now.

This was at the Sanford Lab Homestake. Not sure 
what it is, but I'm guessing it has something to do
with the Stargate program.

Enjoying South Dakota

We spent our second week in the Rapid City area at Hart Ranch RV Resort, which is a little closer to Rapid City proper. It is also very close to some favorite Black Hills attractions. Two places we hadn't yet visited were the Reptile Gardens and Bear Country, both of which were within ten minutes of our campground. So we decided it was time to check them out.

The Reptile Gardens is essentially a reptile zoo. Its indoor building houses snakes, alligators, crocodiles, lizards, frogs, toads, and turtles of all kinds from around the world. It also has a disturbing display of cockroaches! Ick! And spiders! Not sure what THEY have to do with reptiles, but maybe they double as food for the reptiles. Outside you'll find giant tortoises and a variety of other creatures, some of which are not reptiles, but interesting all the same. 

White wolves sleeping away the afternoon

Down the road a few miles is Bear Country, which is a drive-through wildlife park. Considering the woeful lack of wildlife we found out in the actual "wild," we decided to fork over the cash and check out this attraction. We were not disappointed. Well, I was a tiny bit disappointed in that we happened to be behind some other vehicles. By the time they moved out of the way, so did the wildlife, and I missed out on what would have been some very striking photo opportunities. But as they say, timing is everything. Speaking of timing, one suggestion I would make, and something we plan to do next time we visit, is to go in the morning while the animals are more active. We found that by afternoon, many of them were sleeping. 

Bear Country also has a zoo-type area with animal enclosures that you can walk around and view. This is where they keep the critters that are more likely to escape a drive-through park-- mountain lions, bobcats, badgers, and such. 

Our last day at Hart Ranch was Mark's birthday, so we planned a special day for him that began with a train ride on the "1880 Train" that runs between Hill City and Keystone. Mark loves trains and this one is pulled by a steam engine. This is a must-do if you're in the area. Whether you start your ride in Hill City or in Keystone, be sure to plan your round trip to give you time to browse the other town before returning. This is something we (and by "we," I mean Mark) neglected to do when purchasing our tickets. There are two reasons-- the obvious one being the opportunity to check out the other town. The second reason being to give your bum a rest. The train seats are hard wooden things that become very uncomfortable after sitting on them for the duration of the ride's 45 minutes. The train ride includes narration about the history of the steam engine, the train, and points of interest along the route.

Our day concluded with dinner at the Alpine Inn in Hill City. This restaurant is famous for its $14 filet mignon steak dinner. Delicious and affordable! In all it was a lovely day. 

At Alpine Inn, waiting to be seated

From Rapid City, we headed to Sturgis. I'll talk about that in my next post. Until then...

Safe travels one and all!

More pics from our adventures...

(Aliens among us!)

Heartland Park in Hermosa, SD

This year we decided to spend a little more time in South Dakota-- mostly in the Rapid City area, since it's arguably more interesting than Sioux Falls. Although, I would highly recommend everyone stopping to see the waterfalls in Sioux Falls, from which the city got its name-- at least once. They are amazing.

We spent our first week at Heartland Campground in Hermosa, which is about twenty minutes south of Rapid City-- closer to Keystone and Custer State Park. It's a nice campground and  one we will happily return to. They have live entertainment on Saturday evenings. You can't beat that! They also serve food. So we decided to check it out and get some dessert while we were at it--pie and ice cream (Mark ate the pie, I ate the ice cream).

Local musician at Heartland RV Park

We had a lovely time listening to the country western tunes and watching people get up and dance to the music. 

Interesting side note...   As I'm sure I mentioned way back when we first bought our motorhome, it came with a dishwasher. The dishwasher looked brand new, but when we tried to use it, it complained loudly and then flashed up an error code. We've checked it on and off since then, and we've been threatening to call in a service technician to see what it would cost to fix it. Soon after we settled in at Heartland, Mark decided to turn the dishwasher on again to get the error code, since he couldn't remember what it was. And shock of shocks, it started right up and ran through a complete wash cycle. It's a happy miracle with absolutely no explanation. But my handwashing days are over - Hallelujah!

We were also blessed with a chance to meet up with some Alfa Roadrunner friends, whom we met at the Roadrunner Rally in Quartzsite back in January-- David and Vicki Minelli. They were in town to take care of some personal business and met us for dinner at a local restaurant, the Colonial House. It's always a treat to meet people we know on the road in this sometimes lonely lifestyle we've chosen. It doesn't happen often enough.

David & Vicki Minelli, Me and Mark

Once again we thought we'd take a drive through the Custer State Park to see if we could encounter some wildlife. We didn't have much luck on our first visit to the Park last year. Unfortunately, this year wasn't any better. We guessed that it was probably because we got there too late in the morning and it was already starting to get warm. Determined to try to get a peek at some herds of bison, we decided to get up early and see if that made any difference. On the second trip, we arrived in the park around 7 a.m. and were greeted by this gentleman...

It was an encouraging sign, but nothing came of it. There were a few more solitary bulls grazing here and there, and a few pronghorns, but no herds. I guess it's not herd season. 

Well that sums up our first week in the Rapid City region. Our next stop was Hart Ranch RV Resort, which is north on Hwy 79 a few miles. I'll write a separate post in a few days covering the week we spent there.

Wishing you all safe travels wherever you are!

More pics...

Pronghorns in Custer Park

Beautiful scenery in Custer Park

Bison at Custer Park

Posted speed limit at Heartland RV Park.
I don't know if it's possible to go this speed...
unless you're on a bicycle. Or walking.