Hill City,

South Dakota

From Buffalo we drove through a lot of very empty country - Wyoming has less than 500,000 people and a lot of grassland. The forests largely disappear we are now in the prairie. Part of a trip as ours is just to get an appreciation of the vastness of the country. You just don't get that from 30,000 feet!

We made a little detour to a rock formation called devil's tower: Big rock, looks like a giant tree stump. Andrea could have climbed it. Not us.

Instead we continued on toward South Dakota, drove through Sundance (nope it is NOT named for the Sundance Kid. It is the other way around: The little punk, whose real name was Harry Longbaugh, took his name from the town after spending 18 months getting free room and board in Sundance's hoosegow).

On to Spearfish, South Dakota - and, bypassing Sturgis, to Hill City.

For those of you not in the know, Sturgis is the site of the annual Harley ralley and general blowout. Apparently it just ended. Ever since Yellowstone we have been more or less surrounded by hogs and their riders. Pretty mild and tame by now - being able to draw on Social Security will do that even to bad boys. Of course, by now there are an awful lot of Harley riders who are middle aged doctors, lawyers, etc.

Birgit wants me to buy a Harley T Shirt (EVERYWHERE on sale around here) for Nick, but sorry girl, no sale.

We didn't stop in Sturgis, but we did eat icecream in Deadwood. Yes, I know, that is pretty pathetic but what can I say? It was hot, it was in the afternoon and we are old.

Deadwood is casino city now. Probably appropriate for a town that existed for gamblers and gold diggers, but it has the synthetic Disney feeling (looks old on the outside, but every building has either T Shirts for sale or is filled with slot machines.) The 'reenactment' of the shooting of Wild Bill Hickock would have been a bit more impressive if the actors had bothered to put on tim appropriate pants and shoes instead of shorts and tennies - you get the picture.

We did go to boothill - graves of Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane.

Then on to Hill City.  Hill City is a little town - 780 people, 15 motels - "gateway to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial and, of course the Black Hills. There really are hills or better mountains - we are again above 5,000 feet - and they are solid with forests, hence black from a distance. Not much sign of bark beetle damage here. Very pretty. The town itself has two, ok, maybe three streets. Below is mainstreet with motorcylce

Nice horsey, no?