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The Dakota's, Black hills and
68th Annual Sturgis Bike Rally

This summer we decided to head south for a weeklong getaway to The Dakota's and Badlands. To witnessed and partake in the craziness of the 68th Annual Sturgis Bike Rally, along with some fabulous scenic rides and interesting monuments along the way. This was my first time down to the Dakota's and its truly a beautiful place. I look forward to taking this trip yearly and I can now check a few more places off my "Top 100 places to see".

If you like camping then this is definitely a place to pitch a tent or park the RV. With hundreds of campgrounds to choose from. If you want to miss the crowds and Sturgis Rally I suggest you avoid the last week in July and first two weeks in August.

On a more personal note; I would like to say that I love riding my motorcycle and there is nothing like the freedom and the feeling of the wind blowing through your hair and picking bugs out of your teeth...haha, but also enjoying the sites, the companionship, that you have once you get on that bike. If you are a rider you know exactly what I mean. We want to continue to put the miles on, to keep the rubber down and the shiny side up - so I ask you please, to shoulder check then shoulder check again and keep an eye out there for us, because we are there when you don't think you can see us. Thanks
 

Mendora, Theodore Roosevelt National Park. A beautiful Canyon painted with layers of different colors. Theodore Roosevelt first came to the badlands in September 1883 on a hunting trip. While here he became interested in the cattle business and invested in the Maltese Cross Ranch. He returned the next year and established the Elkhorn Ranch. Years later he stated several times, "I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota.

One of the largest deposits of petrified wood in the United States is found in Theodore Roosevelt National Park 

Sturgis, the city is at the foot of the Black Hills. With a population of 7,000 residents and the home to the 68th Annual Bike Rally. In 1938, J.C "Pappy" Hoel hosted a dirt track race with nine riders and set the course of history. Today, it has evolved into South Dakota's largest tourism event and perhaps the world's largest motorcycle rally. Each August the Black Hills of South Dakota thunder with sound of motorcycles enthusiasts, this year approximately 400,000 bikers from all over the world came for the party. It's a week long event that last a month with entertainment and fun, from the legendary Main Street action to world-class concerts, races, road tours and bike shows. Now I am sure you have all heard about the craziness that goes on here during bike week, but I can honestly say that we did not see anything total out of line. This whole states caters to this yearly event, every city or town we rode through was set up with vendors and specials for the bikers. It was amazing to see so many bikers and 100's of bikes lined up row on row.

Deadwood - Where the west was won. Walking down Main Street you could sure feel and see what this western town was like in 1876. Only 20 years ago, this western gold mining town seemed about ready to join Wild Bill and Clamity Jane in the grave yard. What was left of it looked more like a ghost town than the booming Black Hills Capital it once was. But the townspeople bonded together to bring gaming to the town and historic hotels, saloons and landmarks have been restored. Today the entire city is listed on the national historic register and its restoration project is the largest ever in the USA. Wild Bill Hickok was a gambler, sharpshooter and one of the most infamous characters to ever come out of the wild west. In fact, was only upstaged by his death right in Deadwood. After earning a few enemies with his lawless ways, Wild Bill flat refused to ever to sit with his back to the door. Except of ccourse on the night he died, when it was the only seat left at the poker table. In walk Nose Jack McCall sight unseen and ended the life of the legend with one shot. The cards that Wild Bill held were two black aces and 2 black eights - now know as the dead man's hand - and they would of won the game. Wild Bill was shot in Saloon #10 - which still is standing on Deadwood's main street and the chair that Wild Bill was sitting in on that dreadful night is incased in the wall of this saloon.

From Sturgis we road to Rapid City then on to Keystone as we enter the Black Hills National Park, this scenic bypass on the Crazy Iron Horse Road consist of famous pigtail bridges, tight twisting hairpin turns and switchbacks and tunnels that frame Mount Rushmore. We stopped to check out the views at Norbeck overlook, then up to Needles the highest section of the hills, features natural rock tunnels that motorists can drive straight through, as well as magnificent rock formations.
We cruised through Custer State Park where the buffalo still roam, scattered herd of about 1200 majestic but dangerous bison to those that wonder to close. We had a pit stop at the Game Lodge a stone and wood lodge which is where President Coolidge & Eisenhower used as a summer home.

Custer is the Unbelievable site and the home to Crazy Horse Memorial, Larger than I had ever expected and I am so totally blown away by the story of one mans dreams. Sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and the Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear started the Memorial in 1948 to honor the culture, tradition and living heritage of North American Indians. The legendary Lakota leader Crazy Horse  states "My lands are where my dead lie buried".
Korczak born in Boston of Polish descent,. Orphaned at age one. He grew up in foster homes. He was completely self-taught, and never took a formal lesson in art, sculpture, architecture or engineering. A childhood dream came true when he was asked to assist Gutzon Borglum at Mount Rushmore during the summer of 1939. Korczak arrived in the Black Hills on May 3, 1947. He was almost 40 and had only $174 left to his name. Over the decades he battled financial hardship, racial prejudice, injuries and advancing age. During nearly 36 years Korczak refused to take any salary at Crazy Horse Memorial. He worked on the project by himself until his death October 20, 1982, at age 74. He is buried in the tomb that he and his sons blasted from a rock outcropping near where the permanent Indian museum will rise at the foot of the mountain carving. For the tomb door he wrote his own epitaph and cut it from three-quarter-inch steel plate. It reads KORCZAK -Storyteller in Stone - May His Remains Be Left Unknown. His wife, Ruth, and some members of their family continue the project, working with the nonprofit Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation.  www.crazyhorsememorial.org

Rapid City A beautiful city, centrally located to all the major tourist area. We camped at The Mystery Mountain Resort. Located 9 mi south from Rapid City. It was like camping in the pure beauty of the forest. A nice pine tree camp ground, with a pool and hot tub where me met some great folks from Winnipeg and Milwaukee, it located right next to the Bear Country USA - Where you can enjoy a leisurely 3 mi drive through this spectacular and unique North American wildlife park nestled on 250 acres of Black Hills beauty. After your drive-through tour, walk through Babyland where young and smaller animals frolic in their outdoor exhibits. www.bearcountryusa.com

Spearfish and Spearfish Canyon is twelve times older then the Grand Canyon. Beautiful limestone cliffs line both sides of the highway. It was the best stretch of highway in the hills and I loved this ride, a favorite among all riders, with parking along the shoulder to check out the views of the Bridal Veil waterfalls.

Keystone began as a small mining town in 1891, it is the home of Mount Rushmore Memorial Gutzon Borglun began carving Aug 10, 1927 & continued for 14 years, only 6 1/2 years were spent carving the mountain, with the rest of the time begin spent on weather delays and lack of funding. The total cost of the project was $900,000. Borglun explained his choices this way: George Washington was selected because he was the father of the United States, Jefferson because he expressed the beliefs in the Declaration of Independence and explained the territory with Louisiana purchase. Lincoln was chosen for preserving the Union and Teddy Roosevelt because he fulfilled the expansionist dream by linking the oceans with the Panama Canal.

Hill City, offers the 1880 train. It can be boarded in either Hill City or Keystone and is a good way to sit back and relax a 2 hour scenic ride as this iron horse pulls authentic vintage cars through the meadows and canyons of the Black Hills.

We did manage to ride as far south as Hot Springs, where we stopped to check out the Mammoth Site, truly amazing. It is the world’s largest mammoth research facility where you can tour an active paleontological dig site and view Ice Age fossils exhibited as they are found. Travel back to the time when Ice Age mammoth, camel, and giant short-faced bear roamed the Great Plains of North America. Imagine a sudden collapse of a 60 foot deep karst sinkhole. Bubbling from the bottom, a warm spring percolates through the layers of limestone, now creating a large steep-sided pond. Picture thirsty animals venturing down to the water below...then, after drinking, animals unable to gain a foothold to escape. The sinkhole was a deathtrap. Trapped in the pit, the mammoths ultimately died of starvation, exhaustion, or drowning. The watering hole, active for about 350-700 years, slowly filled with layers of drying silt, sediments, and dying mammoths. The mud, which had aided in trapping the mammoths, now entombed and preserved the mammoth remains. www.mammothsite.com
These photos are of the dig site where the bones are found, in both photos lies the bones of a complete woolly mammoth as well as heads and tusks and other animals