BLACK HILLS OF SOUTH DAKOTA

We've driven the entire length of South Dakota on Interstate 90, West to East and East to West at least a half dozen times. For the most part, it is prairie lands, with wide open spaces. Today, with the wind blowing steadily, the grass of the prairie looked like rolling waves on an ocean of green. From the East, the rising sun cast silhouettes of the trees across the hills and for a time I imagined as it must have been when these lands were first settled. The land originally belonged to the Lakota Indians, but the discovery of gold brought settlers to the region, which led to several conflicts. As we drove past the Black Hills National Cemetery most of the original interments were soldiers who fell in the battles of the Indian Wars.

We came upon the town of Sturgis next. Both Craig and I, being motorcyclists, were familiar with this City, where every August modern day cowboys, riding their iron horses gather for what can best be described as good old boy fun and games. Craig has always wanted to go, my brother attended last year, and who knows, maybe one year you just might find us in the middle of hundreds of thousands of other motorcycle enthusiasts.

As we passed the exit for Deadwood, I said to Craig that we will have to find a time to take a day off to explore the area, after all, any town that inspired an HBO series has to be interesting. The entire city of Deadwood is a national historic landmark. I will look forward to walking down the authentically recreated turn of the century streets and marvel at the restored architecture.

And just like that we were out of South Dakota and into Wyoming and then Montana for the night, but not without bookmarking the Black Hills of South Dakota as a place to revisit in a vehicle just a little better suited for the terrain.