Spearfish Canyon

Our last motorcycle ride in the Sturgis area was to Spearfish Canyon. We rode through the town of Lead (pronounced Leed) and found that this little town was home of the Homestake Gold Mine, one of the first enterprises of the Gold Rush of 1876. The mine produced 40 million ounces of gold during its lifetime, valuing over a billion dollars. The Homestake Gold Mine, America’s longest continuously operated gold mine, closed in 2002 as the oldest, largest and deepest mine in the western hemisphere, stretching over 8,000 feet below the town of Lead.

The original business district was constructed of wood and was destroyed by fire in March, 1900. The new city center was constructed of brick and mortar but soon met its fate for ground subsidence caused by early mining activities gradually making unsafe. Entire blocks were razed during the 1920s and 1930s and the business district was relocated to the west in its present location.

Heading out to Spearfish, a motorcyclist cut his vacation short when he lost control on a curve, hit the guardrail & then a car. It caused quite a traffic jam.

As we waited, we watched a helicopter circle, wondering where in the world was he going to land….. It turned out that they took him by ambulance and I don’t know whether they had to meet the helicopter in another area or not. But the car was drivable, smashed on the front driver side. It was an older guy driving and I sure felt sorry for him. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Since only about 10% of the riders were wearing helmets, chances are he was not wearing a helmet…..

I can now understand why they call it the Black Hills. There is a lot of black rock in the hills. We also discovered that Black Hills gold is not mined in the Black Hills. We thought it was. It’s not the “mining” of the gold, it’s the process that was developed to make the jewelry. There are now a few companies that make Black Hills gold jewelry and we toured one of the factories, but were not allowed to take pictures. We were surprised to see that each leaf is individually placed on the piece by a solder! It was amazing the workmanship that goes into this jewelry which makes it so unique. No free samples, and you end the tour in the jewelry store, just like Disney where you end each ride in the gift shop.

There were a lot of motorcyclists in the canyon.

Our first stop in Spearfish Canyon was Spearfish Falls where a “Harley wedding” was about to take place. The bride was putting on her veil,

the minister was getting the witnesses in order and the groom was calmly waiting.
The bridal party had their special T-Shirts on.
The bride was overwhelmed with “finally” having her Harley wedding, as she put it. After he ceremony, we captured a much calmer bride and groom. Hopefully, they’ll get a chance to see these photos.
It’s not often that you see a “Harley Wedding.” How lucky were we?!!

They sure picked a beautiful place.

Then we were off to Bridal Veil Falls. We didn’t understand why they didn’t get married at these falls until we saw it. It really was much prettier and more private at Spearfish Falls.


There was a younger crowd at Bridal Veil Falls, as seen below.

What a beautiful ride and a beautiful day.

Badlands, South Dakota

We picked the WRONG day to take a bike ride to the Bandlands. It was the hottest day that we’ve had, 103. IT WAS HOT! Needless to say, we only did half of the loop.

A we drove through the Bandlands, we could not believe that people actually live there. The homes were few and far between, but they were there….. People tried to homestead the Badlands back in the early 1900s, but they turned out to be “Starvation Claims” and were abandoned or sold. Today the ranches of this valley are measured in thousands of acres and heavy equipment does most of the work that was once done by calloused hands. But it is still difficult for the ranchers today to succeed.

The Badlands National Park covers 244,000 acres. The exposed colored layers mark fossil soils and contain evidence of life here between 37 and 23 million years ago.

We ended at Walls Drug and now I know why they offer free ice water. By the time you get there, YOU NEED IT!

We went to Sturgis before the crowd got into town. It is amazing how this town turns into a party town almost overnight. Bobby’s brother and sister-in-law, Harry and Theresa, were staying at Buffalo Chip, which is probably the most popular campground, so we just had to take a look. As you can see, it is not quite full yet.
We haven’t been back out there, but I’m sure it is wall-to-wall campers and tents. Not only do they provide facilities, but there are bands and vendors almost 24 hours a day.

Bars are everywhere. Even where there normally isn’t a bar.

Main Street was starting to get busy. Check out Tweetie Bird and Skeleton.

There were already all kinds of vendors set up with unique items. We liked these antique milk jugs with a tractor seat attached. He only brought 600 to sell and was told he needed more. They sell for $350, so we’ll see if he sells out.

And I really thought these doggie carriers were adorable. The Dog Whisperer was also impressed with these.

The “locals” also find a way to cash in on Bike Week. The owner of the pets below I believe may be homeless, but what an act! Yes, that’s a dog, cat and mouse and they travel together!!

Cody, Wyoming

What a cute little town Cody, Wyoming is! I just loved it.

I’ve always been a fan of Western Stars, and Buffalo Bill rates right up there.

We almost didn’t make it there. Our D Brake gave out again. This time we barely made it into town. The only good thing that came out of it was that we got to spend an extra day in Cody waiting for the truck part to be sent overnight.

We started our tour of the town in the Buffalo Bill Museum.

All I can say is WOW! It’s like 5 museums all under the same roof! We toured through the special exhibit of Lewis and Clark first since it was a special exhibit and only there for a short period of time. Then we went on to the natural history section.

Next was my favorite, all about Buffalo Bill. I don’t think we realized (or remembered) that he was the youngest rider for the Pony Express at age 14. He also played a very big part in putting the town of Cody on the map AND getting a road to Yellowstone built. What made him really famous though was the Wild Wild West Show that he put together, where people like Annie Oakley, Wild Bill, and Sitting Bull played a part.

What was interesting that I had never heard of before, Buffalo Bill played Santa Claus for the Miner’s children in Arizona. Below is a picture taken in 1912.
The museum also had artifacts from Buffalo Bill’s cabin and house. It was pretty fascinating.

Another interesting thing we found; they had the model buffalo which was used to make the statues located on the bridge going into Georgetown in Washington, DC.
While in the museum, we ran into Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley and Calamity Jane actors.

There was a showcase about Annie Oakley which included some photographs and a couple of outfits.

Annie apparently like living out of her tent and she had all the comforts of home.

Beneath her photograph was a picture of Sitting Bull. He apparently took her in as an adopted daughter and even gave her an Indian name.

Another section was devoted to the Indians, there was an art gallery, and a gun museum. Needless to say, we didn’t get to see the whole museum.

The next day we visited Main Street where they had every kind of cowboy shop you can imagine. I just loved this stuffed bear that they dressed up.

And here Bill is “contemplating” on whether he should buy this sword as a gift for our grandson, Shane. No, Bill, maybe in another 20 years……
The highlight was the nightly gun fight in front of the Irma Hotel.

The Irma Hotel is an historical landmark because Buffalo Bill built the Hotel and named it after his daughter, Irma.