Tuesday 4th Aug
Pretty ordinary run down from Gillette
mostly on Interstate 90, fortunately a settled morning.
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| Devils Tower |
a columnar upthrust of rock formed down the bottom of a volcanic vent when things cooled
then the layers of earth-crust above it eroded away over the millenia leaving this thing sticking up.
Obviously it's a landmark of spiritual significance to surrounding indian tribes
and still today, in June, they have a ceremony something approaching Stonehenge
it was a place they gathered during their seasonal migrations.
Early white folk gave it the name but the indians objected it didnt have an evil position in their lore
to no avail.
It was an early conversion to national park status by Theodore Roosevelt to preserve it from damage
and to maintain a national ownership out of fear local settlers would claim it.
Like Uluru, its the target of rock climbers, the indians having objected to the practice as the early climbers used hammered spikes
now climbing is controlled by permit
one turkey even parachuted onto it to prove the accurate landing point
but it took 6 days to find a capable enough rescue team and get him down.
There's a save the prairie dog field on the way in
they were fun to watch with their meerkat antics and chirps
but pretty swift at darting away if you approached.
The rural town of Hulett was nearby, about the size of Turakina, even had a sherriff
the locals were set up to entertain the biking masses, as was the Devils Tower community
with souvenir tents and food stalls.
I had a barbied 14oz porkchop for breakfast, inch and a half thick.
We were skirting round the Black Hills here, very pretty
bit like some of King Country, but more orderly shaped low hills, and green valleys
expect more of same over next couple of days.
Then it was into formation for Sturgis
not quite knowing what to expect, but an absolute gas.
A lot of the fun has been the convergence of people on the trail to sturgis
raucus saloon nights, the partying starts 3-4 days out.
Last night, sitting at tables outside the pub, a bloke kept looking at me
so eventually we drew them into the conversation
he and his wife were from london, I looked a spit image of his mate back home he said
an ex rugby player.
Its sort of a revelation to me how undifferent we are in looks, wherever we've been
if less than 50% of a dark race, you're then part of the greater melange.
Lot of big men here though, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, 6'6 all around you
lot of Swedes settled here.
The english couple been all round NZ by motorcycle
adamant US/Canada take nothing away from our SI mountain scenery, (lot of people here say that)
they loved it, and Taupo
do most of their biking in France, weather in England too ungood.
very few people under 35, except for the bar-girls, which are an obvious crowd pleaser put-on
bikini tops and bottoms, or skimpy shorts
ask them for a pic and they good-humourdly oblige
the boys are like kids in a candy shop comparing and zooming shots over a beer
a lot of other biker girls here dresssed to show off, on back of fat walrus whiskered good ol' boys
heaps of women on their own harleys too, flowing locks, very sexy some of them, ms blobbies others
big ol' moms and dads on their harleys, arguing above their exhaust roar.
Its like mystery-creek field-days, same size paddock, but for bikes and bikers
expected to be down in attendance this year, but has been as high as 700,000
and all sorts of associated engineering applications
plus the inevitable opportunity to pig out on T-shirt and biking paraphernalia stands
I got myself a cut-off sleeve shirt, with the appropriate monogramage
great for airflow riding in yesterdays 93F heat.
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| Lots of choppers to be seen |
got sucked in by a stand that had that machine-gunned ATV/gokart thing out of George Clooneys "3 kings" movie
then the man ambushed me for my soul,
following me down the street, remonstrating about turning my back on Jesus as a I beat my escape
Yanks.....
if they dont want your tip, or a panhandle, now they want my soul.
Getting a bit frazzled by the tipping
you never know where you are
they tell you the price, then give you the check with sales tax added
theres even space on a credit card docket to add your tip in
a drink starts off sounding reasonable enough, but by the time you add on tax, and the expected $1/drink tip
its all starting to go pear shaped.
The place I had breakfast at this am, the waitress was pleasant enough
but I waited at least half an hour for a BLT, breakfast proper was off, no all-day, and the girl forgot my coffee
they got zilch from me.
The delivery is practised, but too often it seems they dont care.
You get that anywhere I suppose, but who'd want to tip for it
its almost like service is deliberately slowed to make you tip
and in the process, theyve forgotten how to to go fast.
Same old story...
always go to the places that look busy, and the jobs right.
Sturgis is a considerable undertaking for the local law as well, so I read in the paper
Meade County court alone, who get to handle the bulk of the arrests, expects in the order of 600 people to be jailed
the court opens at 4am, and goes till late at night
you'll get processed same day if youre arrested at 5am
violent crime is close to zero, the majority of cases are under the influence ones, marijuana the main drug problem
and they'll expect to net 6-10 drug felony charges.
For all that, the police seem to take a benign attitude to things
if everybody else is doing 80, nothing happens
but I think its fair enough to slow down for small rural areas and humour the local sherriff
over here, quite an emphasis is placed on yielding to pedestrians, and around school crossings and bus-stops
which I think is great.
There's also a double the fine rule for speeding in road-work limits
and combined with the high amount of double yellow, no passing lines
you dont get any clowns like we have trying to pass from 5 cars back.
In fact over here, if you have 5 cars behind you, you have to pull over.
We also reckon, the small-town sherriff, being locally elected
cant be too instrumental in making his town unpopular to passing traffic.
If the shop dont sell an ice-cream, the sherriff might be out of a job.
Thats it for today...
if any of you are finding the attached pics to much of a download problem for your dial-up,
then tell me to stop, I wont be offended.
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