Wed 11 Aug
Third day in Rapid City, spent most of today out at Sturgis, a small town 30 odd miles north-west
pop 6600 odd, but swells with visitors for Bike Week, a reputed 600,000 bikers
theyre everywhere.
This is a no-helmet state, bikers in t-shirts or cut-offs, females in whatever goes.
There's at least a road-fatality a day, sometimes the odd shooting but the police are pretty well on to things, no patches or weapons allowed
and 24 hr round the clock processing for DIC and/or drugs.
Incredibly, only one bike theft reported as of today
nevertheless, we left the bikes at our city hotel, and took the shuttle out and back.
The attendee demographic has changed markedly in the last 20 years we're told
mostly 40 plus professional and/or retirees these days.
We passed one old duck on her Harley, sporting "Party Girl" signage on her topbox
prompting Sam to comment the years had treated her well, but the weekends had certainly taken their toll.
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| This lady got a bit pissed we didnt tip, and decamped |
Not so the bikini girl I photographed in CrackerJacks bar last year...
there she was again, more resplendently skimpy tanned than ever.
I showed her the pink bikini pic from last year, (no, i'm not a weirdo,
I've still got all 1000 pics from last year in my Nokia 5800 phone and there's still 6 of the 8 gig total capacity still available)
She was so chuffed she jumped up on the beer ice box and did a gorgeous all-fours pose for my 2010 album
but would you believe it, I stuffed up the camera setting, and lost that pic, and several others from the Sturgis visit.
I'd got to believing I could put the phone back in my pocket still in pic-taken mode to save on twiddling setup for the next pic
but when you do that it superimposes a fresh pic of the inside of my pocket, and loses the last pic, so i've discovered
damn........!
Speaking of phone, have to mention Vodafone's roaming partner here in US, AT&T, has better coverage this year
about 50% more coverage my guess
but still no reception bars right here in SD.
It was so hot we were pleased to get back in the AC'd shuttle home.
General thought is Sturgis is just a glorified t-shirt and cheap riding gear sale venue
tatoo parlours, and food...
one end of Lazelle St, one of the two main streets of the show, had most of the trade exhibits
but you couldnt say they were all that outstanding.
99% of the bikes here are Harleys, but I did get a sit on a new gussied up V-Max in a Yamaha tent
surprising lighter feel than my CB.
Yesterday morning we spent at Black Hills Harley here in Rapid City.
The trade exhibits are probably better here than at Sturgis, certainly more accessible.
You can listen to different exhaust systems mounted and running, or stereo systems playing, or check out suspension units
then trundle your bike round if you've made a choice, and have it fitted while you wait
and fill in the time having a corn dog, or an inch thick, t-bone size pork chop with chips and coleslaw.
Again there was a magnitude more bikes here than last year.
The resident shopkeepers in Sturgis vacate their premises for the incoming traders
and earn just as much from this fortnight's rent out, or more, than they do all year.
Spoke to one group at the bar last night who rent an owner-vacated for the week house
10 of them share the $4000 cost, pretty reasonable board when most of the motels are trying for room rates up to US$300 per night.
Rest of the year Sturgis reverts to a livestock market town
and Rapid City, at about 60,000 pop, bit like Palmerston North, but with a 6 lane 70 mph free-way in and out, serves as a district centre.
USA is very well served with roads, if you build it they will come sort of philosophy in action beautifully engineered, constant radius turns, just right cambers
perfect territory for the imperfect and/or choppered Harley.
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| Dakota Badlands |
Yesterday afternoon Sam and I took in SD's Badlands Natl Park I wont try and describe the eroded escarpment drop, off the Dakota prairie
there are a few surviving good pics apart from those of the inside of my pocket to do that better than words I could find.
Interesting little side-stop in this part of SD was at the Minuteman Natl Park exhibit. During the 60's Cold War there were 150 missile bunkers built here on surrounding farms.
By the polar route the solid fueled Minutemans could deliver a payload on Moscow within 35 minutes, some time faster than Russia could do pre-emptive damage the solid fuel also lasts indefinitely for ever-ready preparedness.
Most of the bunkers have been dis-established now and the land sold back to the farmers
makes you wonder whats in the modern armament cupboard.
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| Prairie dog park on the way home too |
Day before, most of the morning was spent at Rice Honda getting new tyres fitted and servicing done
they also deal in Suzuki and Victory
the CB created some interest and coveting in the workshop and with management, being a model not sold here
we want your bike!!
I could be tempted to trade to the Victory Hammer they sell
but I think I'd be like one customer they told me about, has bought 5 new bikes off them, but never traded-in the old.
The service staff here have been working 14 hour days for the last 4-5 days to cope with demand.
I had the GM personally on my case, and I think the laid back left-field good humour of us kiwis was a welcome respite for them.
Later we popped out to Cebelas sporting goods emporium, Graeme took us to last year, always worth a visit
coffee and cake, then a look and odd buy, around the many shelves of reasonably priced quality clothing, footwear, gear, you name it
the gun department's huge and interesting.
If I lived here I'd own a .40 Smith and Wesson silvered-barrel revolver
an over and under shotgun
a lever action .44 Winchester rifle heck.......... I'd be in this shop every weekend
fishing gear, bows and arrows........... boy
Then back to the hotel bar...
got in conversation with a couple of locals and a bloke in orange t-shirt and jandals
asking what we thought of the historic Alex Johnson hotel and its 8 storeys of renovated rooms.
Fortunately I gave a polite account, as he turned out to be the owner
and I also got shouted a beer for my positive homily.
A few rounds and drinking company later...
and the conversation shifted to our new Chicago-an company's difficulty interpreting Sam's quickening Irish chatter so I chipped in as interpreter.
I've found if you insert a y after the vowels a or i, it sounds about right
right becomes riyght, eight becomes eiyght, or riyit and eiyit
and you equal emphasise double vowelled words like thirteen, as thirr-teen.
"Mah dayddy sayid he'd git me a caydillac if ah dont got me a bayby before ah wuz thirr-teen"
and they roared as I mixed my smattering of accents from around the country.
Interestingly, they knew of and hugely enjoyed the antics of another duo of kiwis on TV
some characters, Bret, Germaime, and another bloke whose name they couldnt pronounce, Mrry or something.......
Flight of the Conchords!
Rona stole a show a couple of days ago too
I'd filled her up with yarns about the American womans prowess at making pie
at a roadside dinery we'd just polished off the first course and Rona pounces on the matron'd/bar-lady
you fullas got any pie
the bar-lady was full 40 seconds taken aback, and the yanks round the other side of the bar waited in expectant gleeful mystery
we were about for doing some prompting when the bar-lady hit full understanding
aaww, yew mean pah, ez in blueberra pah!
yeah, yeah, nah, yeah we chime back, and gales of laughter all round.
Getting serious to finish off...
did a big detour on the way here from Red Lodge, to go to Little Bighorn Battlefield Natl Monument
we're getting great use from our natl park season passes
name-changed away from reference to Custer's Last Stand in deference to the indian involvement.
By sheer fluke I took a $5 one hour minibus tour sponsored by the local Crow Indian Little Bighorn College
and learned a heap from the stirring and passionate commentary of the battle delivered by our indian woman guide.
So, stuff I didnt know......., and had wrongly gleaned from western movies.....
the last stand might have been on one knob, but the battle scene was spread over 5 miles, and maybe 5-10 more to the supply wagons.
First mistake, Custer ran to the fight, left his supply train mired in a swamp.
From 40 odd miles away his indian scouts had seen the 20,000 indian horses grazing out, and knew the opposition was pretty big.
When pointed to, Custer couldnt see them, so 2nd mistake, Custer didnt take his scouts advice
actually 600 troops vs 7000 indians.
3rd mistake, Custer split the troops into 4 or so smaller units
from his advance position all he could see of the indian encampment was the small top end,
consistent with the current military theory that 500 was about the maximum sustainable indian camp size.
At 3 per indian, 1500 horses need a lot of grass, Chief Joseph had 2000 for his 600 band
Custer believed he had the job sewn up, and interestingly, he let his indian scouts go
The handout says he had no further use for them, but I bet they were mighty pleased to beat it out of there
given what the retaliatory justice from their ethnic counterparts might have been.
So there he is, 600 troops spread out over 5 miles on exposed tops of hills, open country somewhat of the contour around Mt Stewart near PN
the indians surround them, and Custer and his advance 260 troop unit, in fact all the others of the 600 army
are stuck out in the blazing June sun 3 days, run out of water, and eventually ammo
Custer's group shoot their horses to make barricades, discard their ammo-spent rifles, shoot all their pistol ammo out
then stand back to back using pistols as clubs.
The indians do arrow showers just like we saw in "Braveheart"
Benteen countermands Custers messenger to come forward to assist and all 260 of Custer's post perish
there's little white headstones all over where troops remains have been found.
Nothing for the indians...
estimated losses of them between 60 and 100, but being rectified now, as mostly they took their dead with them.
Custer planned to go down to the indian camp to hold the women and children at gunpoint, with a view to making the braves surrender
a tactic he'd successfully pulled in campaigns further south, but still oblivious to the size of the bite he was attempting to chew.
The Cheyenne boys brigade of 10-14 year olds kept this move occupied, while the braves encircled further... game over.
Benteen got out of it as the indians decamped en masse for further south,
and it was another 12 months before they were successfully out-campaigned/rounded up.
Other stuff....
Custer didnt have golden locks, and wasnt scalped, I think
Indian mutilation of defeated enemy was belief based.
To stop the spirit going on doing the same stuff achieved while alive, different treatments were meted
Custer got his thighs slashed so he wouldnt ride horses again
another common treatment was removal of a trigger finger, so the spirit wouldnt go around firing guns
spirit was deemed to be resident in the hair, hence scalping.
The composition of the troops was similar to what we had in NZ colonial constabulary
40% european adventurers, some ranchers sons, and the rest pro soldiers and mercenaries.
Our Von Tempsky was Austrian, fought in Mexico and California before coming to Taranaki to form Von Tempsky's Raiders.
At 45 years old, Sitting Bull was a retired statesman, who'd done a great diplomatic feat of uniting the Crow, the 3 tribes of Dakota Sioux, and the Cheyenne into this huge force. He never entered the fight, was seeing to the safety of the women and children
Crazy Horse was 35 leading his contingent of Lakota, but would also have been considered an old man
braves were at their peak between 17 and mid twenties.
The circumstances leading up to this started 5 years previous...
the Crow people in their original treaty got the vast tract of land white-free
then that familiarly named character Bozeman, and a mate, sorted out the movie popularised Bozeman Trail through the southern region but the Crow, contrary to what I seen in the movies as a kid, sorted the job out and secured the 5 years, invasion free
till gold got discovered, a new treaty refused, and the land became termed "un-ceded" territory.
Custer got sent in to "cede" it.
Outside of the Natl Park, the land is still Crow reservation the nations have recently tried Congress on for a compensation settlement but our guide said it failed
one of our group thinks it was a take the money and bugger off the reservation offer.
I'd sooner be take the bag.
In todays terms the extent of reservation territory is pretty huge, and not necessarily the worst country either
with the familiar rank of defunct vehicles surrounding modest abodes.
Chatting with our guide, she was quite au fait with NZ's situation of Treaty and compensation settlements
I'd guess studies of indigenous situations round the world would be part of their college curriculum.
Mentioned in an earlier letter, Sitting Bull made it to Canada, but it was pretty raw up there for his people so they came home. He took part in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, but got into trouble again by promoting the Ghost Dancers movement
the people believing the spirits would make them undefeatable.
He eventually surrendered, but was shot by the indian police
exactly what happened to Crazy Horse.
One has to wonder....
its just like Te Kooti being rounded up by Te-Rangi-hiwi-nui (Major Kemp)
Were the people who accepted the further reservation confinement seeing the actions of the non-treaty-ists as delinquent?
were they settling old inter-tribal scores?
dunno......
I said it last year, of all colonised peoples, Maori were better off for taking the citizenship offered at Waitangi by the Crown.
I think it was that the colonists here in US had their independence stoush with the English
because the eastern Indian tribes were going to come out of it too well in land settlement.
And no photos, sorry...
was so engrossed I forgot.
Well, if youve got this far, congratulations
a fairly big read.
Tomorrow we're off around the Black Hills, weather permitting on our way to Ft Collins, Colorado
