Once again it was off down to the Lamphere Ranch General Store for real coffee and breakfast. I know I said this yesterday but you get a good deal here and anyone planning on doing Sturgis should seriously consider Lamphere as a real option, particularly if you want a more relaxed pace.
Returning to the tent site we quickly stowed what we didn't need and fired up the Harleys. Heading out the long entrance drive we realised that the campground had grown significantly over the last few days with a lot of the new guests arriving in huge RV's with their bikes inside.
True riders frown on this practice hence the proliferation of signs around Sturgis saying 'nice trailer - PUSSY'. At the heart of this is the notion of being a 'biker'. The genesis of the term may well be in the first motorcycle gangs and 1%ers, but to be a biker does not mean you have to be a fully signed up member of an outlaw club. What it does mean - to me at least - is that I own and ride a bike and have done so for a very long time -I ride in all weathers because I regularly choose to do so regardless of the distance. I understand and follow some simple rules - loyalty - friendship - respect - I am prepared to make a stand over what is important to me - I live for the next ride and I seek out the company of similar souls to share it with. We can all argue over what the term really means but I don't need a label on my jacket to make my riding life any more important or real to me than what beats in my biker heart every time I fire that old scoot up and head out the gate.
So it is a fundamental that arriving at Sturgis in an RV or with your show bike on a trailer is not what those of us who ride thousands of miles to get here would call 'having a true biker heart'. Having said that - each to their own - and I have to say some of those rigs were incredible. Still - I pretty quickly brought a T shirt which simply said "I rode mine" and made a point of wearing it as much as I could.
The morning was clear and even though it was only around 9am the highway into Sturgis was already starting to fill up with bikes. Now we ain't called the Lost Boys for nothing and true to form I managed to lose our way at the first major intersection on the outskirts of Sturgis. Not such an easy thing to do when the sign said Rapid City straight ahead and I turned left and had us heading for Devil's Tower again with a real purpose and mission. Thankfully the error was quickly corrected and we then spent twenty minutes trying to skirt around the centre of Sturgis. Once out of Sturgis however the road was flat and largely straight, with the occasional big rolling bend. Slowly twist the right wrist and dial up 75mph please.
Our first destination - Rapid City - is the second-largest city in the State of South Dakota. Named after Rapid Creek on which the city is established, it is set against the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountain range. The population is somewhere around 68000 so it is roughly seven times larger than Sturgis. Nearby towns are Custer - alongside Custer State Park - the Historic old west town of Deadwood and in the hills there is Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. It was our intention to get to all of these places today - and we did - but not before we checked out the Harley dealership - Black Hills Harley Davidson.
Now for Sturgis week this place transforms into a 20 acre bikers shopping paradise with not only Harley bikes, accessories and merchandise but most of the large and small players in the after market scene - J&P - Kuryakn to name but a couple. When we arrived there would have been somewhere between 6000 to 100000 Harleys in the car park with plenty more coming in behind us.
There were some great deals and both Bo and I picked up some great parts for our Harleys back home at the Kuryakyn super site. Their marquee bill boards claimed everything in their catalogue was on display and we are pretty sure it was having thumbed through that book on many an occasion. I like some of the Kuryakn gear and have a particular fondness for their lighting products. Some additional top box lighting was the aim for the day and I wasn't disappointed. After a pretty good look around it was back on the road again and on to Mount Rushmore.
Now the ride to Rushmore was pretty special as it put us on to Iron Mountain Road. Iron Mountain Road, also known as 16A, is an incredible and unforgettable riding experience. This 17 mile stretch of tight, narrow, twisting, snaking tarmac in the Black Hills of South Dakota takes you right up to Mount Rushmore. It was deliberately designed to make you slow down, to see and feel things that you won't normally encounter and it was sheer riding pleasure to lean my Harley over into the many corners and switchbacks.
The literature boasts 314 CURVES, 14 SWITCHBACKS, 3 PIGTAILS, 3 TUNNELS, 4 PRESIDENTS and 2 SPLITS. Not sure what a pigtail is but damn it was fun to ride them wherever or whatever they were. This is bucket list stuff once again folks.
Arriving at Mount Rushmore you are immediately struck by the incredible amount of work that has gone into developing the site into a national memorial of true significance. Called the "Shrine of Democracy" it is beautifully and tastefully rendered with the man made structures blending into the surroundings, whilst adding a framing and structure to the sculpture itself. And what a sculpture. Forget about the pictures you have seen of this piece of mountainous granite - up close and personal the sculptures are colossal.
At risk of turning this man's account of an incredible day into the Lonely Planet's Guide to South Dakota here are some interesting fact's about Rushmore. The local native Lakota Sioux Indians called the mountain Six Grandfathers long before the cowboys arrived and it wasn't until a prominent lawyer from New York named Charles Rushmore arrived in 1885 that the mountain took on the name Rushmore. Personally I think the Sioux were hard done by as the Government had only just seized the Black Hills including the Six Grandfathers off them the year before - despite having signed a treaty in 1868 giving them the land in perpetuity. Understandably this is still the source of enormous tension to this day and not everyone was pleased with the decision to carve four American presidents on a mountain that held spiritual significance for the Lakota tribe. Partly in response, a memorial to Crazy Horse, the great Sioux war chief, is being carved in the Black Hills 17 miles away from Mount Rushmore.
Still - looking at the whole thing unemotionally having just four US Presidents on the side of a mountain called Six Grandfathers would probably have been very confusing to those that don't know the history - no doubt prompting the chiseling of two more Presidents to even things up a bit for the sake of clarity and a good round number. Given that Gutzom Borglum and 400 workers toiled away with tiny hammers and chisels (and the odd stick of dynamite) from 1927 till the project ran out of money in 1941 another two presidents would have been a big ask. Even as it is the four that are up there are not finished as the original design had each president depicted from the waist up.
This is a popular place. Nearly three million visitors come here every year and I think most of them were here today, particularly the Japanese contingent. In that large crowd, with numerous bikers to choose from we were singled out for star treatment on a number of occasions. Somewhere on a Facebook page or two are pictures of lovely Asian girls and two tattooed biker sons of bitches - sorry girls I know I said I was from Texas but I was just 'messin with yo'all'. I guess that's just how we roll.
As you enter you proceed down the Avenue of Flags. The flags of the 56 states and territories fly below the memorial. Here, the avenue provides direct and easy access to the Grandview Terrace and Presidential Trail, a half-mile walking trail that offers spectacular views of the mountain sculpture.
Not knowing what to expect it was off to the Crazy Horse Memorial. If you see one you have to see the other. It gives the experience some important balance. It is a short yet easy ride to the Crazy Horse site. The first thing that strikes you is that this is definitely not some half arsed Indian tourist venture selling the obligatory jewellery and rugs. This is the real deal on a monumental scale and, as the pamphlet says, more than just a mountain.
The complex looks out to Thunderhead Mountain where the statue is taking shape. Work was commenced in 1948 and is still in progress. Once completed (if that ever happens) it will be the largest statue in the world. The complex itself includes the Indian Museum of North America and the Native American Cultural Centre. These two buildings frame a peaceful courtyard that gives uninterrupted views out to the monument itself.
The statue itself will depict Crazy Horse, the legendary Oglala Lakota Sioux war chief, astride his war horse and pointing into the distance. The entire complex is owned by the Crazy Horse Memorial Foundation. Whilst a significant memorial for the Sioux people it is not without it's critics from within the tribe.
Having the finished sculpture depict Crazy Horse pointing with his index finger has been widely criticized. Native American cultures prohibit using the index finger to point at people or objects, as the people find it rude and taboo. Some spokesmen compare the effect to a sculpture of George Washington with an upraised middle finger. To some extent, given the way the Government has apparently treated the Sioux in the past, such a gesture from Crazy Horse is somewhat understandable.
The story behind the creation of this memorial is one of tenacity and vision, primarily by the Sioux people who have steadfastly refused government funding in the development of this site so far. And their achievements are both beautiful and inspiring. As far back as 1929 Henry Standing Bear initiated the project to honour Crazy Horse. In many respects this was a direct counter to what the Federal Government was doing at nearby Mount Rushmore. Standing Bear managed to commission
Korczak Ziolkowski, who had worked under Gutzom Borglum at the Rushmore site, to do the sculpting. The first work commenced in 1948 after years of planning. Ziolkowski died in 1982 however his wife and children continued on with the project. Sixteen years later in 1998, the face of Crazy Horse was completed and dedicated.
Monique Ziolkowski, the daughter of Korczak and also a sculptor, has modified some of her father's plans to make the sculpture work better. The foundation commissioned reports from two engineering firms in 2009 to help guide completion of the project. As I understand it a completion date somewhere around 2025 is planned.
I found the Museum fascinating and the walls conveyed some of the special aura and history that is unique to this particular Indian nation. In the Black Hills there echoes the sound of many battles between the Sioux and the US Army. Famous war chiefs such as Red Cloud and of course the Battle of the Little Big Horn. There is much to be said for the way in which the Sioux refused to bow down and go quietly and there are stories of injustices on both sides, perhaps the most poignant being Wounded Knee.
At the Museum I had a six foot six Sioux warrior in full dress walk right past me and I don't mind saying that had a war party made up of his Indian brothers appeared on the horizon back in the day I for one would have had no hesitation in quietly crapping myself. These guys are impressive. Today, as they did for centuries before the white man arrived - they still stand proud and tall - they have a right to do so and I admire them for what they are doing here.
Practically overnight, the tiny gold camp boomed into a town that played by its own rules that attracted outlaws, gamblers and gunslingers along with the gold seekers. Wild Bill Hickok was one of those men who came looking for fortune. But just a few short weeks after arriving, he was gunned down. Calamity Jane also made a name for herself here and, just like the TV series, Deadwood had a real Sherriff named Seth Bullock and a gambling hall brothel keeper named Al Swearengen.
We found Wild Bill's grave pretty quickly. The history here was palpable. Wild Bill died playing poker, shot in the back by the coward Jack McCall with a hand of Aces and eights. A little known fact is that in 1979 Wild Bill Hickok was inducted as a charter member into the World Series of Poker’s Hall of Fame. Go figure - I love these guys.
At the small shop opposite the Cemetary (well worth a look) we learnt that Martha Jane Canary was a tobacco-spitting, beer-guzzling, foul-mouthed woman who preferred men’s clothing to dresses. She was well known through the Hills as Calamity Jane, but how she got this nickname is a legendary debate. According to Old West legend, Calamity Jane rode into a group of fighting hostiles to save a wounded army captain. Jane emerged from the fight untouched so the captain named her “Calamity Jane.”
Some say Jane made the whole thing up because she was looking for attention from the town’s legendary men—especially Wild Bill Hickok who she claimed to love. It’s widely reported that Hickok, who was married, had little interest in Jane and that’s why the townsfolk buried her next to him in Mount Moriah Cemetery—so she could spend eternity with him and they could play the ultimate joke on Hickok.
In all we had ridden 191 miles of the beautiful South Dakata countryside today and it was fantastic. Easy on the soul and easy on the arse. Back at Lamphere we immediately fell to drink and began to repeat a familiar ritual - I'll just have one more - Okay - then we will call it a night - sounds good brother.
Then.... we were joined by some neighbours from nearby tents. These guys had come down from Canada so we spent a considerable amount of time talking about the best rides up their way. We intend to get there.
And so - somewhat predictably - this great day in the Black Hills drew slowly to an end - Or did it - those nearby would have heard the following conversation - Feel like another - okay a roader - hell we've run out of beer - big day tomorrow - I'll just get a six pack - fuck it make it two. LTGTR!
COMING UP - STURGIS TO VALENTINE THROUGH 400 MILES OF CORNFIELDS
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