First stop on this very warm day was The Stone House Saloon.
This stone shell of a building in the middle of the open plains doubles as a watering hole.
Getting here means you'd have to brave the onslaught of these giant grasshopper things. Evil little creatures that plot to kill on coming motorcylists by jumping into the rider's path at about face height. Getting hit by one of these surpass the pain of getting hit with a leather whip.
Once you've survived the treacherous bugs, and you pull into the lot at the stone house a breeze made cooler by the few trees out front greet you (while the grasshoppers in the grass taunt you with more of their evil ). It was still early when we got there, though the bar was open, we passed up a drink and wandered through the shell of the building with a Sharpie in hand. Where did I get the Sharpie you may ask, why from the cups of them on the bar. Now what you should ask is Why a sharpie? Well to sign my name on the wall. As you enter you realize this isn't just an abandoned over a hundred year old stone building. People from over the world have signed every inch of the interior. Both downstairs and upstairs are completely covered so after a bit of searching I was drawn to the rear window frame. Where once there was a double window is now just an old weathered wooden frame, this is where I placed my sig. For those of you who found this blog while searching on that, I welcome you to explore more of me.
We left the empty memories of a house which didn't reveal me any of it's secrets and rode onward to the town of Aladin. With the population of only fifteen it's put it's place on the map. W
e stopped in it's tiny general store. Part kitchy touristy trap and part antique store. Here's where I found my all black fox tail. After replenishing some fluids we headed on to Devil's Tower.
The road was wide open with hills, plains, and a deep red soil and amazing cliffs. Small creeks cutting into the colorful striated sedimentary rocks, you can just see how this land was carved. The wide turns of the road only complimented the landscape.
Nice speeds, my tail flying through the curves and getting more comfortable on the bike had me shooting good pics with the digital, along some video. Before long peeking through turns Devils Tower could be seen on the horizon. It would be atleast another thirty minutes until we'd arrive at the gates of the wildlife that led up to the rock formation.
I feel that from a distance you can appreciate the grandure of this huge stone. The Indian legend is a great tale but I find the geological mystery even more wonderous. The bare granite shoots
almost strait up in huge octogon spires all clustered together and erroded away. From the visitor center you can see people climbing these near vertical rock faces, just specks on a mass of stone.
Onward to the prairie dogs! Such cute little critters. In the plains within the Devils Tower park are areas where you can park and watch these little guys. Listen to the signs, don't feed them they may bite, and out thisaway rodents still carry the black plague. Sadly enough I couldn't get close enough to contract it. That would have been a good souvineer though.
After playing with the critters we headed on back to camp. This is when i realized i hate the highways through the grasslands, the wind is crazy strong, and honestly just a miserable ride. After we returned Alex and I decided to head into Sturgis. We took the back roads through Deadwood, and got ourselves turned around a few times. But after a few times we found the right roads. And got there as things were closing around us. Now cold from the night air our mission was to find nice sweat shirts to keep us warm for the ride back.
With our mission accomplished, a quick and not so satisfying to burger king before hopping on the highway again.
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