Having toured around the badlands we reached our destination of Hill City (map point B in our Road to Nowhere post) in the late afternoon having passed hundreds if not thousands of bikers headed in the opposite direction. Unbeknown to us the largest motorbike rally in the world had just finished and people were starting their long rides home just as were arriving. The town of Sturgis where the rally is centered has a population of 6,440 people which goes up to 750,000 people during the rally week! Although we missed the rally there was still plenty of biker evidence during our stay such as the main road in Hill city.
Our first day trip from Hill City was to Jewel Cave, about 11 miles West of Custer and point D on our map, this is the world's 2nd longest cave at 145 miles of discovered tunnels (of which all but 2 were discovered in the last 50 years).
Dan trying the gap that you need to squeeze through if you want to do the Spelunking tour After the caves we headed to Custer State Park stopping for lunch near Pine Creek
Coming down from the hillOn our way we saw a few teenagers taking the plunge from the hill into the creek
I got back from the UK a couple of weeks before Andy and the kids so that I could get on with a few things around the house and not use up all my leave - as it turned out I had even longer than that. The day before Andy was due to fly home she phoned me up in a panic as both of us had the wrong date and she had just missed her flight :-( That flight was also full for the next week so they couldn't even reschedule her. After much frantic phoning we got a flight via Iceland a couple of days later so I really has no excuse for not having the house tidy.
As it turned out we had a ton of issues with our system at work (or rather one of the systems that ours relies on) so most of my evening were spent at work rather than doing the jobs around the house I'd been planning. I did manage to get out for a couple of really nice cycle rides though, there are hundreds of miles of great bike routes from where the city decided in their myopic wisdom to get rid of the railroads. Still it makes for great cycling and I took off early a couple of mornings on a ride that took me around 5 of the lakes in the city. On the first ride I actually managed to run over a squirrel which was a bit of a surprise!
When the gang returned from England we had a day to unpack and day to pack and we were off on our first decent sized cross state roadtrip - to the Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota - but first we had to traverse (as is so often the way in middle America) a whole lot of nothing. Here is our journey on the map, from Edina, Minnesota to Hill City, South Dakota - 624 miles of plains. First stop for a trip southwest of Minneapolis is the town of Sioux Falls, so named for the falls One nice surprise was that you could get to the falls from the town via a free trolley bus. Rather than do the whole trip there in one go we decided to stop just before the Badlands so we could see them without having to double back on ourselves (the badlands is marker A on the map below) so we spent one night in the town of Murdo.
I'm not sure if the town has a slogan, if not may I suggest 'The Town That Cuisine Forgot' - which was just to the right of point A. My 'dinner' was evidence enough that we were in a culinarily retarded zone, frozen breaded fish with tinned sweetcorn (tinned - in the land of sweetcorn), mushed potato (not mashed) with gravy! The deal was sealed however by a lady who was served after us and had been kept waiting for ages: when she asked what the hold up was the waitress answered that it took the kitchen a while, and I quote 'to heat the food from frozen to fresh'.
We got our first taste of the 'big sky' effect while traveling to Dakota, it really felt as though the sky was much larger and like we were perched on the top of a globe (which we are but it doesn't usually feel like it). Thinking about why this was it seemed to be because the air was very clear (after all there is nothing here) and that you can see the clouds all the way to the ground - check out the second picture below. The separation between the sky and land, which we're used to seeing is gone and the clouds wrap all the way around. After a hundred miles or so we got to the edge of the badlands, a really bizarre formation of sedimentary rock that the Lakota Indians called Makhóšiča, literally 'bad land'. There are actually numerous badlands in the states and other countries, all sharing a common look of very steep ridges and crumbly dry and arid rock. There were signs to watch out for rattlesnakes and there was one in the sunflower patches above too although it has hidden when I went to take a look (not sure how sensible this was). One of the other perils of long distance driving is the incessant noise from the smaller passengers, this can be somewhat alleviated by using the Dolby B(ucket) noise reduction system. The other thing we brought with us was some very unusual rain. Straight after this we took an unpaved road for about 30 miles and our car turned entirely mud coloured. Andy was so embarrased that she wanted to get it washed, I used a somewhat tightfisted philosophy that if we didn't get it washed and it rained that that would wash it off and we'd save money, if it didn't rain then we'd be pleased that it didn't rain and we could get it washed when we got home - so either way we'd do OK. As it turned out it didn't rain until we were driving home but by that point even the torrential downpour we had didn't get it all off. The area is also famous for fossils, although the one that the ranger is holding comes from nearby tar pits rather than badlands.
The highlight of our trip back to the UK was the trip Andy organised to Center Parcs with most of my very good friends and their families. 28 of us made the trip to Nottingham (in central England for those not familiar with Blighty). The cursory excuse for this event was my upcoming 40th birthday, still, I like to feel, a long way off. It was also 10 years since most of the same group - though now with lots of mini-mes - got together for Andy Collins' 30th at the same place.
Aside from a few extra grey hairs, a couple of steps up in the quality of the booze that was consumed and a complete lack of the ability to have a lie-in, you wouldn't really have known any time had passed, which I have to say was rather special.
The weather (now that I'm writing about England the weather is pretty much a compulsory topic) was so-so, by which I mean that there were pauses in the rain long enough to lure you outside before catching you halfway to wherever it is you were headed for.
Of course cards and games played a prominent part of the evening activities much as they did when we were nearly a quarter of our current ages - hard to believe when I think of it like that that anything could ever change so I'm very grateful for the consistency of these friends over the years. We had pretty much 3 days in the woods, and managed to fill out the time well, playing table tennis, swimming, field archery (at poor fake animals) and disc golf (all the way from the US). We also all got together in the evenings for a BBQ with Elena, Bethany, Phoebe and Neve doing a star job of looking after the younger children. Becky was very proud of her painted nails. Bill and Guy compared the size of their equipment. It s ascary thought to think what this lot will look like in another 10 years Dean and Andy wonder whose child will fall in the stream first Dan, Stan, Neve and Toby Dean is somehat taken aback by Kesiah's views on the Middle East crisis Sophie and Mel with pictures of their hunky husbands from far less fashionable days. Guy is happy as he knows I'm going to like my present - you can't go wrong with some Global knives Glen and Helen in the kitchen. Glen is lending excellent moral support. Glen and Helen made me this fantastic teapot - its an instant hierloom and a great reminder of a rather special weekend. Here is a video of the effects of adding a feew Mento's (chewy mints) to a bottle of Coke,
Having just said goodbye to Dad and Sarah we pretty much followed them back to England. The kids fitted straight back into the British way of life including the wearing of pants on the head to stave off earwigs at night. Digger Dan was soon back digging up gold on the allotment And watering the family Speaking of which Andy's cousin Pom has just had a little boy called Alex Lots of time was spent visiting family and friends, Dan and Becky are down the park with Will and Emma And Pippa It was also a BIG birthday for Martin turning 60. And Andy even gets to meet Jon's new girlfriend - first time ever!
After the caves we headed to Custer State Park stopping for lunch near Pine Creek
Coming down from the hill
On our way we saw a few teenagers taking the plunge from the hill into the creek
