The Wild, Wild West

Aug 1, 2006

Cool, cool morning! I love it. A glorious, fresh day waited for us to explore and enjoy. We were euphoric and giddy with what we usually take for granted – cool, clear weather.

We decided to visit ‘The Headquarters’ – Sturgis, the centre of what’s happening, biker-wise. So much fun - us and 50,000 bikers. The main street had been changed into biker utopia, full of biker gear – leather chaps and jackets, logo t-shirts, skullcaps, scarves, chains, hats, saddlebags. Bikes were parked everywhere; cars were the minority. The bars were overflowing onto the sidewalks. The ‘Christian Biker Movement’ had set up benches all along the street and they were well used. I approached a long lean blonde who had a tiny dog on her (actually his) lap. The dog named Harley, a poodle/yorkie cross was dressed in a Harley Davidson leather skullcap and vest. I couldn’t resist. I was so surprised when the long blonde haired person turned out to be an extremely attractive male and hopefully didn’t show my shock. I asked him where he got such a cute little outfit and he answered “Oh, Momma got it at the Harley store; it was on a stuffed animal, so Momma bought the whole thing”. With that, along came Momma, not at all what I expected – she was a large boned tough looking and talking woman not the cute little biker gal I anticipated.

While I was taking a picture of a corpse in biker gear in a storefront, from behind I heard “He’s a good-looking dude, ain’t he?” and did a double take when I saw who was talking – he was dressed exactly like and was just as skinny as the corpse mannequin. I answered without thinking and put my foot right in my mouth “Oh my gawd! You’re twins – you look exactly alike”. I quickly added “Well that’s what you’ll look like in the afterlife”. He guffawed so heartily that I realized he wasn’t at all offended and thought it was pretty funny.

There are double again the number of bikers on the roads – I can’t imagine what it will be like on the weekend and all next week. Two million are expected – where will they all go? Our campground is filled with 5th Wheel toy haulers, carrying Harleys, motorhomes towing bike-carrying trailers, bikers with tents, bikers that rent cabins, and us. I saw a sign “Harleys for rent”. I tried to persuade Fernie to rent a couple of bikes, buy some leather gear and be part of the crazy scene. I halfway convinced him.
We made a second visit to Deadwood with the intention of exploring the historic areas and ignoring the casinos. Mount Moriah cemetery is situated high up on a hill overlooking the town. One-dollar admission provided us with a map of the gravesites and a bio of the notable dead. We spent a couple of hours grave crawling in the ponderosa filled burial ground. Wild Bill Hickock is buried there and Calamity Jane beside him, at her request. Wild Bill’s original gravestone was stolen and a marker that replaced it was also stolen. It makes you wonder where they are now – in someone’s basement rec room? Tossed out in a garbage dump? In somebody’s rock garden?

It was interesting reading the bios of the individuals who first populated Deadwood. They were a colourful lot. Some murdered, many died in mining accidents, children who died of diphtheria, smallpox and scarlet fever. There was a Jewish section, a Chinese section (even though most of the bodies were exhumed and sent back to China), a Civil War Veterans section, a mass grave of fifteen men killed in a boarding house fire. They all came alive for us as we read their histories.

Seth Bullock, the first sheriff of Deadwood, requested that he be buried high above the main cemetery facing Mount Roosevelt – President Teddy Roosevelt was a good friend of his in his later years. We traipsed up the steep winding path wondering why we were the only ones who tackled the climb, pausing to take a breath every so often finally reaching the lone gravesite. People had left coins all over the top of the large gravestone. What’s that in aid of? Well thanks to Seth Bullock, I burned off 500 calories.

We noted the saloon where Wild Bill was shot – Saloon #10. We took a look at the location where Seth Bullock and his partner Sol had their hardware store now occupied by the Bullock Hotel. It was only 130 years ago that Deadwood was booming and we went back in time this afternoon. When watching the next episode of Deadwood the series, we will be so much more familiar with the characters after visiting their locale.

Tomorrow, we’ll leave the Black Hills of South Dakota but it has become one of our favourite spots in the USA and we’ll always have an affection for it.