31 July 2012

A carving of president Arnold Schwarzkopf

I left you last time as we were entering South Dakota; a state that gets a moderate write-up as being too flat and empty. I think it’s great, or the Western end of it is. The famous Black Hills were very pretty but were slightly spoilt by two things; the tourists (not us) and the fires that seem to follow us from state to state. For the tourists, I blame a chap called Gutzon Borglum who decided to carve the faces of four presidents into the side of Mount Rushmore. They (the tourists) all seem to love it and flock  to peer up their (the presidents’) noses from close range, having paid a fortune to park and visit the interpretive centre.
  

We peered at it from the side of the road some distance away
and later through a handy gap in the trees - for free
 jolly interesting it was too.

Keystone - tourist hell

Badlands South Dakota - fantastic

The following morning the Nav woke-up at an un-godly hour and smelt smoke! After tottering outside, she discovered that we were surrounded by it. She obviously thought the risk of waking the driver was worth it and almost immediately we were en-route for the Badlands. We thought they were wonderful and felt pretty safe from fires as there was precious little vegetation to burn. The Badlands had originally been an inland sea which, after drying, had become seriously eroded by the White river into bizarre formations and layers.

Rather appealing pink hillocks

Amongst these desert shapes were a surprisingly large variety of animals; the white-tail deer were harmless enough but the buffalo looked untrustworthy; especially the one in the photo who was rather enjoying a wooden post. Must have been desperate. There were signs up everywhere warning us to leave the prairie dogs alone as they carried the plague! Despite these clear warnings, there were several foolish Americans wandering around, and peering down infested burrows.

Getting wood?

Prairie dog
Fluffy & cute? No - plague-ridden monster

Purely by chance we stumbled onto a perfect camping spot perched on a cliff high above the canyons of the Badlands on some National Grassland land. It was an incredible place to spend the night with amazing views and only coyotes to keep us awake.

Cliff-top camp Badlands South Dakota

The nearby small town of Wall had about 50,000 billboards advertising the Wall Drugstore – it even gets a favourable write-up in the lonely Planet – so we didn’t go there. Instead we visited the excellent museum describing the murder of several hundred Indian men, women and children at the South Dakota village of Wounded Knee. Although it was told from the Indians’ point of view, it was very informative and one is even given an eagle feather to wear in one’s hair. It wouldn’t stay in mine as I don’t have enough (a plait might help) but that didn’t matter as I don’t think the Nav would have let me wear it anyhow “how”. Actually it was a domestic turkey feather dipped in ink but it looked authentic enough. As an aside, my advisor  on these matters, Kate, correctly points out that when a whole lot of Indians were killed by the US Army and settlers it’s called a battle but when the Indians did the killing it is normally referred to as a massacre.

Since we are in S Dakota, I should warn you to stay away from the town of Sturgis from June to about September. In August it gets over-run by a HUGE motorbike rally/festival. For months either side frightful people turn up to, I don’t know – practice being horrid? Anyhow,  when we were passing through weeks before it was due, there were hoards of the normal fat old estate agents (occasionally with slappers on the pillions of their Harleys) and other meaner looking chaps who probably bite the heads off whippets or whatever. In fact, I wonder what the latter think of the former who are trying their best to look mean etc. Don’t go there unless you are mad or have a death wish.

Devil's Tower Wyoming

On our way over to Sheridan in Wyoming, we went to see the Devil’s Tower. Now, despite the bus-loads of tourists (where do they all come from? The roads are empty.) this is a must-see. It is a 1,267 feet high volcanic igneous intrusion (very painful) which has remained after everything around it has weathered away. It is formed by thousands of columns, each of 6 sides – rather like the Giant’s Causeway but much higher. It is sacred to the Indians and people are urged to treat it with respect and not to nick the various bits tied to trees as offerings and prayers etc. Despite this, death-wish lunatics are allowed to climb the Devil’s Tower and it has several chalk smears on some of the upper bits where their white-knuckled vice-like grips have marked the rock.

D's T - close-up

We spent the night in the local National Forest and while walking back to our truck after an evening stroll, we came face to face with a large mountain lion. I think it was doing the same thing as us and was thinking about  something completely different. If I hadn’t shouted and thrown stones, it would have ambled right into us and then who knows what would have happened? Can I run faster than the Nav was my first thought. Probably not. It had walked right past the door or our camper and it caused a few nervous glances over my shoulders whilst conducting a shovel-recce the next morning. We were very lucky to have seen one of these at such close range (30yds); many people live their whole lives in the area without even a glimpse and this was a big one. Sadly we only had the mobile ‘phone upon which to take a snap so it looks a bit blurred – there is only so much the anti-shake feature can cope with.



Mountain Lion running away - thank God.

After this excitement it was with huge relief that we made it safely across to Buffalo and met up with Harry who has been with friends on the ranch. He is in fine form and it has been great to see him after over a year of his travels. We then descended upon my sister Georgina for some fantastic RnR. She and Tom have been so kind looking after us and putting up with endless piles of washing and dusty junk lying around. 4^th of July (when we granted America its independence) was celebrated with the most enormous firework display this side of the last Olympics. There were many slightly nervous officials around as the display was conducted amid a state-wide firework ban due to the fire risk.

I urge you to look-up the details of  a small but vicious fight between the Army and the Indians near Fort Kearney in Wyoming. We had a fascinating visit and will try to go to some other examples of the Indian Wars such as Little Big Horn.

Fetterman's Massacre
Up-market battlefield tour guides (stereo)

Fetterman's Massacre
Original wagon ruts from the Bozeman Trail

Who? Me?

Fort Phil Kearney
from which the disobedient (allegedly)  and doomed Fetterman led his troops
Note snow on distant mountain tops - it's mid-July and 39C.

Another highlight was the  Sheridan Wyo Rodeo. Wyoming is the “Cowboy State” so, as you may imagine, this is taken very seriously. It was fantastic fun and a real eye-opener. As someone who is not an acknowledged world-class horseman, I was baffled enough by how they kept their hats on let alone by how they stayed on a manic bucking bronco for eight very long seconds (or on an enormous and very angry bull). The most entertaining part of the rodeo was the World Championships of the Indian Relay Races. From what I could gather, each heat was a race between 4 or 5 teams. Each team supplied a rider and 3 horses and had to race 3 times around a 800 yard circuit changing horses after each lap. They had to start dismounted and the starter (a cowboy with a pistol) seemed to be allowed to fire his gun whenever he felt like it – whether the teams were ready or not! Total chaos but very entertaining. Only several people were seriously injured. I think they should go on tour as they would be a huge hit at the Horse of the Year Show (or even Moreton in Marsh Show for that matter). Health and Safety would not be amused. The 2012 World Champions are a Crow Indian team from Montana.

I could do that - in fact I did once in Fally

ditto

Start of the Indian Relay Race

Changeover

In the lead

We had a great opportunity to do a little side tour of  part of the Big Horn mountains with Harry. They are a very beautiful part of this beautiful state and it was nice of H to show his wrinkly old folks around.

Ten Sleep Canyon

I had been wondering...

Crazy Woman's Canyon
(no comment)

Our only downside to this part of the trip was the need to get our truck serviced by Nissan. It had to be a Nissan service to comply with the extended warranty requirements and Billings, Montana was the nearest (a 5 hour round trip). Despite a 10 day warning that it was a Brit vehicle and describing the engine type and filter requirements to them, they failed to have an oil filter available. Not only that, but they couldn’t even find one in North America. Useless. In addition, they failed to do several of the tasks we asked them to and bullshitted about it. My advice to any of you thinking of getting your Nissan serviced – don’t get Billings Nissan to do it.

With clean oil, a dirty filter and mixed feelings we set off for the frozen North. Back in Wyoming on 22^nd August to meet Sophie from England – can’t wait. I am now wearing a red hoody and a joe-cool baseball hat. Many of the two of you who read this will have fallen off your chairs at this startling news as I am the father who tried to ban his kiddies from hoody-wearing. I now love them (hoodies and the kiddies) and am seldom out of it. They were both B-D presents (not the kiddies) and are v smart (English meaning for hoodies - American meaning for nippers).

One for the cowboys