June 28, 2009 Jamie

Jamie; Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway; Drill Sargeant: Deadwood

Last night, we ate at The Loud American (appropriate name for this crew) in Sturgis. Our waitress was named Jamie, a 20ish, fine figured girl with dark, red tinged hair, wearing a Jack Daniels T-shirt, and very, very short cut-off shorts. She has a wonderful smile, but she looks a little saucy. After delivering our meals, she returned and asked if we needed anything else, Bill replied, “Only another of your wonderful smiles.” She grinned from ear to ear, saying, “I can do THAT all night long.” We were not sure she was talking about smiling “all night long” but I guess we’ll never know. When we left, she gave us all hugs. Old men are so easy to please.
We left the hotel at 8:30 today to get in a ride before meeting Sandy and Sugar at the airport at 1:15. We traveled west to Spearfish on Interstate 90, turning south on Route 14a to enter Spearfish Canyon, a 10-12 mile long canyon following a stream bed, surrounded by high, steep, coniferous treed hills on both sides. The temperature dropped quickly as we climbed up to an elevation of 6200 feet, and were passing through the shadows of the hills. We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls for a picture, but it was into the sun and didn’t come out well. Next stop was past the Lodge, a beautiful place to stay in this Canyon, to see another waterfall. When we had traveled 1 1/4 mile up a dirt road, we parked in the parking lot. We heard the brook and the “falls” of about 2 feet and were quite disappointed. But a couple came by and told us not to miss the falls down the path - they were “well worth it.” So Griff sat while we went to discover the falls, and they were scenic, maybe forty foot drop as seen by us at the top. After returning to the bikes, we continued up the dirt road to see where a scene from Dances with Wolves had been shot, but we couldn’t say for sure which area it was in. After cleaning the bikes yesterday, they were well on their way to getting dusty and dirty again, with Griff’s bike getting the brunt as he brought up the rear. When we arrived at Cheyenne Crossing, he took out his cleaning cloth and wiped the dust off his bike. The treat there was the plateful of fresh doughnut holes, and a bottle of water. We proceeded more rapidly down Route 14a-Route 85 toward Lead, Deadwood and Sturgis, with 55 mph speed limit and twisting, descending roads, a real treat for motorcycles.
On the way here, I led the way and tried, often in vain, to keep our gas stops short, and to keep up the pace. I would also “suggest” a time to leave each morning, and would choose our stops and would “suggest” when we would stop at the end of the day. So now Bobby and Bill are calling me “Drill Sargeant”, and stand at attention when we meet at the bikes in the morning. They are getting quite a giggle out of it. And the title of this blog, “To Look for America,” they don’t see how we can look for America when I won’t let them stop and take pictures and the scenery is just a blur as we go speeding by. And my response, “It’s not good to piss of the Drill Sargeant.”
Our augmented Gang of Six took the van (courtesy of Holiday Inn) to Deadwood for supper. It is a historically famous town, in part because Wild Bill Hickok was gunned down by an assassin, Jack McCall, while playing poker in Saloon No. 10. His hand? Two pairs, Aces and eights, which ever after up to even today was and is called the “Dead Man’s Hand.” It’s population is about 3,000 but swells considerably during the day and especially on the weekends due to it becoming a gambling center.
Well, the cat is out of the bag. Sugar learned that Bobby has bought a Harley - a 2001 Road King. She had thought that might be so, but her suspicions increased when she asked Billy if Bobby (who was not present at the airport) had purchased a motorcycle. Billy just shrugged his shoulders and walked away - that really helped keep the secret. Then the clincher was when Bobby joined us for lunch at Rosco’z, he took off his coat and underneath was a Harley T-shirt. Anyway, he is very happy and hopes that he can pick it up on Tuesday before we head out for Wyoming. It’s a beautiful bike and will make his ride home a lot more enjoyable.
As you can see from the Comments, Peter Schertenleib got the answer to the quiz. I’ll have to work on another one. Bon soir.