Jeff's Big 2009 Summer adventure

July 1 on, is HERE

5/20/09

I just got to Rawlins, WY for the evening. Good weather and good trip
so far. I'll just shoot into Galena tomorrow.

5/31/09

I got 40.8 mpg in my Honda Civic! I had put synthetic oil in but last year
I got the same mpg and didn't have the synthetic oil.

Went to Ellsworth open house today. It was good. They had stunt performers,
WWII planes that flew (B-25 and a Gruman), the Thunderbirds, and an F-22
on display. Perfect weather.

When I got home I played with the metal detector in Gammy's yard. I
found the metal part of a lantern that controls the wick, a medallion
looking thing that's too rusty to read what the writing painted on is,
and nails. I got tired of finding nails, which for some reason are
all over both yards, and set the detector to be less sensitive. So
then I dug a place that still found metal, and it was a big batch of
little nails! So I quit for the day.

I was staring at Clark's semi-dead tree while sitting on the porch. If
it ever did fall in the wind, it would either fall over the road, or
fall into the power lines and then onto the cabin. I don't think
either of those is good. And since we're not here most of the year,
I'm not sure what we'd do if it did fall. Of course, one of the
others might fall first, but I still think it might be at least a good
idea to chop off the top part of the tree that's dead. I'll try to
remember to call the extension office and ask if that would stress the
remaining part of the tree.

The lillacs just started blooming.

Not much wildlife out here so far. I saw 2 turkeys walking down the
road toward Jeraldine's, and then I saw the mountain lion. The
chipmunk is still living under Gammy's, or maybe an offspring. No
deer out here, but maybe that's because the mountain lion might be
hanging around.

After we cleaned up the cemetery yesterday we all gathered for lunch
at the people who now own Harris', next to the school. They have 2
goats, 2 dogs, chickens, and a cat. They're really nice Mother Earth
News type couple. I asked who all had seen a mountain lion. Everybody
had at least seen tracks. Marilyn said she'd never seen one, but this
winter one killed a turkey in the snow behind her cabin, according to
the feathers and tracks. Gwen, who lives at Harris', saw one in her
rear view mirror cross Spring Run as she was driving up the road. She
stopped when she saw the lion just sit down on the other side of the
road. Then she saw 2 junior lions cross the road, and they all took
off together. Marilyn says she's now too afraid to go anywhere in the
hills alone.

I saw a Western Tanager just on the other side of the creek. There were actually at least 3 when I went over to take a pic. Wouldn't we remember having seen these if they were here when we were growing up? I certainly don't remember seeing them before. I've seen them the last 2 years in different parts of the Hills, but not in Galena.

6/4/09

I came up May 21 after going through Utah and Rock Springs, WY. Scientology bought some property there and I went to check on it. Nothing much was happening and they never got a permit to continue construction, so it's a sort of dead issue at the moment.

The weather when I got here wasn't too bad but it's gradually gotten to be like last year, with drizzle and rain and getting down to 34 or so at night. The place looked ok except that the snow guards on the roof were actually snapped off on both cabins, and the bucket and bowl we tarred onto Gammy's stovepipe hole were on the ground. The snow apparently piles up on the metal roof, then slides all at once and like an avalanche takes everything with it. So who knows when that happened, but the worst storm was not long ago, so hopefully it was that, instead of that hole being open to the elements all winter.

The stone steps look ok but not much plant life has grown around them. So I got some grass seed and threw it around and now it's coming up. I also dug out a 4'X8' garden near Gammy's garden. I planted cucumbers, lettuce, and peas. No cucumbers yet, but the lettuce seeds are up and I just saw some peas peaking out today.

The modem connection is slower than last year. It only gets up to 24kps and last year I know it was sometimes 36kps. So who knows what's going on there.

There's new houses around. The guy below Janice's built a big wooden barn like thing that Jeraldine says he lives on the 2nd floor. Just as you go up Spring Run there's a new house being built. The guy in Miss Kelly's apparently sold his house. I see somebody moving stuff in there today.

I finished the railing for the stone steps today. It's nothing fancy but should work ok and last for a while too. I cut down a tree behind Gammy's that was growing toward the cabin. If it stayed there it would grow over the cabin at an angle, so I cut it out. I did a little touch up painting on the storage shed and both cabins, just because I had paint left over from the railing.

I bought a Garrett 150 metal detector and have been trying it out in the yard. It's certainly sensitive because it finds .22 shells and small nails. I found spikes on the railroad bed easily. I found some kind of a small badge but it might be too rusty to figure out all that it says.

There were ants in Clark's attic in the kitchen again, so I sprayed some of that Tri-Die into the holes from last year. I haven't noticed any more sawdust coming down since then.

My bike started up right away when I hooked everything back up. I had taken the battery out, filled the gas tank, put some oil in the sparkplug hole, and some other stuff the manual said to do when storing the bike. So that seems to have worked. I took it to the Boondocks for a buffalo burger, then up to Lost Gulch. I passed a blue pickup with three guys going to Lost Gulch. After hanging out at Lost Gulch for a bit, I came back the same way. Apparently they had put some logs across the road near the top of the hill and were parked on the side. I have no idea why they did that but I got right through with my bike, though an ATV wouldn't fit.

I started looking for work and will hand in one application tomorrow. It looks like slim pickings but I figured that anyway.

This weekend is the Crazy Horse volksmarch, which I plan to go to Sunday. Next weekend is the Galena walk, so I plan to set up a table in front of the cabins and answer peoples' questions. I'll probably open up Clark's too if people want to see inside, maybe.

6/6/09

It was foggy this morning so I grabbed my videocamera, still camera, and tripod and walked up to the cemetery. Unfortunately, it wasn't that foggy there, so I walked up Butcher Gulch and got some good pics. Then I thought I'd walk over the hill to the Lost Gulch road to take photos of Galena from behind Jeraldine's. I went along the ridge line to Bear Den Mountain, then connected to the Lost Gulch road and got some nice pics. It was cold and wet, but still fun since I hadn't been there before. At one place on the ridge there's a perfectly nice flat space for a cabin. I don't know if there had been on there but it's great. Maybe I'll take the metal detector up there.

6/7/09

It's gotten wet and cold, just like last year. It drizzles or rains, gets up in the 50s, and is just kinda miserable. I'm going to Crazy Horse hoping the volksmarch will still be on, then to Rapid to shop and do laundry. I applied for one job yesterday.

The plants are all coming up in the garden. I'll have to put the "fence" around it now.

6/8/09

Yesterday was fun. Just before I got to Hill City there were mountain goats along the road on the rocks. I stopped where a mom and 3 kids were standing. The kids started jumping around, chasing each other, and butting heads. I'll put the video up. The 3.1 mile hike to Crazy Horse's head was nice, but steep enough to be tiring. It was cloudy so I couldn't see the horizon, so I'm not sure what all you can see from up there. The weather was overcast, maybe 50 degrees, and threatening rain. One of the car lot guys said Saturday it cleared up for a bit in the afternoon, then started hailing, so they had to get everybody off the top and trail. So I'm glad I went Sunday. I heard on the radio that despite the bad weather all weekend, 7000 people climbed to the face.

I went to take a photo of Natalie, the train, from Galena. They have it behind the restaurant so only people who sit by the back windows in the restaurant ever see her. Maybe they should donate it back to Galena.

I went into Rapid City and did laundry and got a few things. I also put the Guy Fawkes mask on some of the presidential statues downtown. I'm hoping taking photos of statues with Anonymous masks on them will become a fad.

It got down to 32 this morning but it had cleared up overnight, so no snow. I haven't used my bike much at all since the weather and the mud are still bad.

6/9/09

So I was changing clothes after painting the new threshhold board, and when I lifted up my pants, a black widow spider fell out of one leg. I did not like that.

It's become pretty much like last year weather wise. It gets up to the 50's, is cloudy and drizzly. There was 1/2" in the rain gauge this morning. It's supposed to clear up for the weekend, which is good because the walk is Saturday. I've been going through wood pretty fast, but there's a bunch of cut up wood available at the cemetery from the cleanup. I'll probably rent a pickup to take a couple of loads of stuff to the dump, so I can get that then.

Also, they lobotomized my formerly favorite slot machine at Costner's. It doesn't make any noise anymore nor does it give back more than you put in anymore. Sad. They moved my two otherwise favorite machines close to the door now for some reason.

6/11/09

There was .5" of rain in the gauge this morning. It's still cloudy but the rain has stopped at least.

The drain behind Clark's seems to be working great. This morning the gravel closest to the cabin is still dry, which means all the water is going down the drain rather than getting to the house. Success!

NPR just talked about a CCC museum in Hill City that just opened. I'll have to go see that.

Yesterday I did very little except update my Lisa page. It was such a dreary day. I did see why the robins kept bothering me when I went up to Gammy's outhouse. They have a nest in the tree just above the old garden. If the sun ever comes out I'll try to get some video of the babies.

I'm hoping it will dry out enough today so I can mow. The fundraising walk is Saturday and I'd like to have the place looking reasonably nice.

The turkeys walk up and down the road now. They stop at my bird feeder and eat whatever the birds kicked off. I have to remember to open the door slowly at Gammy's in case they're out there eating.

6/13/09

It actually cleared up yesterday afternoon, in time for preparation for the Galena walk to raise funds for the school. Today there may have been upwards of 800 people out here, according to preliminary estimates! Usually about 120 people come out. I had set up a table in front of the cabins with photos from Jeraldine, my photo of Mother on a car bumper next to the cabin,, some rocks, a railroad spike, and a couple of books. About 9am the biggest group of ATV's I've ever seen out here went by. I'd guess it was 40 of them. Then people started gradually coming down from the walk, and it was nonstop talking from then until about 3:30 or so. Lots of people had never seen galena before, so they handled my little sample. There was lots of talk about mountain lions since I had my photo of last year's footprint. Apparently there were two mountain lions hanging around Boulder Canyon recently and somebody took a photo of one looking in through the storm door of a house. Hopefully that guy will send me the photo. All in all it was a busy but fun day. There were oldtimers who knew where things once were, and a geologist who explained my rocks in great detail. He also talked about he El Refugio mine and told me a bit about where the interesting rocks are in there.

The back roads are quite muddy in places still, so I probably won't be exploring much yet. I'll probably go metal detecting starting tomorrow.

6/14/09

WOW! The walk drew at least 400 people! It's hard to give a full count because many people didn't check in for the walk, and some who couldn't walk went in their cars. So the assumption is that 800 people walked yesterday! That's great for the school at any rate, since many people donated.

It was nonstop talking for me from the first person about 9:30 until about 3:45pm when I finally went inside to eat a bit and take a potty break (go bladder!). Afterward I went with John and Jeraldine to the schoolhouse, which I rarely see. It's in great shape. Apparently there were complaints about the long lines for food, but the average attendance has been about 120 people, so no one was prepared to serve over 400! All in all it was a fun worthwhile day, topped off by supper at Taco John's. And wouldn't you know it, it rained .2" again last night!

I'm about caught up with things I wanted to do around the cabin. I still need to take stuff to the dump, which involves renting a truck. That's a problem because the closest I can find to rent a pickup is Rapid City, which cost me a ton last year with the lousy gas mileage. So I haven't decided how to handle that yet. I'm going to paint the replacement threshold for Clark's and when it warms up see if I can figure out how to replace it. If not I'll wait for Eric and we can work it out then. The only other thing is reinforcing Clark's floor, but I don't want to go in the crawlspace when I'm the only person here.

6/15/09

I went into town to apply for a job but it was already filled. So I finally sat down to test my old favorite slot machine, and it indeed has been lobotomized. I could pretty much break even with that machine last year, until the time I won about $80, then quit and went home. The next time I went into the casino both of my favorite machines were gone. Now it's near the entrance, but it will probably never again be so friendly.

There was a tornado warning yesterday for someplace east. I guess a funnel cloud was sighted and there was hail, but no tornado. Today there were storm warnings for around Sturgis. The clouds around here looked ominous but the weather report said the big storms were in the plains. The smoke from the wood stove in Clark's was sort of smoldering from last night, and the smoke was forcing its way into the cabin! So there was some strange kind of air pressure thing going on.

At any rateI said screw it, I'm not going to keep waiting on the weather. I packed up my metal detector, shovel, and stuff and headed off to this ridge where I thought there might have been a cabin since it was flat and sort of open there. I rode my bike part way, then hiked over to the spot. I was using headphones because the detector beeps so loudly, but the ear buds were just sort of hanging from my ears. I thought I heard a growling sound, and stopped to look around. It sounded like a bear to me, but it could have been a mountain lion. I wasn't sure I had actually heard that noise, but then about 10 minutes later it came again from the same direction, I'm guessing 50 yards away. It was a sort of low growl, but pretty loud. But in the end the only thing I saw up there was a jackrabbit.

So how did the metal detecting go? I didn't find anything at the site, though I got some false positives and dug a few useless holes. Apparently the thing will ding for no reason sometimes, or maybe because there's something deep there, I don't know yet. But when I dug in some places, then scanned the same place and the plug, no more dinging. On the way back I swept the ridge, and dug up one spot. There was a big, perfectly straight, 20d nail with some rusted wire on it. Farther along I found a staple for barbed wire fencing. That was about 3 inches deep and it's about the size of a nail, so the detector definitely works. I found a couple of metal straps, a small chunk of iron, and a small piece of wire. Maybe Ken's right, it will take 500 years to pay for this thing. But I learned, 1) the thing works, and 2) ignore false positives - if it doesn't continually beep when you scan a spot, forget it.

And this always happens to me. When I'm way off the back road hiking someplace, and I think I must be the first person who's been here in 100 years, that's the moment I run into a beer can. It never fails.

6/16/09

I gave blood in Rapid today. They actually just took my red cells or something, and gave me back saline and something else. So it was weird watching in the clear tube as red came out and clear went in.

I saw the Vegas Trip buddy movie today and liked it.

Otherwise boring stuff; bought a gold pan with ridges, did laundry, ate at Ted's Philly in Rapid 'cause he had been at Galena and gave me a coupon, bought pants, then promptly ripped the good pants I was wearing when I got back and was pulling the excess lettuce and got caught in the fence. The wastefullness of that made me really mad. Just a little rip in the butt and they're ruined. But the garden looks good.

Jeraldine called and left a message that Marilyn saw 2 mountain lions by her place.

6/17/09

John stopped by on the way home from feeding the cats last night. He said he might have seen a mountain lion by the barn and was going to get his big spotlight and jeep. He and Jeraldine came back and picked me up and we looked around but couldn't see anything. While I was waiting for them on the porch I heard a deer snorting on the creek side by the barn, so I thought maybe the mountain lion had grabbed a deer. But this morning I went all around there and didn't see anything.

The weather is finally getting nicer. I'll go up today and check out some old roads around Lost Gulch. There have been now two reports this summer of mountain lions running around in pairs, and that bothers me. I think I could survive an attack from one, but probably not two at once.

8pm

Back from the Hissing Cave. But first, I met Deborah, the lady that works for the Days of 76 Museum, at the Stampmill Restaurant for lunch. She's nice, and we had a pleasant conversation. I gave her the "final" movie grandpa did of Deadwood parades.

Back home the forecast was once again for rain, but I thought what the heck, I'll drive down near the creek and if it looks ok, I'll metal detect on the way up the road to the Hissing Cave. It looked somewhat threatening, but I headed off anyway, with the shovel and detector sticking up out of my backpack. Just as I got into the trees, there was a loud crack of thunder. I thought wow, I'm a walking lightning rod! So I took off my backpack and headed back to the car. It rained for a while, then appeared to be clearing up, so off I went again.

It's very sucky just to get to the cave. First you have to go through some really thick brush, then you have to go through poison ivy, and when you get home you'll most likely have ticks on you. At any rate, I got to the old road on the other side of the thick brush and started to metal detect as I walked along. I found a few square nails (the hills must be completely covered in nails!), a few bullet casings, and some kind of contraption about 6 inches long that I think must be part of a scale. It was nice to finally find something that wasn't a nail.

When I got up to the caves I whistled and said "is anybody home?" I figure any mountain lion or whatever in the cave will at least growl if not run away. But there was no noise. The bottom cave only goes in about 8 feet now because of a cave in, or maybe it's a fill-in? As I was climbing up to the hissing cave above the lower cave, a buzzard flew away from the mouth of that cave. I was only about 5 feet away and I was impressed how big that bird is. It flew a few trees away, so I figured it wasn't going to attack me. I went to the mouth of the cave and looked in. No noise, except a little dripping water. So I just took a flash picture and came back down.

I started to metal detect a ways down the road that's on the other side of the gulley, when suddenly a big rock rolled down the hill from above the caves! So I'm thinking, there is an animal over there who, instead of leaving when I made noises, actually came to investigate! So I sort of lost my interest in metal detecting. It was about 6:45, and I thought what the heck, I'm outta here. So I'd walk about 20 yards, stop and listen, then go another 20 yards, until I got to the creek, when I couldn't have heard anything anymore anyway. I never heard another noise nor saw anything. So I metal detected a little on the way from there, but didn't find anything. I then thought I'd be smart and cross the creek where the bushes aren't as thick. And yes, I slipped and fell into the water, because I didn't have my good hiking boots on. I don't think any electronics got too wet though. I had my phone, camera, and video camera. I don't think the detector was in the water.

So now I'm wet, pretty much empty handed, feeling like a wimp, and it looks like rain still. The Hissing Cave is not kind to me.

6/18/09

I was all set to go to Preston today, which is east of Spearfish Canyon, but then the forecast was for rain again. So Friday supposedly there will be no rain and I'll go then. A woman in Deadwood told me a friend took a photo in the Preston cemetery, and behind the gravestone in the photo is a black man, who was not in the photo when it was taken. So I told her I'd go take photos there and let her know what happens. It appears from the maps that you have to park at a campground in Spearfish Canyon and walk up a canyon to get there.

Quiet day today. I went into town a bit, watched "Dogma,", and watched the birds in the front yard. For a bit 8 turkeys were in the yard, with 2 of them seeming to be bullying the rest. I saw a robin pulling and pulling on something by the fence, so after I finally found my video camera, I got him picking away at this huge worm he had finally wrestled out of the ground. He sort of formed it into a coil, grabbed the coil, and flew away.

There have been few ATV's lately, probably because of the weather. A troupe of jeeps went through this morning and came back this afternoon.

6/19/09

I went to the Long Valley road turnoff in Spearfish Canyon, got all my gear, and started walking, when I noticed the "private drive" sign further up the road. So I threw everything back in the car and went past the Homestake power plant #2 and made the next right. You can park there to hike to the Devil's Bathtub, or there's a jeep trail that goes up to Carbonate. I figured if I could find Carbonate, I could probably find Preston. But I couldn't find Carbonate. Or if I did I didn't know it. There are a lot of roads up that really lousy and STEEP jeep trail that cross, and there are no forest service markers for any road that I could see. I first wound up at the northwest locked gate to the Wharf property. There are literally dozens of shafts of different depths up in the area, like this one...

I threw a stone down one and estimate it was at least 60 feet deep. They were looking for a silver vein in the area. And actually, I found a really nice rock that I think has some good silver in it. I hope to go back with my bike and take it home without having to lug it on foot. The shafts that I saw now have fencing around them at least.

At the Wharf property line there was an old mill that was still partially up. That was cool. I also had passed an old log cabin, but you could barely tell that's what it had been.

The Wharf property was as far south as I went, and I still didn't see Preston nor even Ragged Top Mountain, which you'd think I would have run into. I'll have to check google earth now and try again to figure out where it is, or ask the lady at the bookstore for better directions. I went on another road to the north going west, but still don't know quite where I was. And by then I was tired. I called mother for clues about Carbonate (yay Verizon!) but she said even 35 years ago there was pretty much nothing remaining of Carbonate. So I may have been there without knowing.

This was a really neat area of the Black Hills that I'd never been to before. Hopefully there's an easier way up there than the crappy, steep road I walked up. I don't think I'll try it with my bike, because the combination of steepness and loose rock is probably beyond my safety limit. There are many roads there needing exploring. And it's a pretty quiet area; I never saw nor even heard anyone else the entire 5 hours I was up there. I saw 2 deer, a bathing red headed woodpecker, and a garter snake.

At the top of one hill, which I assume was near where Carbonate must be, were 3 old wood grave markers close to the road. The wood looked like it must have been from the late 1800s, but otherwise I have no idea why those 3 graves were there all by themselves on top of a hill.

I figure I walked about 8 miles, so I'll be sore tomorrow.

6/20/09

Back from Hill City and Rapid. Weird clouds in the hills most of the day...

Not everywhere like that, but I took a few photos.

The CCC museum north of Hill City is pretty nice. It's just the upstairs room of the visitor center. There is some mention that Galena had a sort of satellite camp to the Rochford camp, and it was where you come out onto Ericson Road. That would explain the strange rock monument thing in that field, too. They also have the names of most people who were working in the South Dakota CCC camps. The only name I recognized was a Sigedstad name. I didn't see any photos of the Galena camp.

In Rapid I went to the West Boulevard festival. I ate an indian taco and talked to a retired mining engineer who now lives in Keystone. He thought it might have been a relative of his from Illinois who named Vinegar Hill, where the Galena cemetery is. He based this on the relative coming from Galena, Illinois, which apparently has a Vinegar Hill. Who knows.

There was a photo of Main Street in Rapid with a trolley track down the middle! So I asked a guy about it and he thought it was there only briefly in the early 1900s. Other photos from different years don't show it.

Did laundry, raining when I got home, blah blah.

6/21/09

It was a really nice weather day today, but it was also the day the St. Petersburg Times started a huge series on Scientology. This is the first time that Mike Rinder and some other high-ranking defectors have spoken, so of course I was messing with that all morning. I finally peeled away and rode my bike up to Boulder Canyon via Lost Gulch. Then I rode over to where the creek goes underground. On the way there was a huge snake apparently sunning himself right in the middle of the road. I stopped to take a photo and shoo him off the road, but he was dead. There was little damage so I assume it was a motorcycle that ran him over. I stretched him out and he was about 4.5 feet long! I think it was a king snake.

The sinkhole where the creek goes in expanded a little, but not as much as I expected. The creek is low now.

The ice cave had ice on the thermometer that I left! The thermometer was right at 32 degrees.

It seems like most ATV's and jeeps that go through this year are groups, rather than just ones or twos.

6/23/09

I actually went back and got the dead snake, thinking I could skin it and hang up the skin. So I skinned it and stuck the rolled up skin in the freezer. Today I got it out and tacked it up and salted it. I got some snake tanning oil and am following the directions. It should be done Sunday, so I'll take a photo of it then.

I rode my bike through Wharf property, past Richmond Mine, and then at the locked gate turned right onto a road marked Carbonate Road. I was trying to get northwest, but the road was going east, so I took a road that did go left and wound up eventually in Burno Gulch, which connects to Maitland Road. So again, I'm east instead of west. I still can't figure out how to get to Preston! I came back via Golden Crest and down Butcher Gulch. The Butcher Gulch road seems to get worse every year. I'm not capable enough to go up it, but I can come slowly down it.

Nice weather today. I'll probably mow later but I'm tired for some reason.

6/25/09

Today I went up to Preston finally! I went into town for supplies, so I stopped and asked the lady how to get there. She told me that when you get to the Wharf office parking lot, there's actually a road that continues from there. So I went on that road and within about a mile, there was Preston! The church has been torn down, which the lady didn't know. But she also didn't tell me about this old 2-story building that's still standing...

There's about 1/2 of a log cabin there too, but it's made with round nails. And I took photos of the cemetery, but no ghosts. I haven't looked at my video yet, though... Then I tried to find a road from Preston to Carbonate so I could grab my rock, but I just couldn't find any road that goes through. So another day I'll just have to go back up the Cleopatra road, unfortunately. The Cleopatra mine used to have its own mill, so maybe I'll run into the ruins too.

I finished replacing parts of the outhouse walkway tonight, and was sitting on the railroad bed just listening to birds and such. A couple of deer had snorted on the other side of the road, so I thought I might see them meet up or something. Instead, I heard some growling coming from the hill between us and Rosie's. I heard it 3 times, so I got my video camera and stood around looking for anything for about a half hour. I didn't get the sound on tape unfortunately. It's getting dark so I might go out again for a bit and listen. John goes by there every night to feed the cats so I called and left a message about it.

It was actually hot today.

I don't think there are as many tourists as last year. The highways seem quieter to me.

6/26/09

I finished the snake, essentially. I pull the skin out of the soaking bag tomorrow and mount it. So we'll see how that goes. It looks nice so far.

A storm rolled through this afternoon that dropped. .9" in about an hour. It's nice and sunny now though a bit cooler.

Mowed the yard today.

6/27/09

The snake looks good. I temporarily mounted it on a board to dry out. Then I have to decide what to do with it.

I went to Ft. Meade Cavalry Days this morning. There were very few people there other than the participants, but it was still fun. there were 2 blacksmiths working so I talked to them some. Then a guy with a real civil war cannon shot off a few times. There were kid games and stuff, but not really much there. I think this is a new thing that they're hoping to build up. I went on a tour of Ft. Meade which was pretty informative too. They kept German prisoners of war there during WWII.

Then I went to a gem show in Rapid City. It was pretty interesting but I didn't learn too much. In one book I saw, there was labradorite in one mine here. That is a cool rock, so I want to look into that more.

Ate and did laundry in Rapid, blah, blah. Nice weather.

6/28/09

So last night I was playing with the metal detector in Gammy's yard. I swear, every square foot has iron in it! This must have been a workshop or something at one time because there are lots of nails, miscellaneous metal parts, and little bits of broken window glass everywhere. I'm going to try again with the setting way low, so it will only catch big things.

Today I went up the Cleopatra road off Spearfish Canyon again, only on my motorcycle. I got maybe a mile up before I decided the road was beyond my abilities. Big rocks I can handle, steep hills I can somewhat handle, but I can't handle both together. So I walked up to my rock and decided it wasn't as cool as I thought, so I left it hidden up there. I walked around on a few more roads there, and scared some animal out of the woods. I'm thinking maybe it was a fawn because it sounded like it didn't go too far away.

After I got back down, I drove over to Christensen Road east of Spearfish, and took road 628 south back into the hills. I'm still trying to find another way up to Carbonate, but no luck here either. It just goes up to a locked gate which I think is the Richmond Mine property. Went to Subway, took shower, blah, blah. Nice weather. Very little traffic on the highways, but lots of traffic back here for some reason.

Go to July HERE