JEFF'S ADVENTURES IN THE BLACK HILLS, SUMMER OF 2006
June 5 - just went to Rapid City to buy stuff, then Sturgis to get the bicycle. Quiet day. Nice weather. Did laundry.
June 8 - kinda hot and muggy
June 9 Quiet again today. The poppies have just started blooming and the bees seem quite happy about it. It's raining right now, lightly.
Today I put the new screen door on Gammy's, then decided I needed to see a movie. Since it was cloudy, the shower water bag didn't warm up much, so I microwaved some water and threw that in so it at least didn't feel cold. I went to "Cars" which was a very fun movie.
June 10 - raining tonight a bit. had a little rain last night. Cleaned Gammy's
cabin and sucked up probably 8 black widow spiders. Went up the hill behind
Jeraldine's again, and went right this time. A bunch of deer there. The road
winds around and reconnects to Lost Gulch road, and has a sign on that end of
road 567. Came back 'cause it looked like rain (didn't start until 3 hours later).
I was about to head into town when I saw some deer just in the lot south of
the cabin. So I stopped the car and walked slowly over to get a pic with the
cabin and the deer in the photo. It came out so-so. But then the deer ran across
the road. It appeared to be a mom and 3 kids!. But the strange thing was that
the 3rd kid was a different color! So I don't know if he was adopted or what.
June 13 - not much. Hot and muggy this afternoon, and there was a cool thunderhead cloud to the southwest that I took a pic of. The outhouse is now ready to be lifted up, but I'll do that when I can. I figured out how now. Bought groceries in Deadwood. That's about it.
June 16 - to School of Mines museum, Hill City museum, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood nightlife.
June 19 - took Juha to airport. It got down to 37 degrees last night! pretty cold. Went to Rapid, saw "Nacho Libre" (so-so), did laundry.
June 30 7/10" rain at night
July 6 - Went through Ft. Meade museum. Went to Rapid City for supplies. Got a haircut. Finished the step repairs. Went into Deadwood and gambled some. A guy at my favorite slot machine was coaching his girlfriend on some formula, like "ok, now bid 2 quarters..." Crazy. I spent $20 and made $12.
July 10 - laundry, went to Pirates of the Carribean II (ok), it rained about 1/10" this morning. I had to heat up water on the wood stove so I could take a shower. Cool day so I didn't go biking anywhere.
July 17 - to Rapid City. Laundry, shopping, etc. I went to the Journey Museum which was a bit slick, but nice. I saw the Berlin Wall portion in the park, which was cool. Saw 4 satellites, one shooting star, a couple of lightning bugs, and one kitty. Scraped paint on the cabins, just the most obvious parts. Put up my discovery of a fake Scientology-related photo
July 19 - mostly goofed around. Filled in the hole where the wasps were in the wall. It sounded like they were trying to eat their way back in for a while. Sorted and cleaned some. Slept, ate, played with the ball. A good day.
July 20- Had to get a new tire so went into Belle Fourche for that. I took the Adams Museum tour, then also did the Adams house, which was cool. Great house. The guide didn't know about my grandmother having been a maid for the Adams', so she had me fill out a form that would ask the curator about it. Saw 8 satellites and 6 shooting stars. It was cool enough that I made a fire in the stove.
July 21 - I rode my bike to Custer Peak and took a few photos. On the turnoff to the peak I saw a coyote on the road. I stopped and tried to get a photo, but he was in the trees before I had the camera ready. Another biker stopped behind me and watched the coyote too.
From the peak I went on the back road west as a quicker way to get to Rochford. There were 2 deer right near the road, so again I stopped and tried to get my camera ready in time to take a photo. I got a photo but it was out of focus. Then the deer snorted, and 4 fawns jumped away in different directions! I hadn't even seen them.
When I got on the paved road, my bike started sputtering. So I turned to "reserve tank" and it drove fine. Only question; how far can I go on reserve? There's no gas station in Rochford. I went through Rochford and came out on Highway 385 at the fish fry place. They had gas! I put in 2.2 gallons. The tank holds 2.3 gallons. No way I would have made it to the next gas station.
So I then backtracked to Rochford, taking one sideroad which dead-ended even though the map showed it going through. Off to Deefield Lake, which I don't think I'd ever been to. Along the way, it suddenly looks like I've left the Black Hills; it's just rolling meadows. But then I got it; Deer Field Lake. The name fits! So I looked at the lake a bit. There were very few people there and no boats. Then I went west on road 189, then to 233. 233 is great! It's like an even better area than Roughlock Falls. There was a blue heron there, but they always fly away right when I come into view.
I came back via the tornado area, and finally got home about 7pm. Eric was already here, unpacking. So we went to town for Taco John's and groceries.
July 22 - Not much. I finally went up Ruby Gulch, just to see what's there. I don't think I've been up there since I was little. Anyway, there's a no trespassing sign on a gate farther up, but I went past and saw a new building there. I think this is part of the superfund site, so probably nothing happens there. On the way back I walked down along the stream bed because that's where interesting things were, but when I walked under a downed tree, suddenly I got stung 3 times by bees. I ran up the hill to the road, and fortunately nobody chased me. The stings haven't swelled.
Eric and I went to Central City for pizza. We went up the road behind Fred's, then went up a really steep hill that I thought was too steep for my bike. But Eric's truck did fine. When we got back we went and looked at the new house on the hill. I just don't trust that the house won't slide down the hill gradually, but maybe the foundation is ok.
July 23 is packing day so no more diary entries. While here I missed my family and friends, movie theaters with a good variety, and being able to see video clips online. Otherwise it was a perfect vacation! Bye!