Leaving the tourists at Mt. Rushmore (we thought) we retreated to Hill City for lunch, only to discover that the great weather brought out the bikers by the droves. The scene below was typical of the Main street and we wondered what Sturgis (Mecca to all Harley Davidson riders as the famous location of the annual "ride") would be like. Speaking of Sturgis, George had to pay homage (by way of the exorbitant cost for a H-D shirt or two) to the Harley dealership there. So we traversed more astonishing terrain and made our way through Silver City, Lead and Deadwood to visit the sleepy town that multiplies its population each August.
Having made arrangements last night for accommodations (for the first time due to what we discovered is perhaps the busiest weekend of the year in the Black Hills) we proceeded to our destination: Belle Fourche SD (pronounced by the locals "bell foosh"), a city of less than 5000. Belle Fourche is the geographic center of the 50 United States and is French for "Beautiful Fork", evidencing its French roots (French explorers claimed this area for France first), but the "father" of the city was actually a clever Canadian by the name of Seth Bullock who single-handedly convinced the railroad to go through the town. By the late 1800s it was the largest livestock shipping point in the world. Perhaps that is why each July 4th weekend it hosts a rodeo.
Arriving in town by 3 I decided to check out what I understood was the last hour of the town's biggest annual event, just in time to see the highlight of any rodeo: bull riding. A rather poor video is attached. The stands were filled (I have never seen so many cowboy hats) with locals cheering despite the fact the bulls won over the cowboys 7 out of 9 times. Prime rib for dinner!
Very little mileage covered but lots of eventful enjoyment experienced.