Sturgis Bound...

We said goodbye to Mike and headed off to THE motorcycle mecca, Sturgis, SD for the 76th Annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. Craig and I decided to attend, since we were in the vicinity. Craig is a former dragracer and sadly, not so recent rider. 





On the way, we did stop to see a few things. The first night we were treated to a beautiful western sunset. We do miss those a lot.

Custer's monument is black.

We stopped to see the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument. It was interesting to hear the story of Custer's 7th Cavalry and the Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. The battle fought at Little Bighorn continues to be controversial. 

It is also the site of the Custer National Cemetery.

Overall, the monument is set up like Gettysburg National Military Park as a driving tour of the battlefield. There are monuments throughout the battlefield that depict where the Cavalry soldiers and Indians fell.  




The battlefield is acres of beautiful grassy fields, much like others we've seen. How different it must have been those few days when the two forces collided. 

There was also a monument to the Native Americans who fought defending the way of life of the tribes involved.







The next day we were on to Devil's Tower National Monument, America's first National Monument. Think theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, although we didn't see any info on that. We did find out that the KOA at the entrance to the park plays the movie on a regular basis. Fun!!







I really wanted to see the monument and was not disappointed. When you are close, the scale is amazing. The butte is huge and reminded us of the basalt columns we saw in Ireland at the Giants Causeway. Also a product of volcanic eruption. So cool!!

Vroom, Vroom! Here we come!