Custer and lunch with friends

On Saturday, August 1, I was late in getting up.  I think it was about 7 a.m.  I’d not slept well the previous couple of nights for who knows what reason, but I’d certainly slept well this time. 

Coffee was the first thing on the agenda.  Actually, it was second as I had to look out the window to see if there were any deer.  Yep, there were two.  It’s a thrill to see them so often.  Would I get tired of seeing deer?  Probably not.  I don’t get tired of seeing moose.

My morning sighting.  It's a little 4-point.

Last night I could hear the bikes cruising up and down the main street of Rushmore.  But it wasn’t offensive as we are located up a hill and the sound is muffled.  This morning it was quiet, just the outdoors and the sounds of us sipping our coffee. 

Soon the bike rumblings began.  It was exhilarating.  I’m excited to be here for Sturgis again, and Missy is excited because this is her first Sturgis rally.  Custer and some of the surrounding towns have their own mini-Sturgis.  Portions of the streets are closed off and motorcycles are lined up four-deep.  There are vendors all over and it was a fun thing … without the huge crowds like there is in Sturgis and will be for the following week or more.

We wandered around Hill City a little before going to lunch.  This guy photo bombed my shot, but I liked it.

I liked the outfit the sheriff's office was wearing.

We rode on up to Hill City as we were meeting Cowboy and Sunshine.  Sunshine and her husband, Auggie Doggie, live in the area now, so I was looking forward to seeing her since it had been five years.  We took the Needles Highway, curves, hairpins.  And the photo dude … roadpics.com … taking photos.  I’d forgotten about that until I’d seen him.  Those fellas will be all over snapping shots for sale.  I never bought the ones from the Tail of the Dragon a number of years ago.  I probably should have.

 

The restaurant of choice was Chute Rooster.  What’s that?  It’s named for the rodeo clowns.  It was a cool place, and it had a huge elk, a 9x6.  I’ve never seen such a large number.  I had to post that on Facebook immediately for Biker Bill.  You’ve seen what I’ve done for him when it comes to antlers.

 

And this is that big, bad boy.

Cowboy was there waiting for us.  We were on time but we’d had to stop on the street to check out some of the shops and vendors.  That Missy is a bad influence.  New vest, new necklace, new cap.  Bad Missy.  But the same old white sunglasses.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll invest in a new pair.  Movie star sunglasses.

Sunshine pulled up and I went out to meet her.  It was good.  She looked good and now my lunch was complete as I had my friends there.  It was a good lunch, and we did a couple of photos.  Then it was time to ride on.

Lunch ... it's what we do.

 We wandered back down to Hill City and walked around a bit then headed back to Custer as Missy had to work a few hours.  But she was off for the whole week of Sturgis.  Yahoo.

Interesting.  It does have shade which is an asset in this weather and heat.

They start the street musicians young here.

Lines of bikes in Hill City ... mini-Sturgis.

This guy had the whole Indian thing going ... and he had something on his face.  Paint?  It was like a skeleton.  The Indian he was riding wasn't half bad either; it was beautiful.

Lenny and I came back to the house and I got the phone number to call an old friend of Biker Bill’s.  Gary used to work at Northwest Airlines and now lives in Custer.  We had a nice chat, and he invited me to come say hello.  Maybe I rushed it a bit as Lenny, Sam and I went for a walk and so we stopped by.  I had a nice little chat, took a selfie to post on Facebook, and then we were off again, this time to wander down by Missy’s work to pick her up.

A peeping buck.  We saw him on our walk to visit Biker Bill's friend.

Near the house there’s a wooden staircase that takes you down to the street.  We had taken that down, and once we’d picked up Missy, took it back up, and then you climb over the rail which is big logs, and walk across some of the pasture to get to the house.  Imagine, we saw more deer.  There were fawns, and it was wonderful. 

Fawns and does.  Lovely creatures.

Back to the house.  Missy and I stayed up visiting til late and then it was off to bed.  Yep, loving it here.