9-19-19 - (Day 57 - Belle Fourche/Spearfish/Deadwood/Sturgis)

We rode through our old stomping grounds today, Spearfish, Deadwood, and Sturgis.  It was really nice approaching these areas from Belle Fourche.  A totally different direction than we have rode before.

We made a stop at the Tri State Museum Center in Belle Fourche, and was pleasantly surprised.  We checked out the wagon camper, the monuments honoring our veterans, the cabin, and the geographic center of the U.S. We could have spent more time here, but decided it's a gorgeous day and time to ride.

It sure is a different world in Sturgis when the biker rally is over.  Just a few weeks ago, there would have been bike after bike.  Today, we saw very few bikes.

Lauren's first order of business, was to take Amber's picture at the Sturgis sign.

We made the mistake of stopping at the Sturgis HD.  We truly did not need anything, but I left with a tee shirt and a jacket.  Suckered me in with their after the rally deals.

We stopped for a picnic lunch at the Lion's Club Park then headed back.  It was a great day to be riding Amber.

When we got back to camp, the wind was howling.  It looked like the Gulf of Mexico on the lake.  We took off in the truck to check out the rest of the camping area.  This is a large area with plenty of camping spots.  We are amazed that this is free.

When we got back, Ferny Kat was ready to prowl.  She prowled around outside for a while, then we called it a night.  It was too windy to build a fire or stay out after dark.

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9-18-19 - (Day 56 - Belle Fourche Reservoir)

Around 10:30 last night, a group unloaded horses from their horse trailer and walked them around on the pavement.  They used the corral to feed their pony.  When we looked out at 4:30 this morning, they were gone.

We drove for 5 hours today and covered 275 miles to get to Belle Fourche Reservoir.  It was a very scenic, enjoyable ride traveling in Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota to get here.  We saw Pronghorns galore.

The road to the campground is a dirt road with lots of washboards.  We had a lot of stuff tossed around from the rough road.  It was so rough, that our kitchen drawers were open and would not shut.  Lauren had to get a hammer and readjust the frame so the drawers would shut.

We are another fabulous, free, campsite on the bank of Belle Fourche Reservoir.  All the shaking we did to get here was worth it.

We did a whole lot of nothing after we stopped, watching water fowl and other birds.  There are a lot of campsites here, but very few campers.  It is another peaceful, beautiful, place to camp.

We built a campfire and cooked burgers.  The beautiful clear skies we had today, were illuminated with beautiful stars tonight.

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9-16 to 9-17- 19 - (Day 54 & 55 - Lovell/Billings)

Monday, Lauren cooked breakfast outside on the Coleman Stove before we departed this morning.  Breakfast is always better when it's cooked outside with beautiful views.  We relocated to Lovell for the night.  We needed internet to figure out where we want to head next.  We also were in need of a good, long, hot, shower.  Which we got shortly after arriving.

We had internet, but Lauren's lap top was not working today.  We will go to Billings tomorrow and buy him a new one.

We grilled a pork loin and sat around outside most of the day.

Tuesday, Lauren's lap top started working again this morning.  But it was too late.  We were done with the dang thing.  We traveled to Billings to buy another lap top.

We had a nice, enjoyable ride to Billings.  We are parked at Cabela's parking lot that is right off I 90.  We are on the end site of their RV/Truck parking area.  We have a horse corral next to us.  There is a dog kennel at the other end.  Sam's Club is within walking distance of our camper.

It was raining and cold with the temperature in the 60's when we got here.  We unhooked the truck and went shopping for lap tops.  After shopping at Best Buy and Walmart, we came back to Sam's and got a lap top.  It is pretty cool not to pay sales tax.

Lauren said yesterday that he was ready for some Popeye's Fried Chicken.  I jokingly said that maybe we would find some in Billings.  Guess what, we did.  It was dang good too.

We came back to camp, ran the generator for a couple of hours, then checked out Cabela's.  We enjoyed all the animal mounts that were on display.  We finally found Daddy Bighorn, we just wished he would have been in the wild. 

As we were leaving the store, the clouds were clearing, and we had a beautiful reflections in the sky.  We got back and found Ferny Kat waiting by the door to come outside.  She is again, out of luck on this cold night.

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9-15-19 - (Day 53 - Another Day of Bighorn Sheep)

It was another beautiful morning, but that dang wind was howling.  The sheep were walking around in the parking lot again this morning. 

We spent the day riding on Amber and hiking.  We hiked the Canyon Mouth Trail, Stateline Trail, and Ranger’s Delight Trail.  They were all pretty trails.  We saw a few critters and a lot of Bighorn Sheep.  We hiked 4.66 miles today. 

We came back to camp, got the spotting scope out, and sat around enjoying the warm, 90 degree weather sitting under the shade of the awning.  It is a lot warmer than the 48 degree temperature we had when we got here on Wednesday. 

Lauren decided we could use the trail that the sheep travel to get to the water’s edge.   I chickened out about half way down.  It was quite challenging for Lauren, but he made it!

We built a campfire and cooked burgers and smores over the fire while sitting around in tee shirts and shorts.  We have thoroughly enjoyed camping here.  Tomorrow we relocate.

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9-14-19 (Day 52 - Another Day at Bighorn Canyon NRA)

The parking lot for the boat ramp had lots of trucks, boat trailers, and people when we got up this morning.  The weekend is amongst us.

After breakfast, we hiked the Hillsboro Trail.  This is considered the ghost town of ranches here at the park.  It is a very enjoyable, 1 mile hike, looking at the old post office and other buildings.  We found an apple tree loaded with apples and picked a few.  They were very tasty.  Obviously, the bears have not found this tree.  We walked past two herds of sheep on our way in and out of the trail.

After the hike, we rode the 4 1/2 mile red dirt road to the end of the park looking for critters.  We found a couple of American Kestrels and a Pronghorn.

We loaded up on Amber and cruised around awhile this afternoon.  We stopped and looked around at the Ewing-Snell Ranch, then to the overlook.  We saw plenty of Bighorn Sheep on our ride.

We sat around and watched the boats go by this afternoon.  The 3 Bighorn Sheep stayed around camp for most of the evening.  We had another nice fire that we cooked our supper on.   About dark, another herd of sheep were in the parking lot.

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