09/01/2015 - Tuesday
From: Badlands National Park, SD
To: Deadwood, SD
Miles: 153
Today was a low mileage day for us. Turns out, once you’re in Custer or The Badlands nothing of importance is really ‘that’ far away….
We woke up to a crisp 67*F and the tents were covered in the morning dew. Looks like another ‘pack up the gear wet and set it up wet tonight’ kind of day for us. It was about this time in the trip I noticed a little bit of tackiness on the rain fly of my tent and little bits of plastic lining sluffing off the inside. Hmmmm…. It IS fourteen years old now.
This is what we woke up to this morning
So like the other mornings where the dew was heavy we just hung the rain fly’s in the low sun to hopefully get some moisture to evaporate
And then each morning, time comes to just head out……
Hmmmm, which way do we go? This is the view departing the campsite
Passing some of the rock formations again under crisp blue skies…
…and looking back at the park we just left
Just a few short miles up the road we stopped for fuel and some ‘fun’… We’ve been joking about the certain ‘traits’ or stereotypes of certain motorbike manufacturers all along and today was no different. We ran into another BMW rider with an absolutely immaculate F800GS while fueling. Let’s just leave it at that.
Fuel just North of the Badlands park on the Interstate
And a little-bit-o-fun while there. ATGATT – even when riding kiddie amusement rides folks.
So just across the Interstate was the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site which we just HAD to stop in and take a peek.
The facility was brand new and still somewhat under construction, thus the exhibits inside were simply blueprints/copies of what was going to be inside. We poked around a bit reading about the history of the Minuteman Missile program and South Dakota, then watched a short film. Turns out, South Dakota had 150 silos for the Minuteman 1, 149 of which were imploded/destroyed/decommissioned by unilateral nuclear treaty with Russia. We kept one and they kept one. Both are decommissioned and have inspection cover plates which can be physically viewed to see the contents. Pretty neat just in the museum part what we learned there. In all, there’s about 1000 silos around the country, many in surrounding states. Most are within 30min of a major airbase for security, and the Command Control centers which actually launch the missiles are within five to twelve miles of the actual missile under their control.
This sort of gives you an idea of the locations of D9, a complete Minuteman 1 operation with command center and silo.
So we have the museum/visitors center, a command control station and a missile silo to visit. Well, not so fast. Turns out a day or two earlier the command control station had a water pipe break and there was a bit of a flooding problem so that part was closed to the public for viewing. Oh well, we can at least get to the D9 missile silo and see/learn about it, right? Yep. So off we went down the interstate about 15 miles, then a half-mile of gravel to get to the silo site.
The missiles are launched from a command control center miles away, so no people actually stay at the silo site. This covering houses the infrastructure to release the missile. Included underground are diesel engines to generate power for communications as well as operate the giant gas pistons required to get the blast door on top to open in addition to other support functions.
This is the entry door to gain access to the missile silo itself. Coming in at FIVE TONS in weight, the process to open the door takes in excess of one hour. (more on that later)
This is a glass cover OVER the missile silo itself. It’s strictly for visitor observation of the decommissioned Minuteman 1 missile inside. You’ll also note the large white column. That’s a sensitive ground movement piece of equipment that can discern the difference between crickets, rabbits or people walking. It’s the security of the facility. If you recall earlier, these silos are within 30min of a major USAF installation. The five ton entry door above takes a minimum of an hour to gain access and the sensors can pickup movement and the airbase can have a bird in the sky overhead in way less than the hour it takes to get through the entry door. As the park ranger said “they’ll shoot first then ask questions”.
So we have the command center five to twelve miles away that houses people who may receive a ‘warble’ tone. They confirm the tone, open a box with a set of keys which are inserted into their respective control boxes. The boxes are twelve feet apart so it’s impossible for a single person to turn both keys at the same time. But how do they communicate with the silo itself? Through a cable just like this. (iPhone for scale)
Buried not too terribly deep is this approximately 3” diameter rubber encapsulated copper lined bundle that has all the wires necessary to launch and communicate with the silo. There’s a thick exterior in rubber that’s copper jacketed, then a series of internal insulated wires in that bundle.
But what if the line gets cut or destroyed? Well, this little radar-dome thing can receive electronic signals from an aircraft above in close proximity and launch the missile from the sky
So what is a Minuteman 1 missile? Here’s a decommissioned one viewed from the looking glass on top of the silo
How long does it take from when the warble tone is heard to when the missile can actually be in the air? FIVE MINUTES
How is the missile protected when in the silo other than the ground sensing radar and close proximity to an Air Force installation? There’s a 90 ton door on top of the silo which brings up an interesting design question. If the little five ton entry door takes an hour to open, how in the heck does a 90 ton door get opened inside of five minutes? Pretty simple actually –
Using a gas piston driver assembly, that 90 ton door is literally launched off rails in THREE SECONDS. It doesn’t move slowly back on the rails – it gets launched to the back, out of the way, through the fence and into the field behind the silo!
Here’s what it looks like from the rail side if it were coming at you. Take into account NONE of that glass/alum structure would be in place. That’s all for us tourists to see the bird in the silo. And if the profile looks like the blade of snowplow, that's by design. When the door blasts off the rails it has to be able to traverse through possibly FEET of snow pack.
The entire facility sits on maybe an acre at most. The landowners are purported to be quite patriotic and as part of the agreement for the USAF to use their land, a fence was erected around each structure. When the facilities were decommissioned, the silos were imploded and the landowner was forbidden from digging down more than two feet. They were also offered the opportunity to keep the fence if they wanted. Lol….. So its pretty easy to see exactly where decommissioned silos are while riding around if you know what to look for. Just find a one acre barbed wire high fence about 1/4mi off the road in the middle of nowhere and most probably has a lot of excess farm implement gear inside that fence and you’ve got yourself a sighting.
Mentioned earlier was the copper cable which ran from the command control station to the silo. Apparently the cable was buried less than two feet below the ground as many ranchers were digging up the cable and selling it for the scrap copper value to the tune of about $10,000 per mile. So either the cable was above two feet in depth or the practice stopped when the government prohibited excavation below that two foot depth.
A VERY interesting visit indeed…..
After the D9 missile silo visit, we blasted back down the interstate to Rapid City for an early lunch. From there, we had an easy 30mi ride over to Sturgis.
This year was the 75th Anniversary of the rally and now three weeks since it was over, the little town of Sturgis was basically dead. The significant majority of shops/storefronts were “CLOSED” or “FOR LEASE” with only a few remaining open and those were for the locals or one or two ‘tourist’ trap kind of places selling t-shirts, apparel and chaps.
We walked the town a short bit, spoke with a local and tried in vain to find Frank a pair of chaps. Not just any pair, but ones with special little conchos, tassles and pink and turquoise flowers. This all started out as a fun joke, but I think it got a bit out of hand and had we actually found a pair that fit the bill and fit Frank I think he would have purchased them. LOL…..
I had been to Sturgis in full swing for the 2001 version and spent maybe 12 hours total in the area before leaving. Things hadn’t changed much over the years other than this is a sleepy little town when the rally is not taking place.
So having been defeated on the chaps part of the ride (what could be better than actually purchasing your chaps IN Sturgis) we decided to just mosey over to the Full Throttle Saloon to see what that was all about. We arrived a short time later and to be honest, I’ve only seen one episode of “Full Throttle Saloon” so I really didn’t know what to expect.
We parked the bikes and walked inside just poking around. There were a few others there, but couldn’t have been more than 10 people at any given time. Of course there were the t-shirts for sale, Sloonshine (they have their own distillery) beer and the big concert venue out back. Here’s some random pics in no particular order
The Thunderdome/Wall of death
The artwork/statue out front
Some random “artwork”
The concert/band venue area
This time it’s Bill in deep thought
Some random bikes
Their housebrand “Sloonshine”
And “Kim”. Kim was an interesting person to talk with about the bar, the staff and what actually goes on during the 10-14 days of Sturgis. They hire 120 waitresses for that short period of time and receive THOUSANDS of applications. Shifts are split into mornings and evenings with the morning wait staff earning $500-800 a day and the evening wait staff $800-1200 or up a day. This is BIG BUSINESS if those are the sort of tips generated. She started out as a part-time employee then after a year earned her keep and is (was – more on that in a minute) full time now. She also told us the rally started in 1938 as an Indian MotoCycle event and grew from there. There were only two years the rally didn’t take place and that was during WWII. Very pleasant to talk with indeed.
Here’s Kim
Now, for the interesting part….. I learned this morning (09/08/2015) that the Full Throttle Saloon was totally destroyed by a fire early this morning. Not one week ago, we were in there poking around chatting up with one of the employees and enjoying a cold draft beer. Now it’s gone. Here’s a screen grab of what it looks like as of this morning. I hope “Kim” is able to find alternative employment now….
(Image provided by 9news.com)
Source:
http://www.9news.com/story/news/local/2015/09/08/full-throttle-saloon-fire/71874128/#
STURGIS, S.D. —
Flames early Tuesday morning engulfed a popular Sturgis saloon that bills itself as the "world's largest biker bar."
The call first came in at 12:17 a.m. Crews from six fire departments were on the scene just minutes later, but at that time, smoke was pouring out of all the windows. By 12:45 a.m., the fire was through the roof.
The only occupant on the grounds was able to escape without being injured.
The bar on South Dakota Highway 34 has been the subject of a reality television series. Its amenities include zip lines, musical stages and rental cabins.
So once we had pretty much ‘done’ FTS as it’s called, we headed towards Deadwood. Prior to leaving FTS I had mentioned I sort of liked the KOA campgrounds as they typically had nice showers, facilities and convenience stores. Well, Deadwood SD just happened to have one so that’s where we headed.
Yet before we could make it there we got stopped in a traffic jam. Turns out there was a shooting about to take place over a card game and the one shot would have the bullet bounce off his forehead thus not killing him. Well, a couple months later he did in fact die from a bone spur that developed. Or at least that’s how the story went. (again, more on these ‘stories’ later….)
What started out as a friendly game of cards
…soon escalated into a shooting
…with one guy getting hit in the forehead
Now – where’s my Starbucks so I can get on with this trip?
Once the show was over, we made it through town and found the KOA and inquired about a campsite for a couple nights. The chap was quite friendly behind the desk and I think there was a Texas connection in some way. I know his wife was from Deadwood. He gave us a good rate for a couple nights but when we got to the site it was a bit smallish for four bikes and four tents. So I rode back down and asked if we could have the larger site on the hill for the two nights and he said it was already booked. Bummer. Yet he did offer up two adjacent sites for the same money/same two days if we wanted to do that. He’s going to get a grand YELP report for that one. So I rode back up the hill and we setup camp for two comfortable nights
With camp setup by 3:15, we had plenty of time to just wander into town and see what there was for us. We hit the “76 Museum” first which was interesting but also somewhat of a disappointment. We thought it was going to be a great history of the town of Deadwood but it turned out to be more of a museum/history for the annual “76” celebration to recognize the 1876 gold rush which basically created Deadwood. The "76" annual celebration is on the same magnitude as Tombstone days and other very large historical gatherings.
After the museum (it was now crowding 5pm) we wandered into ‘town’ to watch a group of native Americans putting on a show
And his son...
When that was over, we made our way to the “#10 Saloon”. Now this is where fact from fiction begin to merge. According to the story, the #10 Saloon is where Wild Bill Hickok was shot in the back playing poker
And this is supposedly the chair he was sitting in while facing the fireplace
Where the fact vs fiction begin to come into play is the actual “real” #10 Saloon was a block down and across the street. And to top it off, there were at least two MAJOR fires in the Deadwood downtown district that leveled everything so the chair most probably burned up.
What we did learn was, the #10 Saloon as noted above that had the ‘chair’ was a re-creation of the bar where Hickock was shot and in fact, the actual bar WAS across the street and down a block. So we all came to the conclusion that the ‘barkers’ out front of each establishment were more interested in getting people INSIDE their bar than letting on to the actual history of the establishment. That set the stage for the rest of our experiences in Deadwood. We found many other little discrepancies like that during our stay when we really asked questions.
By now the sun was getting low and we were on the peckish side of hungry. We had decided that we would treat ourselves to a really nice dinner tonight so we were asking around. Several people (locals included) mentioned the Deadwood Social Club. So off in search of that we did and sure enough found it pretty quickly. Turns out it was an old brothel based on all the pictures and paintings on the walls.
The menu was extensive and the service superb. I wound up ordering the beef tips and Orzo, Bill had a seafood monster basket thing, Frank had the chicken Orzo and Vince ordered what looked like a wonderful steak.
After our excellent meal, we just meandered around town looking for interesting things……
Downtown/Mainstreet Deadwood SD
By now we were definitely all getting the feeling that Deadwood was just a little tourist trap that had the look and feel of an old-tyme amusement or theme park. Kind of sad, but that’s what we all pretty much thought. When little towns like this rely on tourism and gambling, I suppose the business model has to change to adapt to support those objectives.
So after enough of the downtown attractions, we decided to run up to visit the gravestones of Wild Bill Hickock and Clamity Jane at Mt Moriah Cemetery The cemetery was easy to find, but the ticket office was closed. However, the walking gate was open and I spied a Donation Box figuring I’d drop a buck in on the way out.
Without doubt, the place was peaceful
After a short walk, finding their resting place didn’t take too long
Bill Hickock is on the left (with a new marker) and Martha Jane Burke (Clamity Jane) on the right
From there, we walked almost straight up 778’ to the marker for Seth Bullock. Seth was the ‘lawman’ of Deadwood although he didn’t start out as that…..
And we came across the Franklin plot. The Franklins had the large hotel in town
As we made our way to the top of the cemetery, I stopped at the flag which was still flying after dark.
Turns out, Congress during WWI granted authorization to the town of Deadwood permission to fly the US flag day or night never having to come down. I did not know that.
While up on the hill, I found a set of benches looking out over the town of Deadwood. Bill sat down next to me and we just sat there looking out over the town thinking about what life must have been like back in 1876 and forward. The rock and wood bench faced West, so the warmth of all day sunshine kept it warm for us with the temperature dropping. After several minutes of silence, we just got up and started the walk back down the hill. I reflected on the number of people in the cemetery, what their lives and deaths might have meant at the time or to others and just started to think about the cycle of life and where I fit it/what role I have on planet earth.
As we went by Hickocks marker once again, I noticed the date of death on this marker. 1876. Wow. One of the first most probably to be buried here
And a different view of Wild Bill and Clamity Jane’s resting place
When Bill and I left the cemetery we dropped in a donation to help support the history and upkeep of Mt. Moriah. We made it to the bikes and turns out Frank left his key in the ignition. We made the quick trip down the hill to down and passed several large deer in peoples front yards right on the side of the road. Yep – they’re everywhere here too.
Making it back to camp in short order, the wonderful KOA showers awaited us all. And then sleep. Wonderful, glorious sleep.
Tomorrow will bring new adventures I’m sure….
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Lesson learned – don’t sleep with the plastic jacket cover on the pillow in the future. Oh, and the adage “no pics – never happened” holds true on this one.
