4 Stop Day

26 June 2020

A busy day today with 4 stops including Breakfast at Uncle Louie's in Sturgis, drive to Bear Butte and signage for Camp Sturgis,Loop drive to Fort Meade National Cemetery down to Hill City and visit to CCC Museum and Visitor Center in Hill City with stop for Ice Cream at The Cream.

John ordered The Big Louie and I Eggs Benedict. Food was delicious and John ate the whole thing. I ate less. Service was friendly and prices reasonable. A must stop if in Sturgis. By the way the big Rally first week in August is a go. Some 800,000 bikers, tourists and others converge in the area for at least 10 days of food, entertainment and riding.Campsites and accommodations are booked several years in advance. This is the 80th Rally 7 Aug-16th.

Our next stop was Bear Butte SP and a marker for the site of Camp Sturgis 1878 founded by Col Samuel D Sturgis commander of the 7th US Cavalry The post was named in honor of his son LT James G Sturgis who was killed at the Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876. The post was built to monitor the Sioux and to protect the mining interest in the Black Hills.Later the town of Stirgis founded.The site of the camp is on private property.

Bear Butte near the town of Sturgis is a beautiful mountain with several hiking trails from the Visitor Center and just off Hwy 79 as is the marker. The mountain is a very sacred site for the Native Americans.It is seen as a place where the creator has chosen to communicate with them through prayer and vision.

Continuing on we drove the Loop from Fort Meade to the Fort Meade National Cemetery continuing on to the Black Hills National Cemetery. Fort Meade Cemetery was established in 1878 and closed 70 years later after 188 interments.The Black Hills Cemetery was established in 1948 and as of 2005 had over 19,000 interments. The other National Cemetery is located in Hot Springs, SD.

Our final stop of the day was in Hill City on Hwy 385 and visit to the CCC Museum and Visitor Center. The Civilian Conservation Camps was established in 1933 as part of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal legislation putting hundreds of young men to work environment and construction projects in more than 800 parks during its nine years of existence. They were paid $30/month and had to send $25 home to family.It is due to this program and the hard work of these citizens that we are able to enjoy our many parks and sites today.

The Museum has a very good display of the history with many locations is South Dakota.

At the suggestion of some bicyclists we met on the Loop Drive, we decided to indulge in a cup of ice cream at The Cream Shop in Hill City. Thanks guys, it was delicious and just what we needed after a long day.

Time is drawing near for our departure on the 1 July. We have so enjoyed our stay here at Elkhorn Ridge RV resort that we booked our stay next year for May and June. Looking forward to our return.