QB does not drink but I could swear that she was watching me covetously as I enjoyed a cold Budweiser with dinner that evening.  Mitchell is also the home of the “world famous” Corn Palace…

We encountered this enigmatic situation in one of the local shopping malls and never were able to figure out just who was granting the necessary authorization to use this facility in the event of a tornado.  There is an adage: Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for a lifetime.  With this in mind, we decided that it was time to cut the apron strings and send Queen Bee off on her own for a spell, albeit VERY closely supervised!!  To this end we spent the night before what has become known as “The Grand Catastrophe” making several detailed maps and plotting nearly every inch of a route from South Sioux City, Nebraska, to Mitchell, South Dakota, a distance of about 150 miles.  The route: go north on Interstate 29, turn left on Interstate 90 and take the Mitchell exit.  When written, it looks quite simple.  HAH!!  She started out that morning fully confident and anxiously exuberant about the adventure which lay before her.  We, of course, were providing a safety net by following 2 hours behind on the same route.  The drive along I-29 was relatively uneventful save for the 18 wheeler that nearly hit her as he passed by at breakneck speed in several lanes simultaneously.  Smooth sailing was not in the cards, however, as fate reared its ugly head at the Interstate 29/90 interchange in the form of road work and a 5-mile one lane detour through concrete barriers set just far enough apart that they stripped only the top layer of paint off your vehicle.  To add to the anxiety, she found herself in the middle of a police chase through this corridor where the perpetrator was in front of her and several police cars, complete with lights, sirens and bullhorns were behind her.  Guess who they were chasing… The re-telling of the tale becomes a bit vague at this point but she was eventually able to extricate herself from this installment of “America’s Most Wanted” and we found her later that day, a bit shaken but still breathing, in the parking lot of the Cabela’s store in Mitchell, South Dakota…

The area is also the home to a lot of wildlife and, though scarce, you may even see a bald eagle…

But even the orneriest of this bunch have a seldom seen gentle side…

I often wonder just who puts in roads to places where no one has ever been?????  I do know who put in the roads through Teton National Park and I can even guess as to the reason why…

Did you ever wonder just who it is that decides that a particular thing is “world famous”?  Whoever he or she is, I’m willing to bet that they don’t get out much.  The first full week of August each year heralds the arrival of thousands of Harleys to the little town of Sturgis, South Dakota, for the Black Hills Motorcycle Rally.  This is an event which draws bikers from all over the world and has spread out to include nearly every town within 100 miles of Sturgis.

The scenery and wildlife of this area are easily viewable from any of the Park roads and it is pretty easy to get close enough for some pretty decent photographs without any special equipment…

And…

Jackson’s Big Hole was the name given this depression in the Rocky Mountains by the early Mountain Men and fur trappers who once came here to trade their pelts for powder and shot, and a host of other items which provided them with some modicum of safety and comfort in the nomadic lifestyle they had chosen.  Today the area is called Jackson or Jackson Hole and the visitors arrive, not to trap but, to simply enjoy viewing the many species which still inhabit and thrive in this valley and to explore the roads, trails and waterways through the Teton National Park.  Our journey to this area began in Red Bay, Alabama, however, after completion of a few repairs to our Urban Assault Vehicle and even Queen Bee was able to talk the Tiffin boys into making a few repairs and modifications to her new Dynamax motorhome.  Strangely though, she spent the remainder of her time in Red Bay known as “Chad’s girl.”   We meandered on a generally northwesterly path until arriving several days later in Hannibal, Missouri...

Here you will find bikes of endless variety…

and occasionally posing for a few candid shots…

Additionally, there are also a few pretty ladies working at the local watering holes…

It was here that Mark Twain spent much of his youth working on the paddle-wheelers on the Mississippi River and wrote the Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn stories...

Okay, so I happen to be a bit “partial” to the Confederate battle flag…

We continued on a course along the Mississippi River and eventually arrived in South Sioux City, Nebraska, and a campground on the bank of the river…

These pictures were taken in Custer State Park where “wild” burros are abundant and roam freely among the buffalo, elk and antelope which are also in residence.  Extricating QB from Sturgis, and several very large hairy men, was not an easily accomplished feat and required a bit of deception and treachery.  One bright morning, on the pretext of visiting Mount Rushmore…

Nebraska is one of those states where we haven’t really spent a lot of time and I really have no idea why that is…

Those two yellow things are air-filled balloons mounted tightly inside a steel retainer.  The concussion from the muzzle blast breaks them if your aim is true and it usually takes less than a second to draw your pistol, cock it and fire twice.  The better shooters record times of .250 to .400 of one second!  When not participating in such cultural events, my Bride and I took off on day trips to those areas where “no man has gone before”…

 Jackson                                                                   August 16, 2007

I usually send my budding nature photographer into the wilderness to get these close-ups while I stay safely inside the Jeep with a moose call duplicating the sounds of a horny female.  See y’all later!  Hugs. Los Vagabundos

Wandering the streets…

And fancy paint…

In addition to all the “fluff” there are, of course, those hard core biker chicks who are in town for sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll…

We simply never returned to Sturgis.  QB was so enamored with all of the bikes on the road that she never realized we were no longer in Sturgis until she saw the “Welcome to Wyoming” sign.  DAMN, we are good!!!  Prior to our arrival in Jackson, we passed through the little town of Medicine Bow which provided the inspiration for Owen Wister’s novel, “The Virginian.”   And, as luck would have it, we witnessed a shootout behind the Virginian Hotel…

These rowdy types generally travel with others of similar thought and can often be seen with the seediest of bikers…

The World Fast Draw Association sponsors competitions among gunslingers to determine the top balloon slayer in the west…