It's award time. And I'm a lucky b#stard! For travelling the furthest to this year's BearSTOC Meeting I am ceremoniously handed a brand new AirHawk cushion by Mike Turley, the BearSTOC organiser, which is something that I've been gagging to acquire since my old one broke down on me just over a week ago.
What a stroke of luck .. :o) - Of all prizes that I could have received, this particular item is, of course, just what I needed.
And to think too that the new AirHawk that I ordered on-line - through eBay.com - last week and arranged to be forwarded onto this motel .. well, just didn't show-up!
It's all a hellofa coincidence. But at the end of the day - or at the beginning of the day on this particular special occasion - I know, that I really am .. a lucky, lucky b#stard .. aren't I?
Wednesday, August-29
I took the day off yesterday, mainly because it started with wet, misty weather. Not much good for taking pictures.While I'm in this region of America, there are three monuments that I would like to visit close-up. The first and the nearest of these from Deadwood is Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota which is around 50 miles [80 km] to the south. I arrive there, on a glorious morning by 09:30am.
The 60-foot [18-m] carvings of [L~>R] George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are about what I expected. 
What I didn't expect to see is the parking structure at $8 [£4] for less than an hour's stop, the museum/theatre complex, the Visitor Orientation Center, gift shop, bookstore, dining facilities, and the Presidential Trail. There's quite a set-up here for the tourist trade.Apparently the evening lighting ceremony in the amphitheatre - at 9:00pm - is worth a look. But I'll be hundreds of miles away by that time tonight .. :o(
22 miles [34½ km] to the west is The Crazy Horse Memorial at Thunder Mountain, which will be a monument depicting the Indian warrior, of the same name, riding a horse and pointing into the distance.
The monument's construction has been in progress for over fifty years and is still far from complete. When [and 'if'] finished it will be the world's largest sculpture.
Inside the main building I watched a brief video show about the history of and the future ambitions for the site, and wandered through the Indian Museum to the nearby restaurant.Well I can tell y'all, it's official! Injuns or 'Native Americans' just can't make a nice cuppa tea .. :o(
My close encounter of the third kind with monuments today occurs at Devils Tower in north-eastern Wyoming. Visiting this monolith seems important to me as it featured prominently in Steven Spielberg's 1977 sci-fi movie that really impressed me at the time I saw it first at the cinema. . Now I'm here at the very spot ... 
.. Who'd of thought it thirty year ago, eh? In them days we was glad to have the price of a cup o' tea. (If you're a Monty Python fan this might mean something to you. [From the 'Four Yorkshiremen' sketch] .. :o) .. if you're not then it won't .. so read on)
I also encounter, by pure chance/luck fellow BearSTOC attendee, John the Minnesota-based LEO (law enforcement officer / policeman), on his Suzuki DL 650 V-Strom. John used to ride, up until very recently, a Honda ST1100. We spend the rest of the day travelling together. 
By early evening, and some fast Interstate riding westwards across I-90, we turn off southwest towards our next stopover destination of Burgess Junction. Some of the views during the last 30 miles are quite breathtaking. 
Dodging deer a plenty .. and the odd herd of cattle! we arrive at the Bear Lodge Resort, Burgess Junction; the last two riders in for the day after a 400-mile ride. Too much, mainly free, beer follows!Thursday, August-30
[eh-hem] Slightly hung-over from 'the night before' I am the last person to climb into the saddle this morning. Despite this I join a restarting group, who are returning from an earlier ride and we collectively head-off down US-14 towards the tiny township of 'Shell'. 
The canyon we ride down ...
.. and down ...
.. and finally through and out at the bottom is a delight.
This is Bighorn Basin .. 'the West' as I had always imagined [... we're back in Wyoming BTW] 
Around mid-morning we stop at Dirty Annie's Country Store for some breakfast. I get to meet my first gun-toting cowboy, who puts on his best Sam Elliot-type mean look for my camera.
Further along the Bighorn Basin, I breakaway from the group and go on ahead towards the city of Cody on my own; the landscape soon reverts to near desert and the temperature rises rapidly. 
On through Cody and then northwest along SR-120, I'm soon turning left onto the Chief Joseph Highway towards Beartooth Pass and Montana beyond. 
More spectacular scenery ... 
I don't think I could ever grow tired of this stuff
But within an hour I'm back climbing up Beartooth Pass; covering the same ground as last Sunday afternoon, August-26. By mid-afternoon I'm settled into my motel room in Red Lodge, Montana.------------------------
Two excellent days. But tomorrow - Friday, August-31, I shall need to start my BIG day rides northwards towards and eventually back into Canada; the country upon which I landed in North America and last set foot on more than seven and a half weeks ago. I'm looking forward to the return.
