SATURDAY 23rd JULY 2016 - STURGIS, BUFFALO JUMP & HULETT

We had planned to spend a couple of days at Sturgis but within minutes we decided it was not our kind of place.  We did choose to walk around the entire town as we will most likely never pass this way again and it is an iconic place.  If it wasn't for the four great bars-hotels the place would have been a dive.

At 3.00pm we'd had enough and hit the road to the Wyoming border.

We desperately wanted to get off the main thoroughfare and hit the back-roads.  We saw something that looked a 'bit' interesting but had no idea just how fascinating it was going to be.  It was called the Vore Buffalo Jump.  It's where the Indians, in the days before horses, ran herds of buffalo over a cliff in order to get their skins and meat to live.  The Buffalo Jump was found by accident when they were digging up the area for the new highway.  Needless to say there is a bend in the highway now as this has become an important archaeological site.

It always amazes me that with each State border crossing the landscape changes dramatically.  Wyoming was beautiful.  We rode north and at a T-intersection found a little place called Aladdin.  We stopped at the store.  Actually, the store WAS the town.  There was not much else there.  It was all closed up but that made it even more appealing.

We continued along Highway 24 to Hulett and arrived at the best Western at 8.00pm.  The ride was fantastic, the light perfect, we'd seen a couple of young deer on the road so we were pleased to be pulling in for the night.

We freshened up and did our nightly ritual of walking about town and checking out what's on offer. What a gorgeous place.  Population of 300 is a little high for our liking but the local residents are fantastic.  We had a fabulous meal at 'The Ponderosa' and can highly recommend them.

Afterwards we explored some more...

We came across the Rogues Gallery Museum which was really interesting - full of Indian and local artefacts.  It seems you haven't made it in this town unless your 'hat' has been hung up on the walls.  Every hat has the owners name under it and somehow emits part of their character.

The gallery owner Bob CORONATO, is an artist, has a quirky sense of humour and we enjoyed a long chat with him during our visit. His paintings often have an historical significance and even the National Galleries are trying to acquire them.