Back at the Ranch – Days 5 and 6

I’m very, very tempted to go ahead and subscribe to the local cable/internet company out here. I’m tethering off my phone with one tiny bar in efforts to get these pics and blog posts uploaded.  There is a hill on our land which gets several more bars and I’ve lovingly named it my “office”. I picture a pavilion sitting atop that hill someday where I can happily write and upload for hours.

8/5/22
We got up and rode into Spearfish for breakfast at Perkins, the plan we had yesterday before my bike died. I failed the day before to get the charts I wanted from the museum, A Correlated History of Matter and A Correlated History of Earth. I thought I got them both only to learn I got the matter one and will have to order the earth one from their website. It contains lots of info about minerals and rocks, and how and when they were formed. Since we have found a plethora of interesting rocks on our land, and Bill recently bought me a rock tumbler, this has ignited a burning curiosity about what is out there.

So today we would head back into Hill City to visit the Dakota Rock Shop, which we saw on our way out the day before.

Wow!  Lots and lots of raw crystals and rocks and very reasonably priced by the pound.

I chose a gorgeous amethyst and rose quartz.  Sunglasses for size!

I brought another handful of rocks to get their opinion and after a lengthy story I wish I could have recorded, I learned a lot of the rocks are likely sandstone with iron. I came away with this, however.  The reddish brown we see everywhere is very likely iron oxidation. He also mentioned sandstone, which I’m pretty sure I’ve found a lot of. I’m very, VERY excited however, to put some of these reddish brown rocks in the tumbler and see how they come out. The first rockhound we spoke to said they were hematite, which, when polished, is a shiny, silvery black.

8/6/22
Laundry day. We drove into Belle Fourche to our favorite laundromat, with all the amenities a laundromat could offer. I took advantage of their free wifi and did some blogging while our clothes tumbled.

Then we met up with our friends at the campground they were staying at and relaxed with a few beverages. It was a cooler day today, high of about 70, a welcome relief from our 90 and 100 degree days we had been having. Bill brought his guitar and he and our new friend Normand took turns playing what they knew.

I fell in LOVE with my friend Kim’s travel mug.

Later we all drove to the Steerfish Steak and Smoke in Spearfish for dinner, our last night with most of our friends before they pack up and leave. This has been such the reunion!  Several friends are from Canada and haven’t been able to come the last two years due to covid.