8/7/22
Sunday we went rock hunting on our land. I wanted to bring home enough to experiment with using the rock tumbler that will tide me over until our return.
There are pockets of what they call hardpan, flat areas of dirt that are sometimes rocky.
It’s here where I usually find cacti.
Here is part of our haul. I’ll first need to identify these the best I can, to determine the hardness. Then I can get the appropriate grit to use. I can’t wait to do before and after pics!
8/8/22
Another HOT day but this is what we come for. Scraping ice off our windshields will be here TOO soon. Today we went a different route to Sturgis – across Highway 20 to 79 south. This took us right past the new Full Throttle with our beloved Bear Butte in the background.
Usually they put up temporary traffic lights at the entrance, but they were not up yet, so we opted NOT to navigate that mess and just got some pics from the road.
We did however stop at Bear Butte. Years ago we climbed to the top, but that would not happen on this 100 degree day, also with my bum hip. But I wanted to get close for some pics and stop in at the visitor center.
Just love this sacred place.
Upstairs in the visitor center, we saw smoke coming from a hayfield across the way. I hoped it was a controlled burn, but later found out it was not, as the fire trucks screamed their way up 79 to the hayfield. Overhearing some downstairs employees, it was accidental, as the hay was being cut. We learned last year from our neighbor, that you DO NOT cut grass when it’s this hot and dry. Hitting a rock with a mower blade can create a spark and that is all it takes.
Luckily by the time we left, they had it under control. I did find some books (surprise!)
I’ve read several books by Joseph M. Marshall III, but this one spoke to me. Here the author elaborates on sections from his poem, Keep Going, and also shares insights and wisdom from his Lakota grandfather.
Tender Reverence, as I flipped through it in the gift shop, shares Lakota stories and beliefs as they relate to several constellations, ones we see very clearly from our land – the Milky Way, the Big Dipper and two new ones I hope we can identify, Bear Lodge and Tayamni.
Riding back through Lead, we stopped at a Subway for lunch which happened to be right across from the visitors center for the Sanford Lab Homestake, not far from the Sanford Underground Research Facility, or SURF.
Underground Research Facility? Thinking this could not sound more like Stranger Things, we finished our subs and went across the street.
Holy Cow.
The giant hole we’ve ridden past in Lead for YEARS is the old Homestake Gold Mine, which was in operation from 1876 to 2001.
The visitor center overlooks the HUGE hole which was the deepest gold mine in the western hemisphere. Now, they’ve built an underground research facility not far away in which particle and nuclear physics experiments are done, deep below the earth’s surface to avoid cosmic rays.
Whoa!
They run a shuttle from the visitor center to the underground research facility, but we missed the last one for the day. Definitely returning next year with more time to spend and to take the shuttle over to the facility museum. This was incredibly intriguing!
Had no idea you had such fascinating things to do out there!