Former Rapid City Journal reporter Steve Miller shares stories of people and places that make the western South Dakota region unique.
Here's a travel tip that will probably make for a longer trip. It just won't seem that way.
If you're heading from the Black Hills to Pierre or other points east, drive S.D. Highway 34. (For Northern Hills residents, it's probably just as fast).This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their Floor tiles .
More importantly, it's fun.
The landscape is inspiring.
The highway is smooth and along the way you can get good food and conversation and maybe learn some history.
From Rapid City, you can take a shortcut. Go to New Underwood and drive north about 30 miles to Highway 34. The eight miles on the north end has been under construction, but the Meade County Highway Department says the construction area will be smoothed out and ready for gravel this week.
Last week, I avoided the construction and got to Highway 34 via Sturgis.
Soon after I head east out of Sturgis, I feel like I'm in the real West.
With Bear Butte looming behind me, I go past an old stone house on a curve, then through hay country, with stacks of bales dotting the fields on both sides of the road.
I go past small and well-kept ranch houses, the yards all mowed.
The pale blue sky dominates the lonesome landscape.
I cross the Belle Fourche River, flowing blue and placid through a picturesque valley.
A few miles later, I drive past a few cowboys on horseback gathering cattle into a big corral and loading them into semi-trucks.
Then I pop over a rise and glide down into Union Center, a thriving little community anchored by Cammack Ranch Supply. Acres of tires, wire, logs, lumber, steel fencing and corral panels sprawl across the yard just west of the Cow Town Mall, which contains the Cammack store, a post office, a hair salon and the Bull Creek Café.
At the clean and cheery Bull Creek Café,Polycore oil paintings for sale are manufactured as a single sheet, I read the Country Coffees Conversations bulletin as I eat a fish sandwich and a piece of cheesecake.
I learn a little about Manuel Coy, the Texas cowboy who came up with the first cattle herd to Fort Meade and settled near Stoneville. He was known as an expert roper and a dead shot with a rifle and pistol. "He had a reputation as a good friend, but a bad enemy," says the bulletin.
After I finish my meal, I learn from café manager Monica Wilcox and waitress Melody Smith that they make homemade peach pie and homemade chicken fried steak.
Drat! I've already eaten. The chicken fried steak will have to wait for another time. But Monica cuts me a piece of fresh peach pie to take with me. All in the interest of thorough journalism.
The Bull Creek Café is open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and until 7 p.m. on Fridays. It's open the second Sunday of every month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the local church crowd.
Plenty of locals come in to eat, too. Monica says business is slow in the winter, but they stay open year-round. By the way, the Cow Town Mall has clean bathrooms. You can't say that about every place along I-90.
Down the street, you can buy gas at the CBH Coop from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays. You can buy gas with a credit card at all other times.
A bit farther down the road, I find the source of the Country Coffees Conversations. It's the Country Coffees shop owned by Fran Mickelson, who works at the local cabinet shop.
The store sells doilies, crochet gifts and other crafts on consignment from local artisans, as well as Wrangler shirts and jeans, coveralls, Bibles and inspirational books, and lattes. That's right: lattes, as well as cappuccino, shakes and Italian sodas.
Fran's mother, Della Rae Mickelson, who was tending the store, fixed me a vanilla latte.
The store is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Inspired and well-fed, I head east again.
I'm not making good time,ceramic magic cube for the medical, but I'm having a good time.
Five miles east, I stop at the Enning store, owned by Karl and Neoma Richter. The store has one of the rural post offices being eyed for closure.
Karl, 71, says the store is for sale, but they haven't decided for sure whether to retire. "It's hard to do with all the customers we have," he said.
Karl looks gruff but laughs easily and jokes with customers who come in.
The Richters have owned the store for 40 years. It offers gas and groceries and has a small beer bar.
"Everybody loves me in a storm," Karl said.
Seven miles east, I turn off the highway into the former village of White Owl, where Joyce Chord owns and operates the White Owl Store and is the postmistress of the post office there, another one being considered for closure.
Chord offers pop and candy; art work by her late husband's sister, Ruth Mayer; antiques; copies of a central Meade County history book; and plenty of information about her grandchildren.
She emphatically does not sell beer and cigarettes.
The White Owl Store has operated since 1904, the post office since 1893. Joyce says mail service began in 1889.
About 20 miles farther east, I get to the Howes store, at the intersection with S.D. Highway 73 north. I visited the store last month, where I got caught up longer than I intended chatting and joking with co-owner Bob Hansen. Bob said that's part of the fun of living in an isolated place - people can take time to visit.
Bob was gone this time, but I talked to his wife, LaVonne, who says she is the primary store operator anyway. "Bob is the PR guy," she said.
The Howes store, which serves the area ranch community and the southwestern edge of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, as well as travelers, stays plenty busy, LaVonne says. They sell pop, motor oil, groceries, liquor and gas.
She said locals are good, loyal customers. "The guys come in and play cribbage with Bob," she said.
The Hansens have owned the store for 35 years. "I planned on being gone in 15 years," LaVonne said, laughing. "I'm still here."
She would like to retire if they can find somebody to take over the business.
The store is open Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Howes is about 75 miles from Sturgis and 96 miles from Fort Pierre.
LaVonne said sometimes a traveler comes in and asks them how they can live in such an isolated place.
"A woman from Minneapolis came in and said she couldn't image living out here," LaVonne said. "I can't imagine living in a city."
I head east again and within a few miles come upon the big beautiful Cheyenne River valley opening up below.
I climb to the other side and drive another 15 miles or so to the T34 café at Billsburg. The T34 used to be called The Ridge, which burned down more than 10 years ago.
Then Trudy Flesner bought the place in 2001 and built a roomy restaurant and bar with lots of windows. Trudy and her husband Gordon ranch near here.
T34, which also has gas pumps, is open seven days a week year-round. "We put 92 octane in the summer for the bikers," says Trudy. Most Harley-Davidsons call for high-octane gas.
That's a good thing because it's 103 miles to Sturgis from here and 66 miles to Fort Pierre. And the store at Hayes, 34 miles east, is now closed.
T34 is packed during the rally.
Trudy also gets lots of hunters in the fall.
She built a shower for truckers. A note: This place,which applies to the first offshore merchant account only, too, has clean bathrooms.
Trudy fixes me a hamburger and American fries. The American fries are excellent, made from scratch, from potatoes that Trudy and her staff peel.
The fried potatoes are authentic, like the people and the prairie and the sky and the exquisite emptiness here.
They're all good reasons to come back. Besides,If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards, I'm still thinking about that chicken-fried steak at Union Center.
Here's a travel tip that will probably make for a longer trip. It just won't seem that way.
If you're heading from the Black Hills to Pierre or other points east, drive S.D. Highway 34. (For Northern Hills residents, it's probably just as fast).This will leave your shoulders free to rotate in their Floor tiles .
More importantly, it's fun.
The landscape is inspiring.
The highway is smooth and along the way you can get good food and conversation and maybe learn some history.
From Rapid City, you can take a shortcut. Go to New Underwood and drive north about 30 miles to Highway 34. The eight miles on the north end has been under construction, but the Meade County Highway Department says the construction area will be smoothed out and ready for gravel this week.
Last week, I avoided the construction and got to Highway 34 via Sturgis.
Soon after I head east out of Sturgis, I feel like I'm in the real West.
With Bear Butte looming behind me, I go past an old stone house on a curve, then through hay country, with stacks of bales dotting the fields on both sides of the road.
I go past small and well-kept ranch houses, the yards all mowed.
The pale blue sky dominates the lonesome landscape.
I cross the Belle Fourche River, flowing blue and placid through a picturesque valley.
A few miles later, I drive past a few cowboys on horseback gathering cattle into a big corral and loading them into semi-trucks.
Then I pop over a rise and glide down into Union Center, a thriving little community anchored by Cammack Ranch Supply. Acres of tires, wire, logs, lumber, steel fencing and corral panels sprawl across the yard just west of the Cow Town Mall, which contains the Cammack store, a post office, a hair salon and the Bull Creek Café.
At the clean and cheery Bull Creek Café,Polycore oil paintings for sale are manufactured as a single sheet, I read the Country Coffees Conversations bulletin as I eat a fish sandwich and a piece of cheesecake.
I learn a little about Manuel Coy, the Texas cowboy who came up with the first cattle herd to Fort Meade and settled near Stoneville. He was known as an expert roper and a dead shot with a rifle and pistol. "He had a reputation as a good friend, but a bad enemy," says the bulletin.
After I finish my meal, I learn from café manager Monica Wilcox and waitress Melody Smith that they make homemade peach pie and homemade chicken fried steak.
Drat! I've already eaten. The chicken fried steak will have to wait for another time. But Monica cuts me a piece of fresh peach pie to take with me. All in the interest of thorough journalism.
The Bull Creek Café is open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and until 7 p.m. on Fridays. It's open the second Sunday of every month from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the local church crowd.
Plenty of locals come in to eat, too. Monica says business is slow in the winter, but they stay open year-round. By the way, the Cow Town Mall has clean bathrooms. You can't say that about every place along I-90.
Down the street, you can buy gas at the CBH Coop from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to noon Saturdays. You can buy gas with a credit card at all other times.
A bit farther down the road, I find the source of the Country Coffees Conversations. It's the Country Coffees shop owned by Fran Mickelson, who works at the local cabinet shop.
The store sells doilies, crochet gifts and other crafts on consignment from local artisans, as well as Wrangler shirts and jeans, coveralls, Bibles and inspirational books, and lattes. That's right: lattes, as well as cappuccino, shakes and Italian sodas.
Fran's mother, Della Rae Mickelson, who was tending the store, fixed me a vanilla latte.
The store is open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Inspired and well-fed, I head east again.
I'm not making good time,ceramic magic cube for the medical, but I'm having a good time.
Five miles east, I stop at the Enning store, owned by Karl and Neoma Richter. The store has one of the rural post offices being eyed for closure.
Karl, 71, says the store is for sale, but they haven't decided for sure whether to retire. "It's hard to do with all the customers we have," he said.
Karl looks gruff but laughs easily and jokes with customers who come in.
The Richters have owned the store for 40 years. It offers gas and groceries and has a small beer bar.
"Everybody loves me in a storm," Karl said.
Seven miles east, I turn off the highway into the former village of White Owl, where Joyce Chord owns and operates the White Owl Store and is the postmistress of the post office there, another one being considered for closure.
Chord offers pop and candy; art work by her late husband's sister, Ruth Mayer; antiques; copies of a central Meade County history book; and plenty of information about her grandchildren.
She emphatically does not sell beer and cigarettes.
The White Owl Store has operated since 1904, the post office since 1893. Joyce says mail service began in 1889.
About 20 miles farther east, I get to the Howes store, at the intersection with S.D. Highway 73 north. I visited the store last month, where I got caught up longer than I intended chatting and joking with co-owner Bob Hansen. Bob said that's part of the fun of living in an isolated place - people can take time to visit.
Bob was gone this time, but I talked to his wife, LaVonne, who says she is the primary store operator anyway. "Bob is the PR guy," she said.
The Howes store, which serves the area ranch community and the southwestern edge of the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation, as well as travelers, stays plenty busy, LaVonne says. They sell pop, motor oil, groceries, liquor and gas.
She said locals are good, loyal customers. "The guys come in and play cribbage with Bob," she said.
The Hansens have owned the store for 35 years. "I planned on being gone in 15 years," LaVonne said, laughing. "I'm still here."
She would like to retire if they can find somebody to take over the business.
The store is open Monday through Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Howes is about 75 miles from Sturgis and 96 miles from Fort Pierre.
LaVonne said sometimes a traveler comes in and asks them how they can live in such an isolated place.
"A woman from Minneapolis came in and said she couldn't image living out here," LaVonne said. "I can't imagine living in a city."
I head east again and within a few miles come upon the big beautiful Cheyenne River valley opening up below.
I climb to the other side and drive another 15 miles or so to the T34 café at Billsburg. The T34 used to be called The Ridge, which burned down more than 10 years ago.
Then Trudy Flesner bought the place in 2001 and built a roomy restaurant and bar with lots of windows. Trudy and her husband Gordon ranch near here.
T34, which also has gas pumps, is open seven days a week year-round. "We put 92 octane in the summer for the bikers," says Trudy. Most Harley-Davidsons call for high-octane gas.
That's a good thing because it's 103 miles to Sturgis from here and 66 miles to Fort Pierre. And the store at Hayes, 34 miles east, is now closed.
T34 is packed during the rally.
Trudy also gets lots of hunters in the fall.
She built a shower for truckers. A note: This place,which applies to the first offshore merchant account only, too, has clean bathrooms.
Trudy fixes me a hamburger and American fries. The American fries are excellent, made from scratch, from potatoes that Trudy and her staff peel.
The fried potatoes are authentic, like the people and the prairie and the sky and the exquisite emptiness here.
They're all good reasons to come back. Besides,If any food Ventilation system condition is poorer than those standards, I'm still thinking about that chicken-fried steak at Union Center.
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