Another day off from driving, so a day in Lemmon. The town overlaps the border so we walked up Main Street, crossed the railway line and popped into North Dakota.
Lemmon
Day 38
The plan for today was to drive 240 miles then stay in the same place for two nights to have a rest. So Jane booked a motel in Lemmon (still South Dakota.)
Our only planned stop was Deadwood to see the graves of “Wild Bill“ Hickok and Calamity Jane. She’s asked to be buried next to him, and was. Then a drive down the hill to walk around the town.
We were going to push through until the hotel (as it’s just a hundred miles on one road, so put the cruise control on and sit there), turn right, cruise control back on for another seventy miles. But, we came across Sturgis. I had in my head there was the famous bike related meet up in Sturgis but I didn’t connect with it being in South Dakota. They had a Muffler Man so we pulled in. Oddly, or co-incidentally, the Muffler Man was originally in Winnemucca, Nevada which we’d stayed in back on day twenty-one.
The lady behind the bar (co-owner?) told us the original place had burned down eight years ago due to a faulty fridge. It had been a “Six alarm fire” and though the fire engines were quick to arrive there was no water, as the hydrants where due to be installed three weeks later. Everything there now is about eight years old.
About 240 miles since the start of the day we checked into the motel in Lemmon (whose local guide is called, yes, Lemonn Aide. The hotel directory tells me the town has one bar, and nine churches. Surely the wrong way round.