2012 Trip "Out West" - Sun, Day 9 (Lusk, WY to Hill City, SD)

Today would be a light day on riding. It would only be about 130 miles on to Hill City, SD where I would be staying for the next three nights. I had called and made reservations at the Lantern Inn in Hill City. I have stayed there before many times over the years. This time would be a little different!! Charlie and Janet had owned the Lantern Inn for 33 years. They had bought the place when they were 29 and just starting a family. They were/are two of the nicest people you could ever meet!! The Lantern Inn was always reasonable in price and extremely clean!! Everything was so stable and predictable at the Lantern Inn. Even the cleaning lady, Barb. She has been there many years and she also makes the desserts at the downtown Alpine Inn in Hill City and does night time cleaning at the civic center in Rapid City. She is a hard worker and also a very nice person! If you ever wanted advice on a road to ride or a place to go in the Black Hills, Charlie always had a great recommendation. Also, if you ever needed/wanted to know anything about Col George Custer, Charlie knew more about him than anyone I have ever met. He was a real history buff on Custer! Janet was great too, she even did my laundry for me one time!! Anyway, to make a long story short, Charlie and Janet SOLD the Lantern Inn just a few weeks ago, retired and moved permanently to Grand Junction, CO (They had been "wintering" there for several years anyway.) I was interested in meeting the new owner and see what, if anything had changed. At least I was going to give it a try!

Since it was a short ride and I had stayed up late taking to the Australian guy last night about his new Harley, I decided to take my time, eat breakfast and try the custom omelettes at the hotel. They were great. Interesting, the lady in the picture below was the one making the omelettes that morning and she was the same lady that was working the front desk the evening before and had brought me the beers at the bar! She was a hard worker and always seemed to be around. It was a nice relaxing morning with some great food and atmosphere.

It was an uneventful ride up to South Dakota. Not a lot to see, but plains and straight roads until you get to the Black Hills. My first stop was in Custer, SD at the famous Purple Pie Place!! I have not had any better rhubarb pie than at this place. I even had rhubarb pie along the Alaska Highway in 2010 and I don't think it was as good as here. They even have a neon sign advertising their fresh rhubarb pie. Any you just can't have it without ice cream either!!!

This was my first "lunch" in the Black Hills!!! It don't get any better than this!!

Yes, the after lunch picture!! Man, that was GOOD!

They even have a purple HOG out front of the store!

Got to Hill City and checked into the Lantern Inn. The new owner's name is Drew. He is a young guy and seems very nice (although he is NOT another Charlie!!). Nothing has really change yet and Barb is still the cleaning lady. So I was comfortable for the next three night, BUT I really did miss seeing Charlie out in the courtyard and Janet in the lobby every time I went by!

The other two bikes in the section next to me were a couple from Minnesota. They had trailered down (that is their red truck beside my bike). She was still a little hesitant riding (she didn't want to ride to Black Hills Harley shop in Rapid City because she didn't want to ride on the interstate. I showed them a route I take that never gets on the interstate all the way to the HD shop.). There were around 15 other bikes there at the Lantern Inn all three days I was there. The other big group was from Illinois. A group of very nice guys!

Lantern Inn

I was done riding for the day so I spent the rest of the day talking to folks and walking downtown Hill City. Always note the buffalo statue at the entrance to the town!!

Of course had to stop by the Hill City Harley shop. They had a lot of sales going on and I picked up a nice dealer tee shirt for 50% off!!

The Mangy Moose was active as always. They had a live band playing most days there with a good crowd. A really nice biker bar!

There were a lot of bike downtown, but not too many for it to be crowded. I have always like Hill City. Nice town and always a nice group of bikes there. Not too many, just enough to keep it interesting for the week before Sturgis!!

They even had a wine tasting going on at a shop beside the Mangy Moose. They had Red Ass Rhubarb. I just had to try it and it was really good. It had even won a bunch of awards. Wine and rhubarb, a combination of my favorites!! I took care of having some shipped back home the next day when I visited the Prairie Berry Winery!

As I was walking to town the old steam train was just pulling out heading to Keystone.

Funny, they were even advertising the Red Ass Rhubarb wine on billboards coming out of town!!

Dinner that first night was at Desperados downtown Hill City. I was going to eat at the Alpine Inn, but they were closed on Sundays! No big deal, I would definitely be at the Alpine for dinner on Monday evening!!! Desperados was good, but the Alpine is something else!!!!!

I had a great buffalo steak complete with beans and a biscuit!! It was great and the service was too!

Buffalo steak for dinner!

That was it for the day. Spent the evening cleaning the bike, talking to all the other bikers at the Lantern Inn and planning my day for tomorrow to head up to Rapid City and Sturgis.