Broadus, MT & Sturgis, SD

When we left Yellowstone, we drove north to I-90 and overnighted at Walmart in Billings.  We then drove to US212 from there in order to get a little different view from the interstate highways.  We like the back roads most of the time when we're not scheduled to be somewhere.  The only problem is that sometimes the roads aren't the greatest, but after traveling to Alaska & back, we can manage just about any road down here in the lower 48.

We then drove to a little cow town, Broadus, MT.  All the little towns out in this part of the country has an arena for the cowboys & cowgirls.  We saw these two cowgirls training their horses for apparently marching in parades.  They were trotting backwards, bowing down on their knees, and other turns that didn't appear natural.  Pretty neat watching how they would gently discipline their critters of love.

This was the Broadus Arena, Powder River Let-R-Buck.

On the way out of town, we were stopped by a few cowboys moving an Angus herd from one side of the road to the other, I assume to another pasture for munching.

Now, we had seen this type of event before in our past journeys out west in the cattle country.  We have even seen cowboys on ATVs rounding up and quartering strays.  Below, we caught the cowboy encouraging a stray to get back in line and join his friends.

It took four cowboys to finally get this hard-head over the road with the others.  We noticed his friends were all looking at the entertainment, and I even thought I heard a few "moos" encouraging him to fight the cowboys.  We were quite amused at this early morning chore and just another day in the life of a cowboy on the ranch.

Finally, all is well and the gang is once again hoof & hoof.  And the cowboys can reach for another pinch between their cheek & gum.

We then drove thru Sturgis, SD just to see what all the hub bub was of the annual August pilgrimage of bikers to this little town.  From Wiki:  The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is an American motorcycle rally held annually in Sturgis, South Dakota, usually during the first full week of August. It began in the mid-20th century and was originally held for stunts and races, but has evolved into being a meeting for motorcycle enthusiasts from around the country. It brings a lot of income to the citizens of Sturgis. Today, it is one of the largest motorcycle rallies in the worldThe City of Sturgis has calculated that the Rally brings over $800 million to South Dakota annually. 

This was one large saloon, and it appears to be right in the middle of the normally, sleepy little town.  I can't imagine 30 to 40 thousand bikes parked in the streets for days...

So, that about wraps up this blog for now, so till the next time, RVing Beach Bums.