On Our Way to Custer

One last walk in Sturgis on one of the roads in our favorite walking area, Fort Meade National Back Country Byway, which runs through BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land.  There are a number of historic sites with remnants of cavalry life.  I especially liked the Fort Meade Post Cemetery.  It was set on a beautiful hillside and had many interesting headstones.  119 of the 200 burials in the cemetery took place prior to 1900 - the first in 1878, the last in 1943.

And, sticking with the morbid subject, I also had to pay a visit again to Curley Grimes grave.  He is buried along the road, under a tree.  The story is that he was shot and killed trying to escape when being brought to Fort Meade to stand trial for robbery. But, it was a little suspicious and the men who shot him were eventually tried for his murder.

His headstone reads "Buried with his head down, Just as he fell. The towering pines, Will never tell."

So, we left Sturgis as it frantically prepares for the big rally - bring it on, Bikers!