The event this year was cut short due in part to the tragic fire which consumed most of the Historic Main Street of Keystone. Our beloved Ruby House and Red Garter Saloon was reduced to a pile of ashes but promise of being rebuilt was comforting.

We celebrated our 20th Anniversary at home and enjoyed a wonderful meal at the cities finest restaurant Minerva's. First thing the next morning we headed West, as tradition goes, a stop at Al's Oasis for lunch and Wall Drug for a tourist visit. We did reserve our little lodge in Keystone but the excitement of staying in Keystone was not really there. Breakfast in Hill City was excellent and followed by a Cruise thru the Forrest. What we saw back in, off the beaten track was appalling, right then and there it was decided that Silvia was going to stick her nose into the Timber industry. As we Cruised farther back into the Big Woods we photographed the destruction. Healthy Forrest my a** the lumber companies are raping our National Forrest under the guise of thinning dead and down and lowering the fire hazard. What we saw was selective cutting of the very best old growth trees, roads bulldozed in the forrest and all the trimmings left on the forrest floor - which only makes for a bigger fire hazzard and the "need" to cut more trees. The mountians of healthy trees trimmed and stripped were being trucked out as fast as they could be loaded, non stop, 24 hours a day, the trees are being cut and carted away. We documented it all!

After taking as much as we could stomach we headed out of the Forrest into the rocky edges outside of the Park. As a light drizzel fell, we happened upon a blasted hillside full of great finds. A Rockhounders dream, we gathered a few notable stones to add to our Rock Garden at home. As the daylight started to dwindle we headed back to Hill City and ended up at the Chute Rosters Restraunt where we had dined on our Honeymoon. A very interesting day overall.

Sunday morning a much needed show and shine was first on the list of things to do, afterall we would be meeting up with the Black Hills Cruisers at Noon. As we all gathered at the High School several new cruisers were in attendance and new friends were made. With Q as our leader we headed down Highway 79 and turned off entering Custer State Park, what came next was a surprise to the rest of us. We were led to a small pull off - and as we exited the PT's a heard of Donkeys came over to greet us. Then the fun began, Q had brought loaves of bread for everyone to feed the mules and pose for some really great photos. A really fun time was had by all, including a few tourists who stopped to see the display of cool PT's and their new friends. We then continued on our way thru the park and back to Keystone to the Rushmore Cafe where we enjoyed lunch together, sharing photos and stories. Regretfully we had to begin our journey back home, but another sucessful Cruise to Rushmore was in the books.

Note: After returning home the pictures were developed and an article to the Editor of the Argus Leader was in the mail. The article was printed with a nice photo, but the best part was the response we received from a spokesman for the Lunber Co. If you actually get a response from them, then you know you have hit the right nerve. We will follow up next year!