The Black HIll's Pt. 2: Independence day
7/4:
I awoke a around 10:30am and missed my chance to take a hike so I headed into town. Why? Because there was going to be a parade! And I needed to get gas. I got to Custer to realize that the parade had already happened, but I got to see the remnants of it. Small children in red white and blue cowboy/cowgirl outfits riding tasseled bikes around the town and 100’s of people milling about in patriotic gear. I have to say that this has been the area where I have seen the most trump T-shirts and hats on the whole trip. Likely in part that it is 4th of July but also just because of where I was. Every store and restaurant was over flowing but I managed to find a little coffee bar at the back of a gift shop that was not problem to order and receive a much needed Latte from.
It was super hot out, so my next move was to head out to the lake in Custer state park. After all I had a 7 day pass and had to use it at least once more. It was a very pretty lake surrounded by large boulders and rock formations. I got really lucky with parking, packed up my guitar and dressed for a whatever may lie ahead. I started out on a trail around the lake that led into the rocks and found a nice little overlook just off trail with a great view of the river. I started to play some guitar. Next thing I knew had a little group standing watching me and among them were two faces I recognized. You see when I was on the cathedrals spire hike I met two guys who were out here on a backpacking trip along the Black Elk Peak trail. It turns out that one of them was a guitar player two so I joined them for a bit further along the trail chatting about guitars, life and the beauty of the park. You can never underestimate a good trail conversation. They were going to do a quick jump in the lake before heading back the 3 miles to their camp, but the place they chose was the incredibly crowded little main beach spot. I just couldn’t deal with that chaos, so I bid farewell to my hiking buds and backtracked to a little cove on the other side of the large rock that separated the kids beach from the less crowded part of the lake.
As a socal kid, swinging in lakes was not really a part of my upbringing. I hope I don’t offend anyone from Southern California when I make these generalities, but I definitely know people from the area who have never seen or would even want to see a lake in person and therefore I don’t think my statement is too extremely wild. Anyway on the rocky beach of this little cove was 1 gorgeous woman and her dog (ok this was part of the reason why I back tracked). I mention it only because there is never a better motivator to do something that you might be questioning. I stashed my guitar and other gear behind a rock and waded out to the water. It was colder than warm, but with the 90+ degree weather outside it felt like heaven. It had about 20 feet of rocky shore leading into the water and then that disappeared and swimming began. My friends often like to joke that I don’t know how to swim, because I don’t like the beach. The truth is that I can swim and am not bad at it, I just don’t like the unnecessarily cold tumult of the pacific ocean. That being said I also don’t swim regularly, so Swimming out deep into the lake certainly drained me a bit. On the plus side I got to float around for about 30 minutes before the chaos of the crowded kiddy beach I had hoped to escape caught up to me.
It started with just one small family hanging out ankle deep in the water and then the entire private alcove was filled with people. There goes the peace of the day. Not that I expected it to last that way all day, but it would have been nice. I headed back to the beach grabbed my guitar and climbed out onto the large rock to try and find just a bit of solitude to look at the lake. I sat down and started to play. It was nice seeing the smiles and thumbs up from the people out on kayaks and paddle boards passing by. Then the rock jumping started. A group of teens had formed a line just behind me and were leaping into the water below where I was previously swimming. I think the best part of all of this was watching grandma standing behind her flock freaking out each time one of her ducklings took a leap. I’m not really a person that does that type of thing but I had to take a leap at least once. It was terrifying as my old body crashed into the water like a ton of bricks, but sometimes it’s important to take a quick risk. Plus I think I got a little street cred from the kids haha.
After drying off and packing off I headed back to camp. When I got there I started a small fire and chilled for a bit. As I did I noticed the same look to the sky as the day before and was pretty sure rain may come. So I packed up camp to avoid having to deal with wet equipment in the morning. As I watched the fire dwindle I realized that there was one more thing I needed to do. Try to catch some fireworks in this overly patriotic random place. I mean how could I not.
Driving down the road I saw them firing off in the distance over Big Rock Park. Man I pick up on small towns fast. As I drove I considered all the fireworks discussions I had, including the one I had in Whitefish Montana, where I was informed they had canceled all fireworks displays, but had also voted to allow the sale of bottle rockets and M80’s in the state. Meaning that if the gov’mnt ain’t gonna give us boom booms we’ll do it ourselves. I’ve never been the biggest fan of fireworks, especially the idea of hand lighting ones purchased in other states, but I have to admit that part of this is due to where I was raised and the fact that I like having hands.
I was in no way interested in dealing with the insanity that the park would be so I pulled up to my favorite spot, the gold pan saloon. It was empty except for David and Louis who had been working their the day before. The welcomed me with the tone of two guys who had not had a customer in a while and David informed me that the family I had talked to the day before had given him $50 for my next drinks. What a sweet gesture! This meant it was time to drink to the good old U.S. of A. I grabbed a gin and tonic and headed out to the patio to watch the rest of the fireworks over the buildings of the town. When it seemed like they had wound down I headed back inside and there were now people in the bar. I had a feeling things were going to get interesting at this point… And I was not wrong.
I was playing pool, my number one activity in a bar alone, and at the bar I heard a man talking to his girlfriend about how “he didn’t want to kill people” “it was his job”. These lines were repeating in the way that an intoxicated person may do when they can’t get off of a subject or don’t know if they are explaining something right. It was pretty clear what was going on. This man was clearly a veteran, who had had too much to drink and was remorsefully lamenting his actions overseas. I couldn’t help be continue to listen to the round about conversation as I circled the table. Then as I was finishing my 3rd solo game I had a tap on my shoulder. “You playing alone” I turned to see the vet’s bearded face staring into my eyes and I politely said yes. To which he replied “not anymore, you verse me next game”. Now, I play pool in bars on my own in part to encourage interaction, but I have to say I was a little trepidatious on this one. I’m in a republican area, on my own and play with a guy who I know for sure has killed people could make one cautious. On the other side trying to refuse a guy who I know for sure has killed people did not seem to be a good idea either, so I took down the last two balls on the table and told him to rack them up.
I learned his name was James and he had grown up in Long Beach. About my a little taller and older than me his bald head, long beard and ex-military frame gave him an imposing look, but we had good mindless conversation as we hit the balls around the table. He had moved here several years ago and had worked at the bar for a while before getting a job for the city. Doing what I never learned. His dog wandered freely around the bar and was constantly being told not to hump the other dogs in the coming and going. I took a dive on the first game since in a bit of a precautionary move and he called me out insisting that I needed to drink more and bought me a couple of shots. I wasn’t going to refuse. We played two more games during which the bar had begun to fill up with people returning from the fireworks display and local workers who were clearly just in town for the summer. Most people were jovial but there was one guy who stood out as clearly a little stand offish. About 6’4”, lanky and the air of being from the area didn’t seem to like the fact that his bar was so filled with outsiders. Two young german guys approached and put some quarters down while we were on our 4th game and James asked if I was down to play partners. At this point I felt like this was a most do, plus we were both playing pretty well by now and it could be a fun run. After this final game completed with James sinking the 8 on a great bank shot, the Tall guy I mentioned early walked over to the coin drop and I let him know that the next game was taken. He gave me a little frown, but I introduced myself and explained the situation calmly and he told me his name was Will, put his quarters under the bumper and headed back to his place at the bar.
The team game lasted all of 4 minutes with the Germans sinking the 8 on the 4th shot of the game. So, it was Will’s turn. He informed me in a stern tone that he wasn’t going to play partners, so I told him it’s cool I need a break anyway and he could play against James. I let James know that I was stepping out of the game to which he replied “what is it because I’m white?”. Chuckles ensued and I headed out to the patio. I stood outside listening to the rain and conversations between two separate groups, one consisting of locals and one consisting of multi accented seasonal park workers, both complaining about the traffic the parade this morning had caused and the craziness of the day. Somethings transcend origin. After about 20 minutes I headed inside to grab a beer and walked into the most tense bar room I have ever experienced.
James and Will were yelling at each other. It seems that the game had ended, but there was an argument over who had one. James was insisting that he had won because he had just sunk the 8 ball. Will insisted that James had been playing stripes, one of which was still on the table, but had dropped the last solid and then the 8. A scratch. Now I hadn’t seen the game, but I have a strong feeling that the clearly less sober Will was most likely accurate about this. This two large men yelling at each other had brought a silence over the bar, James spouting off about working for the city and Will coming back with the fact that he was from the city. James pulling the military card and Will responding with have spent 12 years in the air force. I looked at the bartender David, a kid in his late 20’s from Minneapolis who had just moved to Custer last year had a look of caution mixed with befuddlement as he tried to just do his job and serve the people who were clearly not new to this type of situation, but also did not want to intervene. I was not as smart as them. I’ll take a moment to point out that outside of a few impulsive situations in my younger years, I’m not a fighter. And even in those situations I was more of the I’ll stop the fight through physical restraint rather than actual attempts to damage others. This innate drive to be a peacemaker has never left me and the booze didn’t help. Three thoughts went through my mind. 1) I knew both their names, 2) James was likely in the wrong but was clearer the more upset one in the situation, 3) I was probably the 3rd biggest person in the bar, 4) I knew everyone around this bs just wanted to have a good time. So, as I saw James take a step forward I dashed in between them. I told them to both cool it and while it took a bit of me yelling over them James eventually released a bit of his stiff body language and his lady was able to drag him over to the bar as he continued to glare at Will. Will turned to face his next opponent on the table and I returned to the other end of the bar to get my drink. You could feel the decompression in the room as conversations resumed and David thanked me. This peace lasted about 5 minutes when James reached back and threw a beer bottle at Will. People rushed away as will turned with a “what the fuck!” and I rushed toward James and started pushing him to the door. David is yelling that he’s going to call the cops, as I struggle to get James back out the swinging doors and onto the side walk with the help of his girlfriend. He is fuming but finally agrees to head home.
I walks back in to appreciative greetings from David and Will. Will buys me a beer and they both inform me that this isn’t the first time James has acted like this. It’s funny how a cold shoulder can become a warm handshake when crazy shit starts to go down. I get another beer and head back out to the patio to let my own adrenaline subside and people around me are thanking me for stopping the situation which was definitely going to bring the cops to the door. Which no one wanted. Once calmed I went back to the bar and sat chatting with some people about the beauty of the area. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was Jame’s girlfriend which I knew was not a good thing. She told me that they had gotten home and he had taken off. She was worried he had come back so she drove back over. Just then as if it was scripted James walks through the swinging doors. And I walked right up to him and said no until he back into the streets. The guy a had gone home, changed from a white t-shirt to a black one and run back to the bar. He was not in a peaceful place. I explained to him that he had to leave. Things had just calmed down, David was going to call the cops which was going to ruin everyone’s night and that he clearly needed some rest. He sat down on the bench sullenly for a bit. I saw David through the window walking to the front door phone in hand and told James. He grumbled and started to walk down the street. I caught David at the door and told him James was leaving and we headed back inside. I headed straight to the back patio frustrated that I had someone put myself in this unnecessarily heightened state and just then I see a tussle taking place through the glass door leading into the bar followed by James running out through the patio and down the Alley. Will rushed out after him and I caught him asking what the hell just happened. Apparently, a couple minutes after I went back inside James ran into the bar saw Will was not in the room, opened the bathroom door, and sucker punched him in the back of the head. Will then turned and grabbed him and they wrestled in the hallway for a minute before James ran off. Moments later David came out with the phone and said the sheriff was on his way, which produced an audible groan from everyone around. As the Sheriff pulled up Will said, “My father was a sheriff here I know them all, I’ll go talk to him”. The thanked me again for trying to help and went to smooth things over with the cops so the bar wouldn’t have to close down.
Tensions were now high as people started to file into the bar and another fight almost broke out between a hippy looking dude and a guy who looked like john Mayer’s stunt double only taller. I wasn’t going to let another dumbass situation pop off so I said knock it off loudly and reminded the hippie of the meditation beats hanging around his neck. I went inside and asked why the kid had provoked the hippie and he said in a thick drawl “that guy, who sells drugs to the local kids, fuck him”. I had to side with this guy on that one, but asked him to please try to avoid the dude and additional drama. He thanked me for trying to control the earlier chaos and offered to buy me a drink. So we sat down at the bar and chatted. The kid was interesting. He was from Tyler Texas, he was raised as a cowboy and had come out here to Climb Rocks. He had played football with Patrick Mahomes which is why I feel no problem in calling him a kid. He talked about how he was glad to be out of his small minded town which is often a bit of a shock to hear when you are in essentially a different small town. The biggest take away from the conversation was the part where he mentioned having gotten into words with a guy in this same bar a week before and a gun was drawn on him. That sobered me up real fast. I really gotta stop interfering in small town squabbles and probably squabbles in big towns as well. Note take.
The next day I drove across South Dakota. Really nothing to mention on that other than the fact that it was 105 degrees outside of my car and that the capital of the state seemed to be miles away from the interstate. I’m ready for a city again.