25 August 2017 – Sunny and highs in the upper 70s
My cousin Keith and his wife Cindy came to visit last week, all the way from Boerne, Texas. By now, all you Hoten Holler Follerers know the standard tourist itinerary: Custer State Park, Iron Mountain Road, Mount Rushmore and down the Needles Highway.
On Monday, we participated in the cattle round-up and moved Cowboy Dave’s cows from his pasture onto ours. Keith and Cindy road along and made fast friends with Hercules.


Then we watched the eclipse from our back porch.

While we were in the 97% zone, we were not completely in the Path of Totality so it just got sort of dim outside. We did get to view the eclipse with some eclipse glasses and it was pretty cool. Also, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees during the event and that was pretty cool, too!
Later that day, we went on a horseback ride just down the road at Sage Meadows Ranch. Keith rode Amarillo, Cindy rode Ocho, and I got to ride on Frito.
It was idyllic; a beautiful non-humid day for an old west horsey ride through the southern Black Hills. We ended up on a hill overlooking the Red Canyon where we could see 100-year old ruts in the ground from the old Deadwood to Cheyenne Stagecoach Route. The guide was super nice and informative and we didn’t have to ride nose to tail, we just got to cruise along with our horses and enjoy the day.

On Tuesday, we went up to Hill City and poked through the western art galleries. This was especially fun for me because Keith is an artist himself, and he is really knowledgeable about painting. We saw some incredible works and enjoyed another beautiful day of weather. That evening we ate at the Hitch Rail Bar and Grill in Pringle. It was a really nice way to wind up their visit before they had to head back to Texas the next morning.
We really had a good time and hope they did too, and then we sent them back to Texas to enjoy the hurricane! Hope you guys stayed dry and we’ll see ya real soon!
August 27, 2017 at 9:18 PM
Reef, for sure we are heading your way in the very near months. How beautiful it all looks my friend. Take care, enjoy (as you are)👍
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August 30, 2017 at 1:25 PM
That little short guy on the back porch looks familiar. I need to go back by the post office and check the wanted posters again.
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August 30, 2017 at 3:45 PM
Haha, yes check the wanted posters. A post is coming soon about Mr. Anderson’s (Indian name: Stumbles Off Porches) work-cation to the Holler. Take care, Joel!
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August 31, 2017 at 10:06 AM
We had an absolutely wonderful time with the best Black Hills tour guide we could have asked for. We are looking forward to our next trip already. Love y’all and take care until we meet again ❤
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September 1, 2017 at 6:47 AM
We had a great time too! Hope you aren’t getting too much rain in Texas. Love you both!
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