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town , I could sense the presence of the wild characters who once populated this roughand-tumble corner of America . When General Custer discovered gold in the Black Hills , Deadwood sprang up overnight . Adventurers , gamblers , prostitutes and gunslingers quickly populated it . Wild Bill Hickok was shot while playing poker in Deadwood . I visited the Buffalo Bar , Deadwood ’ s oldest bar , established in 1877 . On the walls there are 90,000 buffalo nickels , and on the ceiling , more than two miles of rope .
Moving on , I took a long winding country ride into Wyoming on U . S . Route 85 . There was practically no traffic as I rode at a relaxed pace through the countryside , feeling content in the warm , dry air . The back roads through the Black Hills National Forest past Sundance make for gentle touring . I passed tranquil scenes : farmland surrounded by acres of rolling greenery , quaint homesteads set under blue hills , small lakes and stands