Rapid City Journal from Rapid City, South Dakota • 85

Sunday, July 17, 1994 Rapid City Journal Black Hills Adventures imsid I -T-" Planes on display at the South Dakota Air Space Museum. Outside the main gate at Ellsworth Air Force Base, the museum is open to the public, free, seven days a week. til Ride the range on cattle ranches In Meade County FAITH City slickers wanting a rural ride can tour working Meade County cattle ranches over one or three days. The emphasis is working ranch. Advises the Faith Chamber of Commerce: "These are not dude ranches." Area ranchers Andy Fisc-hbach, Irving and LuAnn Jordan, Vonnie Foster and Mick and Leanne Kennedy will guide visitors, starting right from Faith, so you need not worry about a compass or map.

The itinerary depends on the day's chores at the ranch. Lunch will be provided. Tourists are returned to town around 5 p.m. The one-day tour location varies. But the three-day tour starts at the Fischbach Ranch, where owners will tell stories from the pioneer period of the family operation founded in 1910.

The first afternoon is spent at the Foster ranch, where highlights include the 15-room ranch house and tales of ghostly visits. Days 2 and 3 trade tours of the Jordan and Kennedy ranches. The wide, open spaces offers scenery and views of wildlife. Visitors are advised to dress for the weather. The prairie safari is by pickup.

Two motels are in Faith, or accommodations at the ranches may be possible. And there are restaurants for breakfast and dinner. Advance registrations are urged. Contact (605) 967-2001, Faith Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 246, Faith, S.D.

57626. Air museum arilds siBo By Bill Harlan Journal Staff Writer Vintage, state-of-the-art planes on display 2 Vacation on a working ranch 2 Calendar: JulyAugust in the Hills 3 Crazy Horse face continues to emerge 3 Custer State Park is 75 years old 4 Missouri River waters flow by state capital 5 Warm waters surface at Hot Springs 6 Mammoth Sit3 marks 20th anniversary 6 Keystone's more than memorial 7 History lives at Hill 7 Pow-wow tradition revives to entertain '90s crowds 10 Rapid City tour for whole family 11 Badlands unveils timeless mysteries 14 Museum reveals complex story of grasslands 14 New orientation center now open at Mount Rushmore 15 Spearfish gateway to scenic canyon 16 Real Old West alive at Belle Fourche 16 Sturgis is world's motorcycle mecca one week each year 16 Bet to win on Deadwood gambling 17 Tee off on scenic courses all over the Hills 20 High country trail a fall 21 Lead home to mining adventure 22 Scenery, history mingle on reservation 23 ft tf- Minuteman II missiles. The last one already has been removed from the western South Dakota missile Melds. The South Dakota Air Space Museum opened in 1982, as a joint project of the Air Force, the state of South Dakota and the local community, which is represented by the Ellsworth Heritage Foundation. The museum has nearly 60 large exhibits, including more than two dozen aircraft.

Tour visitors also will see the museum's renovation hangar on base. Currently under renovation for inclusion in the museum: A Titan missile. Ellsworth was one of only four Titan missile bases in the early 1960s. An F-102 fighter, the major weapons system of the 1950s for the South Dakota Air Guard. A B-47 Stratojet, the last aircraft flown by the 44th Bombardment Wing, before it became the 44th Missile Wing.

Last year more than 40,000 people visited the museum, which is outside the main gate at Ellsworth AFB, east of Rapid City, just north of Exit 66 on Interstate 90. Now the general public can see the inside of a Min-uteman II missile silo. The South Dakota Air Space Museum at Ellsworth Air Force Base also has added a launch control center to its displays. The silo is part of the museum's hourlong bus tour of the base. The tour is $4 for adults and $2.50 for children under 12.

The Air Force used the silo to train missile crews. Everything is real but the missile, which is a life-size dummy. Admission to the museum itself, just outside Ellsworth's main gate, is free. It is open seven days a week. The underground launch control capsule for the Minuteman system is recreated in the museum itself.

The Minuteman II exhibits are of special historical interest this year because the 44th Missile Wing will be deactivated in July. The Air Force is dismantling its uuUuuuUuUuuUuuuu oooaaaaoo 0 8 I a eV cues irjLS or: MUSEUM: See the most expensive motorcycle purchased at auction, the $140,000 1907. Harley referred to as the "Mona Lisa" of motorcycles, and many more vintage motorcycles. Hall of Fame photos and memorabilia of the people who have helped make motorcycling the sport it is today. OPEN YEAR ARGIO SEVEN DAYS A WEEK ADMISSION: $3.00 Children under 12 Free Senior Citizens $2.00 Gift Shop No Admission Charge GIFT SHOP A great place i to find the perfect gifts for hard-to-please people GROUP TOURS BV APPOINTMENT CALL 605-347-4375 2438 Junction Avenue, P.O.

Box 602, Sturgis, SD 57785 FAX 605-347-4986 0h the com Bear Butte shimmers in the haze of a summer day; Journal photo by Steve McEnroe. This is the third of four Black Hill Adventures to be published through August. Look for the next edition Sunday, Aug. 14. If you have ques- tions or comments about this tec-' tion, call Diane Monte, 894-8414, in the Journel newsroom..