South Dakota Trip

After a year of nearly no riding, as we got the new photography business off the ground, we finally got to take a decent trip on the drifter this month. Our original plan was New Mexico and the Grand Canyon, but after viewing weather and other info, in a bad drought, 100+ degree days, we decide to make this trip to South Dakota instead, 75 degree days!. We plotted a route that would take us there with the least amount of interstates possible.

The plan was to leave Wednesday June 5th in the morning, we woke to thunderstorms, of course!!. We waited until around 11 AM and most of the storms had passed, so we saddled up and headed out. We rode in mild rain all the way to Jefferson City and decided to stop for lunch there and let the roads dry up. We had an interesting conversation with our waitress at Ryans.

"Your on bikes!, so where are you headed?"

"Mount Rushmore"

"What state is that in?"

"South Dakota"

"Oh, near the ocean!!"

We looked the whole time we were there but never found that dang ocean. After lunch the roads had dried so we were able to keep our goal distance for the day of 450+ miles. We didn't take any photos on the way up, so you will have to use your imagination for what Kansas and Nebraska looked like. Here goes: Image a hay field, now image that's all you can see any any direction, now image its hot. That's Kansas. Now same picture but imagine that its hotter and windy. That's Nebraska. Towards the north western edge of Nebraska it started getting "Hilly", basically looked like sand dunes except they had grass on them.

Our back road route took us through northern Kansas and then north to Grand Island, NE and from there we took "Scenic" US Route 2 across Nebraska. It was a nice 2 days and scenic as long as you consider farmland scenic. Our second day we stopped for lunch in Cawker City, KS. There is a great diner there with good food and great prices. Everyone in town was real friendly, including the gentleman showing us the 50 pound catfish he had caught in Waconda Lake that morning. Here's a trivia question, What is Cawker City know for? Why its the home of the Worlds Largest Ball of Twine of course. We saw it as we left town but didn't stop to view it closely. I know hard to believe we passed up such a landmark just to stay on schedule for Mount Rushmore!

The only other event worth mentioning on the way up was running out of Gas one mile from Chadron, NE. I estimated the distance wrong when reading the map that morning and cut us to close. We ran out of gas at 114 miles, I've got to do something about that range before our next trip. Luckily I was able to limp into the forest ranger station and they were able to give me a lift into town, the gas station owner then gave me a ride to his house to pick up his gas can and then a ride back to the ranger station. I must say we met many nice folks on the trips, as we always do.

We came into the Black Hills from the south, and decided to stay in Keystone for the weekend. We took 16A into Keystone, 16A is a nice road with plenty of 15 MPH pigtail curves, pigtails are sections of road where it actual loops back over itself. There are several one lane tunnels as well. The first view we got of Mount Rushmore was through one of the tunnels, its a very dramatic view. A little further along is a scenic overlook were you can get a better look at the mountain.

We made it into Keystone, picked a hotel, unpacked the pick and the headed for diner. The one thing we notice about the Black Hills was although they have some of the look and feel of Gatlinburg, TN, they are no where near as commercialized, there aren't 100 put-put golf's places etc. There are only a few resteraunts in town. The only one that we really enjoyed and recommend you try while there is the Ruby House. Its decorated like an old west Saloon and the food is great. After dinner we went to Mount Rushmore for the lighting ceremony, every night they do a little program that includes info on the mountain and then they light it. Unfortunately they do not light it until after dark, instead of at dusk, so I was able to get as dramatic of photos of it as I did Crazy Horse.

The next day included a ride on the 1880 Steam Engine Train which runs from Keystone to Hill City. If you are a train buff or just want to ride the train great, but don't ride it expecting to see anything that you would not see by taking road that runs between Keystone and Hill City, they both follow the same route, with the train crossing the road 19 times. The road also looked to be a great ride on a bike. Anyway I got some neat photos of the train and we had a good time.

Next was the Wildlife loop through Custer State Park, this is a nearly 40 mile drive with free roaming buffalo, antelope, prairie dogs, mountain goats, etc. If your a movie buff you will love the area, several movies were filmed in the area. In fact just about every cowboy and indian or old west movie you can think of was filmed in South Dakota, including Dances with Wolves. We had a herd buffalo cross the road right in front of us while on this route, unfortunately we never got to see a mountain goat. The prairie dogs were probably the most entertaining, there was a large field that must have had literally thousands of prairie dogs in it, the made a noise that sounds like a kids squeaky toy and generally jump around and act funny. We must have watched them for 15 minutes.

We stopped by Crazy Horse Monument on the way back to the room. The story behind Crazy Horse is amazing and the original artist and his family give new meaning to the word "commitment". The first thing you realize about Crazy Horse is that it is huge, the visitors center where you view it from is a mile away but it seam like you are right on top of it. The four heads of Mount Rushmore will fit inside Crazy Horse's Head when it is completed. The light Crazy Horse at Dusk, plus there was a thunderstorm moving in so I was able to get some great photos. I also got some great photos of the scale model of what the monument will look like when/if completed. Although the thunderstorm made for some great photos and we got to see what lighting looks like across the plains, it did mean riding back in the dark on 15 MPH wet roads.

Sunday we made a quick trip back to Mount Rushmore to get some daylight photos, including a shot of with the Missouri State Flag in it. On the walk to the view platform you go through the avenue of flags, there is a flag representing all the states and territories of the United States. All 56. We then headed for the Badlands.

The Badlands is a very strange place, and very dramatic. It is definitely Hot There!! There is a 40 mile loop that takes you through the heart of the Badlands. You come out in Wall, SD. Wall is famous for being the home of Wall Drug Store, it seems that the original owner was a very savy business man and made a name for himself and the town, by offering Free Ice Water to customers. Believe me when coming out of the Badlands, free ice water is quite a draw. We then made our longest run on the Interstate 82 miles.

Our route home took us through South Eastern South Dakota and Northern Iowa, before turning on to 63 and Heading South to Home. The ride home we were skirting storms most of the way but were lucky enough to never get into any serious rain. We did have to stop in Macon, MO north of Columbia for an extra night to let the storms pass by. The last two days were naturally harder days and we were glad to be home.

All told, we did 2340 miles and took 350 photos, the drifter is at the shop now for new tires, the back one was pretty thin by the time we got home, the front brakes were making some noise, and forks seemed a little lose, but might just have been the tire, and one of the driving lights took a rock along the way. Not bad considering all we did was put Gas in it for the entire trip. We had a blast and it was a much need vacation from work and personal life. There were plenty of sites in the Black Hills area that we didn't visit on this trip including several caves, its definitely a great spot for a family vacation.