Day 4. Canyon Rides and Supermoto Races...

Friday, 9-7-18. John's friend, Kathy, wanted a ride up and down Spearfish Canyon. So we left camp early and would meet up with Dean at a late breakfast. The temps in Spearfish Canyon are always much cooler than in town, and this morning was no exception. Early in the day there was little traffic so it made for a nice ride.

Pics shot on the fly...

We took the back roads from Spearfish to Whitewood and met up with Dean at the Mill Iron. After breakfast, John, Kathy, and Dean went up to Deadwood to play in the casinos, and I went back to riding the canyons.

Bridal Veil Falls, Spearfish Creek along side the roadway.

We all met up in Sturgis to watch the races. Last year we were freezing and wet, this year the weather was perfect!!

We got back to camp shortly after dark. John built a camp fire in the fire ring and sat around and enjoyed the beautiful evening.

Day 3, Down to Hot Springs.

Thursday, 9-6-18. We started the day with breakfast at the Mill Iron restaurant in Whitewood.

We both had one of their specialties, a pastie, or as it's more commonly spelled around here, pasty. It's pastry dough wrapped around a filling of meat and potatoes. There are breakfast versions filled with ham, cheese, potato, and egg.

Here's a picture, not mine but found on the net.

After breakfast we drove to Sturgis to see if there had been any work done building the track for the races on Friday and Saturday. We didn't notice anything, so we took to the hills. We rode Vanocker Canyon, Nemo road to Johnson Siding, over to 385 and down to the Pactola Lake reservoir.
There was someone swimming in the lake.

John wanted to visit some friends of his in Hot Springs, the Whitakers. They used to have a jewelry store in Hill City, but they closed it and moved down to Hot Springs. They still do some gold and silver jewelry, but have expanded their line to include antiques, rocks, minerals, and gems. They're an interesting couple, they live off the power grid and power their shop and home with solar.

We had a late lunch/early dinner in Hot Springs, then we headed back north on 79 and cut west on 36. We took 16A, aka Iron Mountain Road, north bound. I think that's the most scenic way to travel it. You get to see Mt. Rushmore ahead of you as you drive through two of the tunnels. There's also less traffic as everyone seems to ride from Keystone south.

A few pics from 16A. Sorry about the out of frame shot of the Presidents, but it was a long way off and I couldn't see to frame it...

We made it back to camp and waited for John's friends, Kathy and Dean, to arrive. They stayed in the cabin next to us.

Days 1 and 2 of the Trip to South Dakota.

Day 1. 9-4-18. It started with rain... I was all packed and ready to go by 0830. I was going to meet John 25 miles away at the Holiday gas station in Hayward at 0900. It was raining when I left home and it was still raining in Hayward... We left town and headed west on highway 77. An hour later it was still raining as we crossed into Minnesota.

We stopped in Cold Spring for some gas and a snack... still raining... The cashier at the Shell gas station suggested that we might be able to get out of the rain if we took highway 55 up to Glenwood, MN. That was not the original route we were thinking of, but we figured we'd try anything at this point.

In Glenwood, 250 miles from home, the rain quit... kind of.. We had managed to get out from under the long, slow moving storm system that was making things miserable. We had sporadic rains for the next several hours though. We still had to get south, as we were planing to ride west on highway 212. We dropped south and got into Millbank, SD about 3 hours later and gassed up again. We eventually made it to Faulkton and got a room at the Faulkton Inn. The little detour added a few miles for the day, making the day's total 505.

I will say that I'm very happy with the performance of my rain suit. It's a two piece set from Joe Rocket, style, RS-2. It's a heavy plastic material that doesn't pack super small, but it has worked much better for me than the light weight, coated nylon types. Those always seemed to leak. I just need to find a pair of rain gloves that I like...


Day 2. 9-5-18. Faulkton to Belle Fourche. In the morning we continued west on 212. We made a couple of stops along the way. We had breakfast in Gettysburg at the "212 Coffee Bean". It's a coffee shop, restaurant, and gift store all in one. We took another short break at the Missouri River crossing, and another at the wayside rest Ben Ash monument.

The Ben Ash monument, complete with graphitti..

It was too overcast for us to see the Black Hills from there.


When we got to Belle Fourche we had a quick lunch and John took off to visit some friends in the area, and I did some sight seeing. I knew that Belle Fourche is the "geographic center of the nation" and knew there was a marker in town, but I had never seen it. There's a small park along highway 85, south of 212. In that park there are some markers and displays about local history, a visitors center and museum, some war memorials, and a large stone compass rose to mark the center of the nation.

When I was done, I checked in at the campground. John had reserved a camping cabin at Wyatt's Hideaway. We've stayed there many times. I think it's one of the nicest campgrounds around. They have a very large and clean shower house and bathroom, and the atmosphere is laid back and very quiet, even during the rally.

Road Trip Time...

... and Fall is rapidly approaching!!!

My buddy John and I are going west again. We're headed to Sturgis, SD to watch the Supermoto races on the 7th and 8th. Our plan is the leave WI on Tuesday, my 58th birthday, and return home on Tuesday the 11th. We were out there for the races last year and that's when my radiator started leaking. I'm really hoping for a drama free trip this time!

I've put over 1800 miles on the bike since having the radiator repaired... so far, so good. No leaks! Everything should be all set. I've changed the oil, lubed the chain, and checked the air in the tires. All I need is a few minutes to pack, put on the rain gear, and I'll be good to go. The weather guessers have said that there's a 100% chance of rain all day Tuesday :(


Starting mileage...

I need this trip! Fall is here and the peak leaf color is only 25-29 days away! Where did the summer go?

The trees in my neighborhood have started to change and they seem to gain a lot more color every day.

The deer are losing their red summer color and their gray/brown winter coats are coming in.

This mama's coat change is a little behind the others, and her twin fawns still have spots!

The compost pile is doing better than the garden!

And one last thing... Last week, Nancy found videos for cats on Youtube... Big mistake showing them to our cat, Screamer! He's become a video addict. He sits in front of the TV and cries until "birds" is on. He may end up being a cat with his own TV... LOL