Day 9...Belle Fourche, SD to Limon, CO

Today, John and I packed up and left South Dakota, and started on our way to AZ. We made it 458 miles to Limon, CO. It was a challenge to get this far today. At one point I passed a bank clock that showed 105 degrees (40 C). We were wetting the cooling vests at every stop. I was filling the camelbak as often as I could. It was almost painful to stop and try to take a picture. Opening the face shield was like stepping in front of a blast furnace!!!
We stopped for the night at the KOA. Their camper cabins have air conditioning!!!
I only got a few pictures today.

Bob, this is pasture land......

Going...

going....

Gone....

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Day 8... Hot Springs & Sturgis Nightlife.

As usual, there was no agreement on what to do today, so John and I went for a ride. We went down to Hot Springs to see some friends. I think the others went to Wyoming.
Our route down to Hot Springs brought us down through Spearfish Canyon, then south on 85 to Newcastle, WY. Along the way we stopped at the scenic overlook. I told John to go stand on the rock.... More guts than I have...

We went east on 16 through Wind Cave N.P., there were a lot of Buffalo out near the road.

After Hot Springs, the ride back to camp was non stop. We stayed at camp for a while then went into Sturgis for the evening. The nightlife was kind of slow.
This bike has a rear tire from a semi truck on it.

Some assorted night shots from Main Street....

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Day 7... Devils Tower.

There was no group consensus about where to ride to today. We didn't even do a group breakfast today. John and I did our laundry this morning then had breakfast. We went back to camp and there was still no group plan, so John and I made our own plans.
We decided to go to Devils Tower in Wyoming.

We didn't go into the National Monument, but stopped outside at the Devils Tower Trading Post.

The temps today hovered right around 100 degrees. That's why we made it a short trip. I had my cool vest, but didn't put it on. I drank over 2 quarts of Gatoraide on the trip. It was too hot to stop and take pictures! We had to keep moving to stay cool.

I think tomorrow will be our last day here. We'll head for AZ and NM on Wednesday morning. I still want to try and get some evening pictures from down town Sturgis.

Day 6... Iron Mountain Road.

This morning we were able to make a decision about where to go for a ride. The 7 of us, on 5 motorcycles, 3 heavy cruisers, 2 sport-touring bikes, went east towards Sturgis, then headed down Vanocker Canyon Road. The traffic was not too bad, but heavy enough to keep the speeds at a "little too slow to really enjoy" pace. Vanocker Canyon runs into Nemo Road. We turned right onto Norris Peak Road and rode it to the end at hwy 44. We followed 44 to 385, down to 16, then onto Twin Springs Road. We rode 323, aka Old Hill City Road, into Keystone.
We stopped for lunch in Keystone at a place called BarLee's. After lunch we went east on 40 the turned onto Playhouse Road. That's where John and I got separated from the rest of group. They were ahead of us and missed the turn. It turned out for the best.
It gave john and I a chance to hit the twisties with out anyone else around. Playhouse road is a short cut to 16A, aka Iron Mountain Road. We were able to ride that section from south to north. That way, when you drive through 2 of the 3 tunnels, you come out looking at Mount Rushmore. John and I stopped at the scenic overlook at the top and waited for the others to catch up. We never saw them, but they later claimed they drove past us and honked.
The rest of the ride was straight up 385 to 85 to Camp.
Headed for Vanocker Canyon...

From the scenic overlook on Iron Mountain Road.

Lots of these....

One of the pig tail bridges. This one starts at the end of one of the 3 tunnels...

16 A splits into single lane, one way road sections..

Two more bridge shots, shot on the fly...

A profile shot of Washington....

Iron Mountain Road is one of the roads in South Dakota that can not be missed!! It's best to do it anytime except the 3 weeks around rally time
Zoom in close near the letter L on the map to see the best area of Iron Mountain Road...

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Day 5... The Last of the Lazy Days.. I Hope.

Larrie, Julie and Lyle arrived around 7:00 p.m. last night. They had been fighting a terrible headwind across most of South Dakota. Larrie was driving his ten year old H-D cruiser, with his wife Julie on the back, and pulling a heavy camper trailer. He was complaining that his bike had a hard time with the wind and would only do 60 MPH. On a couple of gas stops, Lyle would use 2 gallons to Larrie's 4. It must have been a bad wind!!
After they got here, they set up camp and bed time was soon to follow.
This morning, the 7 of us went for breakfast at the Legion in Sturgis. We met some friends, Tom and Karla, Lee and Gabi, John's cousin Paul and his wife Mona, and a few others. We all had breakfast together. It was nice to see old friends again!
After breakfast we split up into smaller groups and walked around Sturgis. I picked up a t-shirt, a shot glass, and a pin/patch set. The 7 of us all met back at camp afterwards.
We has a minor problem to fix. Larrie's bike seemed to be over charging. He and Garth ran back to Sturgis and picked up a regulator/rectifier for his bike. We spent most of the afternoon on the repair job.
John and I went to the Stonehouse Saloon to meet up with Paul and Mona. We visited for a while and returned to the campground.
Today was a day of rest, Lyle and Larrie rode the 610 miles from MN in one day. They needed a little down time. I'm not sure about where we'll go riding tomorrow, but I'm thinking the Hill City and Keystone area.

A picture of our tents....

Lee and Gabi....

Downtown Sturgis... and the official start of the rally isn't until Monday!

I promise more rally and scenery pictures as soon as we start riding the hills again!

Day 4. Waiting for the Others to Arrive.

It's been a chilly windy day, with an overcast sky. This morning, the 4 of us went for breakfast and then back to camp to plan a ride. We headed down Spearfish Canyon again because we wanted to make a stop at Bridalveil Falls so Ronni could see them, and get some pictures. When we got there, we ran into some old friends, Tom and Karla. We never did get around to taking any pictures of the falls.
We went to down to Rochford for a pop. There's a rustic bar in the middle of no where called the Moonshine Gulch Saloon. On the right side of the picture is, from r to l... John, Garth and Ronni.

While we drank our pop, a copy of the Captain America chopper like the one in the movie Easy Rider pulled in. A neat old school chopper!

It was a rather cool ride. At one point the temp was only 55 degrees. We went back to camp and waited for the others to arrive.
I got an early start on today's blog while sitting at the picnic table near the Office. I needed to charge the battery anyway!
There will be more pictures from our rides after today.

Day 3.... From Belle Fourche, SD

I had a good nights sleep in the tent, and was up early. John and I went for a late morning ride down Spearfish Canyon and back. The traffic is still light for a pre rally week. The campground is still lightly populated. That will change in the next few days.
I snapped a few pictures going down the canyon.

John and I stopped at Cheyenne Crossing for lunch. Good burgers and good pulled pork.
We returned to camp to wait for Garth to arrive from Castlegar BC. We were surprised to see him pull up with his bike on a trailer. He brought his wife, Ronni, with him.

After they got their tent set up, they went off to the store for a few supplies. While they were gone it started to rain. I spent most of the afternoon napping in my tent listening to the rain and thunder. The temps dropped nicely after the rain started.
My view most of the afternoon..... The first one's for you Bob...

When the rain cleared, the sky was beautiful. The sunset was fantastic!

Someday I'll figure out how to shoot a picture of the sun. It was an intense orange color. I just couldn't capture that image...

Day 2 of My Trip to South Dakota.

We woke up with the sun this morning at the Faulkton City Park. There was no dew and the tents were dry at sun up. We had about 50 drops of rain during the night. I thought for sure we were going to get pounded. There was lightning a ways to our north, but it never came south.
We packed up and were on the road by 0830.

We continued west on US-212, and came across huge fields of Sun Flowers. As far as you could see!

Soon we crossed the Missouri River.

After crossing the river, the terrain changes from crop land to pasture land. Real rolling pastures... Not the "Pasture Land" of Oregon, Bob...
We spotted this little guy. He was not sure about getting his picture taken. He kept trying to stare me down!

We had a very late breakfast in Faith and when we were done, it looked like it was going to rain. Weather.com showed storm clouds on the radar, but the weather radio mentioned nothing about rain. We decided to risk it and rode into it. We got a light sprinkle, but not enough rain to get my jacket or gloves wet.
We made it to Belle Fourche and set up camp at Wyatt's Hideaway Campground. We've been here just about every year since he opened 11 years ago. It's a great place to camp. Quiet, clean, and safe, with great washrooms!
The weather has cooled off and it looks like a good night to be in a tent. The rest of our group will show up Thursday or Friday.


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