The rhythm of the ride. Its not just the mechanics of motorcycling. Its the bonding of people involved. The acceptance of experience.

Started this morning by sitting in my camp chair watching the sun come up over the Missouri river. I am pretty much still on eastern time and the campsite is near the facilities. Great sunrise over the hills of South Dakota. Boys got up and they fired up one of the backpacker stoves and we had starbucks instant coffee.

We broke camp and again headed west. A few miles out of town we slowed for road construction. A piece of the road was cut out and filled with gravel. Passing over it, the gravel was soft, my front wheel dug in and slid. Almost dropped the bike. I didnt but it was one of those moments that gets your attention. The bike fully loaded, full fuel is over 800lbs. It got my attention. The boys got through fine.

Not much farther down the road we passed into our second timezone change, Mountain time. I will put the significance of this in with the 45th parallel thing.

The roads in South Dakota are fantastic. Wide. Well maintained. Speed limit on the two laners is 65, if a 4 laner, its 70. The topography is almost surreal. Very hilly, void of trees, buildings, towns. Hundreds of miles. We set up and cruised at 70 most of the day. Again we pretty much had the roads to ourselves. There is the monotony of the ride. The wind, while not like a few days ago, does help in demanding your attention to the task at hand.

We stopped for fuel in a little town named Midland. We talked about this afterwards. Everyone one in the gas station / diner / casino / store was dressed to the hilt in cowboy garb. It was almost like walking on to a western movie set. It is to be expected given where we were at but this was different. For example, one gentleman had on the boots, buckle, hat combo which is typical, but add the neckerchief, spurs, aviator sunglasses etc. Big pickup truck. Anyway all very nice, love to talk.

We continued on heading west. Since in developing our own rhythm ride we have become accustomed to goofing around too much, taking too long at stops etc. We passed through a town. Cottonwood. Pop 12. I thought about it as we passed, and a mile or two down the road, I signaled to pull over and turn around. Wow. The road we were on had an occasional sign indicating it was the Old Deadwood Trail. This particular municipality has not reaped the benefits of the current thoroughfare. We cruised down main street and stopped to inspect the abandoned buildings.

Back on the road we decided to head for the interstate for the sake of time. The interstate was about 75 miles south west and we would be on that for another 70 miles to Sturgis which we decided would be our destination. So we cruised on. OK, I saw all this billboards for hundreds of miles for Wall Drug in Wall, SD. One sign would say ‘5c coffee’, another ‘free ice water’, ‘kids love it, ‘buffalo burgers’, ‘hats’.. You get the idea. So we stopped. Gotta be the biggest tourist establishment in the badlands. It was great. We killed another 45 minutes to an hour there. I bought a pair of gloves (insulated). The guy who waited on me was a law school student from Jamaica. This place is so big they bring in kids from all over to work in the summer. Took some pics with the boys.

If you dont think I am not going to pay for posting that, think again 🙂

We hopped on the interstate. 80mph speed limit. 70 miles to Rapid City. The bikes took it in stride. It was beautiful weather and temps were pushing 90. The heat the bikes generate to maintain that speed, at that temp, was unbelievable. My right leg especially, being next to the exhaust was very uncomfortable. We stopped for fuel and realized we had another 30 miles to go for Sturgis, so back on the interstate.

Sturgis, SD. Meh. I dont get it. I understand the event, over a million people this year etc. I also get we are there 2 weeks after. Just not impressed. Most of the stores and shops were closed and it seemed that they were dismantling the town now that the rally was over. We stopped for lunch at the Knuckle saloon which takes up a full block. Alex had to try the one pound burger, with bacon (which must of been a 1/2 pound of that). Almost finished it. Even with discarding most of the bun. Got some good local info on heading down to Mount Rushmore and camping.

We stopped at a J&P Cycle store in town. Alex was looking for a new touring jacket. Wow. Talk about being proud of their prices…. Alex found one he liked, figured maybe $200-$250. $500. Lots of Sturgis branded items. T-shirts with skulls on them. Nice.

So we headed to Mt Rushmore. Passed through Deadwood. Historic buildings, casinos, neat little shops. This is where the motorcycle rally should be. Would have loved to have stopped there but it was getting to be later in the afternoon and we needed to look at the presidents and find a campsite. It was farther than expected and the ride took us at least an hour if not over. Beautiful drive through the Black hills.

Keystone. The gateway city for Mt Rushmore. Wow. Lots of places to buy t-shirts, Mt Rushmore key chains and stay in small mom and pop campsites or motels with the kids. We paid our $11 for each motorcycle and parked on deck 5 of 6 in the garage and walked up and saw the presidents. It is pretty impressive.

Here are the boys taking each others pics trying to insert themselves into the mix. This is also why our stops are taking longer.

Believe it or not we had ice cream and went through the gift shop after. For $11 each, I think we had to justify our staying around and paying homage to the national treasure. We came, we saw and we left.

It was getting pretty late, after 6 and had no idea where we were staying. We decided on trying Custer State Park. It was only a 1/2 inch or so on the map. We followed the signs and got on route 16a. Wow. This was one of the most technical rides I have been on. We were in first and second gear for over 20 miles. Steep grades. Hairpin turns. Corkscrew turns, where its as tight as a parking ramp but crosses back over on wooden bridges. One lane tunnels maybe 8 feet high. Lots of them. Sheer drop offs with no guard rails. Wow. Deer and antelope roadside. Took us over an hour.

We dropped into Custer State park. The ranger station was closed. We could hear them inside. On the phone with the reservation center. Almost full. They did have some sites near the central lakes area. Where was that I asked? She asked where we were. I advised at the park entrance. She asked which one? I said, not sure. It went on like that for a few minutes. She was very very nice. This park is huge. Thousands and thousands of acres. Getting dark. Bikes are very low on fuel. Me trying to find a campsite starting from an entrance where I didnt even know was futile. I thanked her and we decided to head back to Rapid City, about 30+ miles away.

We found fuel about 15 miles from the park and one of those 65mph highways and blasted into the city. Once we got there, got lost temporarily, then got on a road that put us back on the interstate towards Sturgis. An expert turnaround at the next available exit took us back into Rapid City. We found a great motel for $60. They let us park our bikes under the canopy overnight. There was sports bar within walking distance. We ordered food which was brought over from the Bob Evans restaurant next door. We drank, we laughed, we ate and we re-lived the experiences of the day. Karaoke night in Rapid City, SD provided the background entertainment.

Tomorrow we meet up with Mikes Mores and his cousin from Cheyenne, WY who will be riding with us throughout the next week or so. Tetons, Yellowstone, Montana, Idaho where ever we end up….

Life is good.