We're home

A little bitter sweet.
It's great to go on vacation but nice to think we'll be sleeping in our own bed tonight.
Of course you need a vacation from your vacation. Time to unload, do laundry, get caught up on stuff here.

After looking over past posts it's fun to remember.

So, the stop in De Smet, SD, what was it?
Well, if you are a girl, you probably know the author Laura Ingalls Wilder.
De Smet was where she lived as a girl and became a teacher. Here she did alot of her writing.
We went through a house where she lived, a school she attended and the house her Pa built and lived in with Ma and Mary.
Living the prairie life in the mid-1800's, no thank you!
But a quaint little stop on the way back was fun.

Back to work tomorrow.

We're on our way east

Well, it's time to say that we've left the Black Hills of South Dakota and are heading east.

Tonight is Friday Aug. 12, 2011 and I'm sitting in a Best Western in Huron, SD on Hwy 14 trying to remember all of the great stuff we did.
While I type this I'm uploading pictures so they will be ready for you all to see.

Let's see, where did I leave you last.............oh yes, yesterday was a fun filled riding day and a very LOUD night!

We road through Custer State Park and Needles Hwy yesterday.
The roads are just to incredible to explain, everyone should see them in person.
If you ride a motorcycle these should be on your "must ride" list!!!
Lots of twists, tuns, switch-backs, tunnels just too amazing.

In Custer State Park we took the wild-life loop around the park. We saw: buffalo, pronghorns, donkeys, deer and get this around a corner we had to make a sudden stop for a bull buffalo on the side of the road. He didn't care about us or our noise at all.

Needles Highway was some crazy road! Pretty tight turns, narrow and tunnels that I'm sure our van would not have fit through.

We rode all day got back and decided we needed to check out the all famous "Full Throttle Saloon" in Sturgis. Jackyl played and we watched the band and the crowd. Rained some but that didn't stop anyone from having a good time.
One thing I will warn you about..........DON'T stand and watch the guys do burn outs with their bikes you will NOT be able to breath, YUK.

Will post more, we've got a couple of more stops to make before home.

Changed it up a bit

Yesterday we decided to make it a long day.
We went to Devil's Tower in WY via, Deadwood, SD.

Deadwood was just as busy with bikes and tourists as any place we've been.
Had lunch in a historic hotel. It wasn't that good.

LOTS and LOTS of police in WY. Saw one guy get pulled over and we suspect it was
for illegal handlebars.
So far we've seen cops in cars, SUVs, bikes and on horses. And I have to say they're not
too friendly either. You smile and say "hi" and they just stand there.

Enough of that, Devil's Tower is something to see. It just came out of the ground and it's by itself. The park is the oldest park in the national system and still original.
Talked to a nice ranger out there about the filming of Close Encounters and the turkey vultures that where up on top.

250 miles round trip was nice, no rain, lots of other bikes, went over a dam got back just in time to cook dinner and rest.

Met a nice couple in the site next to us from Vermont. They had their bikes brought out by truck to Salt Lake City and they've been riding around out here from there and will ride back to Vermont.

Lots of women riders! Steve said yesterday they should have their own rally there are so many. HAHAHA

Off to Custer State Park and Needles Hwy today.

Will stay one more night then start to head home.

I have one stop I want to make on the way back and that's in De Smet, SD. It's a secret until I get there and will fill you in if I go. Have to keep some secrets, right?

DAy 4 & 5 (I think, hahaha)

Not sure where I left off so let me try and catch you all up.

We are having a great time!
The scenery is so beautiful here in the Black Hills of SD. The rest of the state is plains so not that exciting.

We've already visited the Corn Palace in Mitchell, went to Wall Drug in Wall, been to Mt Rushmore twice, went to the Crazy Horse Memorial.
The Corn Palace seemed bigger as a kid. It's a tourist destination and that's about it.
Wall, SD had a Harley Motor clothes shop so of course we had to stop there.
I bought some Black Hills gold in Wall.
We decided after paying $11 to get into Mt. Rushmore that we better go more than once. We went to the night time lighting.
Crazy Horse Memorial is coming along slowly. I don't think I'll ever see it finished but they are working on it everyday.
There is a huge indian museum there that was very interesting. We even got to see a native American traditional dance.

We are camping in Keystone, it's pretty laid back compaired to Sturgis! You can see Mt Rushmore from here.
Our first camp site was a bear to get to so after one night we switched down to a lower one on a cute little creek. No bugs!

We went to Rapid City on to Sturgis yesterday. OH MY the sites and BIKES Everywhere bikes. We found a place to park on a side street and then walked to the rally.
The Harley dealership was nuts.
Stopped at the Harley member tent and got our official HOG rally pins.
We can say we did it and probably won't go back. When they say the Stugis Rally it's not just in one place it's all the little towns of the Black HIlls. So each little town
has something going on in it.

The rides are AMAZING.

We've seen all kinds of wild life too (this includes the human kind) proghorn antelope, buaffalo, deer, fox.

We will be going to Custer State park today and hopefully, Wyoming tomorrow.
Yesterday we dodged the rain so that was good.

Day 2 & 3

Well day two keep us driving late into the evening and I was too tired to post.
Let me catch you up.

We left Madison, WI headed north/west into MN via Lacrosse.
While traveling in WI we saw Brad Paisley's semi heading south then a little while later we saw Rascal Flatts semi heading north.

We went to one Harley dealer in WI that we missed last fall and two different dealers in MN. Pick up a couple of things (of course).

Our plan was to spend the night in Sioux Falls but NO rooms available. Drove all the way to Mitchell and spent the night. It worked out fine too.

The farther west we traveled the more bikes we saw. On the road and on trailers so we don't feel bad at all about trailering the bikes.

Day 3: we got up headed to the Corn Palace just because it's there!
Kept heading west on 90. Figured since we had room issues the night before we better call early. Good thing too since we wanted to stay in Wall. We got a room but let me tell you it was at a premium price! Some price gouging but we expected it.
Wet to Wall Drug, got free water and .05 coffee. :) They have their own line of wine so I bought a bottle. The grapes are grown in South Dakota. I also bought a very pretty Black Hills gold ring.
Stopped at the Wall HD dealer, no bikes just clothes. Didn't have what we wanted. It was a mad house in there.
Kinda like a mini Sturgis to get you ready. Bikes down the center of the road and at the curbs. Separate parking for cages.
Need to pick up some items at the little grocery store in town and found a commemorative bottle of Sturgis Bike Week 2011 wine, bought it!
Had buffalo burgers for dinner and then took the loop around the Badlands National Park.
Saw these funny looking deer so ask a ranger what they were and they were pronghorn antelope. Took the whole loop and towards the end saw a herd of buffalo! They were pretty far away but I had my long lense on so I hope they turn out.
Will post when I have time to edit.
After leaving the national park we came across a historic site that was an original praire sod house. Stopped and got some great shots of praire dogs. Scarred the poop out of me when one ran towards me (he must have thought I was going to feed him-NOT) Beside geting some pictures we got bit up my a mass swarm of mosquitos so lets just say after drawing some blood we didn't stay long!
One other stop might be the Wounded Knee Museum but I'm not sure. The website makes it look really impressive but we drove by the outside and it looks like a cheesy tourist trap so I'm not sure. We'll check in out in the morning and then decide.

Tomorrow we will be in Keystone, that will be our home base for the week.
The plan is to see Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, ride Needles Highway, see some sites in Rapid City, of course check out Sturgis. If time and hind ends hold up we'll ride to Devil's Tower in WY and go to Deadwood.

Looking forward to seeing the sites and bikes!

South Dakota adventure - day 1

Hello all!
We decided that we could cut out of town a day (half a day) early.
I worked until 12 noon.
We packed up the final items and left the Chesterton Jewel at 3pm after stocking up on ice for the coolers.
We are spending the night in Madison, WI
Got a room at the Best Western East Towne a very nice suite actually.
Steve checked the trailer when we got here and all was well. My bike tie-downs got a little loose but nothing bad.
After getting though Chicago traffic and construction it wasn't too bad. We got here at 7pm
I was a passenger this leg and even I could feel the difference pulling all that weight.

I didn't see it personally, but Steve saw a woman walking out of a ditch talking on her cell phone on the side of the highway. She had drove right off the road! A few minutes later lights and sirens from the WI state police going fast in the opposite direction. We figured it was for her.

I got an exciting text today while we were driving, my cousin had her baby! A little girl.

Good night all, here's hoping for a nice drive tomorrow out of WI into MN and SD.