Today we got a late start from the camp. I guess the sleeping pill Hillard took last night really worked! We finally departed the KOA at 9:30 MST after waiting for Cliff and Gary to show…they were to meet us there so we could go to breakfast. They didn’t show so we went into town and saw them at the USP store. Gary was shipping his laptop home…too bulky and didn’t use it on the trip. Hillard couldn’t find his wallet so we went back to the cabin and there it was, laying under the bed.
After a quick bite to eat went to see Devils Tower in Wyoming. Amazing site to see. This was in the movie Close Encounters. Pretty cool. From there we headed back to I-90 to make up for the lost time in the morning. We ran 90 all the way to Sheridan, WY. From there we took Hwy 14 to the Big Horn Mountains. That was one of the absolute coolest place I have ever been. The views were amazing. There was still a lot of snow on the peaks. The temps went from the upper 70′s around 5,000 ft to middle 40′s at 9,500 ft and several feet of snow. The views were too much for words. Mark this down as one of the roads to travel in your lifetime.
We arrived at Cody, WY just before sundown. After 430 miles today we were too tired to setup tents. Plus we are spoiled with the KOA cabins.
Tomorrow we plan to ride the Beartooth Pass up in to Montana. However, there are reports of an avalanche that has the road closed. We shall see tomorrow. They are also calling for rain and snow on the pass as well as Yellowstone. How much snow will determine if we ride those areas.
Total mileage so far: 1,905
That’s all for now…I am exhausted! I’ll try to add some pics in the morning.
Last night’s storm was intense. There was a torrential downpour for quite a while and lightning cracking all around us. But we stayed in our tents and hoped the pine trees wouldn’t fall on top of us. I heard hail clanking off my bike and was expecting to see dimples in my gas tank when I awoke but luckily there wasn’t any damage. As we broke camp there was piles of ice on the sides of the roads from all the hail. Crazy!!
We spent all day in the Black Hills area of South Dakota seeing the sites and trying to take it all in. It’s really amazing how much there is to see and do. A full week here would be enough time to really enjoy it. We were able to get some good shots of the Crazy Horse monument and Mt Rushmore. See below. There are wild Burros in Custer State Park that are always waiting for handouts. They don’t seem too wild after all.
The weather was perfect all day until we caught a small shower as we passed through the Spearfish Canyon on our way to Spearfish. Prior to that we passed through Deadwood where Wild Bill Hickok is buried.
We are staying in a cabin tonight at the KOA in Spearfish, SD. Pizza Hut was for dinner. They delivered! The agenda for tomorrow is to end up in Cody, Wyoming which is just east of Yellowstone. As we cross in to Wyoming the first stop will be at Devil’s Tower then on to Cody.
That’s all for tonight, I’m exhausted!
Greetings from Custer, SD. As I write this, we are hunkered down in our tents with thunderstorms cracking off in the distance and getting closer so I will make this brief…we may need to run for cover.
We barely got any sleep at the campground last night. Why, you ask? Some brilliant person decided it was a good idea to build a campground adjacent to what seemed like the only pair of railroad tracks in the state. All night long we heard (and felt) freight trains blowing horns and thumping along the tracks!! This wasn’t just a couple trains, it went on for hours!
Today’s distance was the most of the trip thus far at 500 miles. The ride across Nebraska was nice and loooooong! Goodness, I thought it would never end. I’m not at all a fan of super straight and flat roads but that’s all there was for 400 miles. We did see a really cool wind farm with those giant windmills and the sand hills were neat also.
The Black Hills area is really spectacular. We got some neat pics of the buffalo roaming across the road while cars waited for them to pass and of the prairie dogs which are everywhere.
I’ll add pictures later…this storm is getting closer! Bye for now.
Another day, another 400 miles. It was a real hot one today also and tomorrow looks to be much of the same. After that we should be in the cooler weather.
We are in Fremont, NE which is just west of Omaha. The weather is nice so we are camping for the first time tonight. The Cottonwood trees are in full bloom and floating everywhere. So far my sinuses are not flaring up but we’ll see in the morning.
Gary was pulled over by the law for doing 77mph in a 60mph zone. I was leading the group when I crested a hill and saw the officer sitting in the median. I radioed back to the group warning them. Everyone slowed except for Gary…he was speeding up past Hillard just as he crested the hill. Unfortunately, Gary is the only one that doesn’t have radio comm. Hillard tried to warn with the universal tap on the helmet. We should have known something was up with the area when we saw a local on a ZX-14 slow waaay down prior to this area. In the end the officer gave him a warning stating “it’s the crotch rockets I’m after not the touring bikes”.
An interesting thing to note is how they price fuel in these parts. We filled up with 87 octane for $4.04 then realized the cheapest gas was $3.94 and that was the 89 octane. We assumed it was only at that station until we got to town and saw premium gas was the least expensive of all three types!! Go figure.
Today was a very hot ride. I had to stop a little short on my gas runs to cool off. Temps were in the upper 80′s but with the heat from the super slab and from the bike I was cooking. My on-board thermometer read consistently over 100 degrees!!
I made it to St Louis before the gang got there so after taking a 20 minute break at the Gateway Arch, I continued on west. We exchanged phone messages so we knew where each other was. After 390 hot miles and some rush hour traffic in St Louis, I stopped in New Florence, MO and grabbed a motel. There are severe storms in the area with large hail and tornadoes…camping is not an option. The group is about 50 miles behind me on I-70 but may have to stop for shelter. The Weather Channel shows a nasty storm cell between here and St Louis.
Pics for today:
