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Normally, my riding buddies and I like to take at least one decent Saturday ride per month, on the order of 150-300 miles. This summer, however, was a bit lean on the Saturday rides, and we hadn't managed to fit one in since March. So, back in June, we started talking about making plans to blast up to the Black Hills of South Dakota some weekend. We wanted to miss all of the congestion around the Harley Rally at Sturgis, so working around other plans like weddings, family vacations, etc; we planned for the last weekend of August.
Well, we couldn't have planned it better. Originally, I was thinking that I'd need to buy one of those cooling vests, because Midwest summers can be fairly warm, to say the least. However, as the weekend crept closer and closer, the forecast called for lows in the lower to mid 40s, with highs in the mid-70s no matter what town I checked. I went from thinking about a cooling vest to packing my jacket and pants liners and cool-weather gloves!
Normally, we ride in a group of 4 or 5, but this time, it was just my main riding buddy, Rob, and myself. We left work at noon last Friday, heading out from St. Louis, with a target of Omaha, NE for the first day's ride, a 420-mile target we easily met. We met up with a buddy of mine who rides a Suzuki Volusia (pic below), and ate some of the best barbequed brisket I've ever had, at a place called "Famous Dave's." Like usual, I didn't get any food pics, but that brisket literally melted in my mouth! Pleasantly stuffed, we found a hotel and settled in for the night.
Saturday, we departed Omaha, heading up route 275 past Fremont, which turns into route 20 about one-third of the way across Nebraska. Figuring this day to be largely a mile-burner, attempting to reach the Black Hills area before sundown, I expected flat farmland and little scenery, and I couldn't have been more wrong.
I would categorize the entire trip as one of abrupt and beautiful changes.
Beautiful, rolling hills with farms, trees, and plenty of scenery made the first half of Nebraska much more pleasant than I had anticipated. Then, about halfway across the state, near Valentine, the scenery abruptly changed from rolling farmland to sandy, grass-covered hills that stretched all the way across the rest of the state. It was beautiful!
On the western side of Nebraska, the terrain changed abruptly again to pine forest - Yes, Nebraska actually has a National Forest! Who knew?
At 385, we headed north into South Dakota, and the scenery continued to amaze me. The terrain became more rugged as we approached the Black Hills, and buffalo and deer were plentiful alongside the road. As in Nebraska, traffic was minimal, and the weather remained perfect.
We had originally targeted Hot Springs as our destination, but when we arrived with plenty of daylight remaining, we decided to continue on through Custer State Park to Hill City. In Custer State Park, the speed limit is 25 mph, and we mostly obeyed it to ensure we didn't have a closer encounter with the wildlife than we wanted. Buffalo, deer, turkey and prairie dogs abounded, but stayed well off the roads and were not a danger.
We found a hotel in Hill City, spent the night, and got an early start on Sunday. Again, the weather was perfect, about 41 degrees. We started out riding 87 south to 16A, a twisty, winding road that at times loops back under itself. At one point, I was leaned over for so long began to wonder if I would ever straighten the bike up again (and hoping not!). Then, we came through a single-lane tunnel cut through the rock, and saw Mt. Rushmore directly ahead.
We went up to Rushmore, but having a lot of miles to cover, did not visit, choosing to pause long enough to snap a couple of pictures before heading on. We next drove up 385 to Lead/Deadwood, where we stopped so Rob could buy some Black Hills Gold earrings for his wife. 385 is the main route through the park, and around almost every bend in the road was another view that made me exclaim praises aloud!
From Deadwood, we cut back south on 85/14, then north on 14 through Spearfish Canyon. As I told Rob earlier on Saturday, I wish I had a dollar for every time we came around a corner and I said to myself, out loud, "Wow!" Spearfish Canyon is a short (14-mile) but fantastic ride that parallels a small creek that follows a tortuous route north out of the mountains. Spires of rock jut skyward from the forest, adding to my continued amazement of the beauty in this area.
At Spearfish, SD, we ate a quick lunch, then had to make an agonizing decision. We had enough time left in the day to either slip over into Wyoming to see Devil's Tower, or continue east to see the Badlands. We would not have time to see both. We ended up choosing the Badlands, since that would take us closer to home, and lessen the load for our trip home on Monday.
We drove the hundred or so miles on Interstate 90 to Wall, SD, choosing to steer wide of Wall Drug, which, judging from the literally thousands of billboards touting its benefits, must be a tourist trap extraordinaire. From Wall, we headed south on route 240 on the 40-mile loop through the Badlands National Park.
Well, the Badlands continued to add amazement to this trip. Just 100 or so miles east of the lush forests of the Black Hills, the Badlands are a stark contrast. In a little over 100 miles, the scenery changes from lush green forests to broad, open grasslands, to the white and pale red Badlands, sprinkled here and there with bright yellows.
After the Badlands, it was heavy on the throttle to get as far east as we could on Interstate 90. We made it as far as Oacoma, where I-90 crosses the Missouri River for the first time. We found a hotel, grabbed a decent but not picture-worthy meal, and set our alarms to leave first thing Monday Morning for the long stretch back to St. Louis.
No pics for the rest of the trip, which was straight superslab on I-90 from Oacoma to Sioux Falls, then I-29 South to Kansas City, where we picked up I-70 for the run back to St. Louis.
Three and a half days, 2200 miles, all smiles, and many pleasant scenic surprises!
Well, we couldn't have planned it better. Originally, I was thinking that I'd need to buy one of those cooling vests, because Midwest summers can be fairly warm, to say the least. However, as the weekend crept closer and closer, the forecast called for lows in the lower to mid 40s, with highs in the mid-70s no matter what town I checked. I went from thinking about a cooling vest to packing my jacket and pants liners and cool-weather gloves!
Normally, we ride in a group of 4 or 5, but this time, it was just my main riding buddy, Rob, and myself. We left work at noon last Friday, heading out from St. Louis, with a target of Omaha, NE for the first day's ride, a 420-mile target we easily met. We met up with a buddy of mine who rides a Suzuki Volusia (pic below), and ate some of the best barbequed brisket I've ever had, at a place called "Famous Dave's." Like usual, I didn't get any food pics, but that brisket literally melted in my mouth! Pleasantly stuffed, we found a hotel and settled in for the night.
Saturday, we departed Omaha, heading up route 275 past Fremont, which turns into route 20 about one-third of the way across Nebraska. Figuring this day to be largely a mile-burner, attempting to reach the Black Hills area before sundown, I expected flat farmland and little scenery, and I couldn't have been more wrong.
I would categorize the entire trip as one of abrupt and beautiful changes.
Beautiful, rolling hills with farms, trees, and plenty of scenery made the first half of Nebraska much more pleasant than I had anticipated. Then, about halfway across the state, near Valentine, the scenery abruptly changed from rolling farmland to sandy, grass-covered hills that stretched all the way across the rest of the state. It was beautiful!
On the western side of Nebraska, the terrain changed abruptly again to pine forest - Yes, Nebraska actually has a National Forest! Who knew?
At 385, we headed north into South Dakota, and the scenery continued to amaze me. The terrain became more rugged as we approached the Black Hills, and buffalo and deer were plentiful alongside the road. As in Nebraska, traffic was minimal, and the weather remained perfect.
We had originally targeted Hot Springs as our destination, but when we arrived with plenty of daylight remaining, we decided to continue on through Custer State Park to Hill City. In Custer State Park, the speed limit is 25 mph, and we mostly obeyed it to ensure we didn't have a closer encounter with the wildlife than we wanted. Buffalo, deer, turkey and prairie dogs abounded, but stayed well off the roads and were not a danger.
We found a hotel in Hill City, spent the night, and got an early start on Sunday. Again, the weather was perfect, about 41 degrees. We started out riding 87 south to 16A, a twisty, winding road that at times loops back under itself. At one point, I was leaned over for so long began to wonder if I would ever straighten the bike up again (and hoping not!). Then, we came through a single-lane tunnel cut through the rock, and saw Mt. Rushmore directly ahead.
We went up to Rushmore, but having a lot of miles to cover, did not visit, choosing to pause long enough to snap a couple of pictures before heading on. We next drove up 385 to Lead/Deadwood, where we stopped so Rob could buy some Black Hills Gold earrings for his wife. 385 is the main route through the park, and around almost every bend in the road was another view that made me exclaim praises aloud!
From Deadwood, we cut back south on 85/14, then north on 14 through Spearfish Canyon. As I told Rob earlier on Saturday, I wish I had a dollar for every time we came around a corner and I said to myself, out loud, "Wow!" Spearfish Canyon is a short (14-mile) but fantastic ride that parallels a small creek that follows a tortuous route north out of the mountains. Spires of rock jut skyward from the forest, adding to my continued amazement of the beauty in this area.
At Spearfish, SD, we ate a quick lunch, then had to make an agonizing decision. We had enough time left in the day to either slip over into Wyoming to see Devil's Tower, or continue east to see the Badlands. We would not have time to see both. We ended up choosing the Badlands, since that would take us closer to home, and lessen the load for our trip home on Monday.
We drove the hundred or so miles on Interstate 90 to Wall, SD, choosing to steer wide of Wall Drug, which, judging from the literally thousands of billboards touting its benefits, must be a tourist trap extraordinaire. From Wall, we headed south on route 240 on the 40-mile loop through the Badlands National Park.
Well, the Badlands continued to add amazement to this trip. Just 100 or so miles east of the lush forests of the Black Hills, the Badlands are a stark contrast. In a little over 100 miles, the scenery changes from lush green forests to broad, open grasslands, to the white and pale red Badlands, sprinkled here and there with bright yellows.
After the Badlands, it was heavy on the throttle to get as far east as we could on Interstate 90. We made it as far as Oacoma, where I-90 crosses the Missouri River for the first time. We found a hotel, grabbed a decent but not picture-worthy meal, and set our alarms to leave first thing Monday Morning for the long stretch back to St. Louis.
No pics for the rest of the trip, which was straight superslab on I-90 from Oacoma to Sioux Falls, then I-29 South to Kansas City, where we picked up I-70 for the run back to St. Louis.
Three and a half days, 2200 miles, all smiles, and many pleasant scenic surprises!
You certainly were blessed with gorgeous ride weather.
to Arkansas, and I'm not sure he'd do that. Not sure who else from the group rides......But I'd be happy to meet up with you there! 
