September 28
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On the road about 9. A cold front had pushed through last night and brought some rain. When we got to the bikes it was about 45 degrees, with a low overcast, blowing 30 MPH. I pulled out the electric jacket for the first time this trip. At least the wind had shifted, it was out of the north this morning, so we got to lean the other direction today. Maybe it would help the tires wear evenly.
The skies threatened rain all the way to South Dakota, but never made good on the threat. We crossed the border and came out from under the front, and the overcast gave way to big puffy clouds against a stunning blue sky. Not wanting to wreck this beautiful day and beautiful scenery by getting on an interstate, we took 83 to 44 west, which paralleled I-90 about 25 miles to the south. We reached the town of Interior, South Dakota, with 97 miles on that tank of fuel. The only gas station in Interior was closed, so we rode north to I-90 looking for gas. This route took us through a small section of Badlands National Park, which had a tight little road that twisted through fabulous hills and rock formations. I was reminded of Bryce Canyon in Utah. We were stuck behind a slow-moving Jeep, and I was looking for a small stretch of semi-straight road to pass, when he flushed a couple of mule deer. As I watched their rumps disappear into the brush, I thought “Maybe I should just cool my jets and take it easy through here!”
Gassed up at I-90, we made a short trip up the slab to Wall, SD, to have lunch at Wall Drug Store. You have probably seen a billboard for Wall Drug if you have been within 1,000 miles of it. Kind of like Ron Jon Surf Shop in Daytona Beach, which has billboards in North Carolina. By the time you get there, you just feel like you HAVE to stop!
During that short hop on 90, I saw a Silverwing mega scooter on the eastbound side, rider in full gear, like he was out touring. I thought fondly of Lana’s Silverwing and how well it rides. Such an under-rated machine!
Seems like the only reason Wall still exists is because of Wall Drugs. It’s HUGE, and was doing a good business that day, even though it was the end of the season. We had a decent lunch, served by a girl with some kind of Slavic accent. Definitely not a local. I recommend the chili, great on a nippy day.
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My plan up to this point was to ride back out of Wall into the Badlands, taking the scenic road that we had missed earlier, backtrack a few miles to Interior, and take 44 into Rapid City. But a cheap little tourist map that I found at Wall Drug showed that 44 was gravel for 17 miles. Maybe we would have to rethink that plan, but we did want to see the rest of the Badlands, so we set off there right after lunch. At the main gate I asked the Rangerette about 44, and she assured me that it was paved.
“You are sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Positive?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You know if I get out there and that road goes to gravel I am going to come back here and have a talk with you?”
She laughed.
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The Badlands road was great, and 44 was paved and perfect. Well, with one exception. From Wall, we only passed one gas station all the way to the outskirts of Rapid City, and they had no gas. The turkey baster saved the day once again.
Rapid City is a city of motorcyclist. I was struck by the numbers of bikes of all descriptions on the streets. One of the coolest things we saw was a guy on a Goldwing pulling a little trailer with his dog in it. I couldn’t get to the camera fast enough to get a picture.
We still had a few hours of daylight left, so we rode south of Rapid City, past Mount Rushmore, and down to the Crazy Horse Memorial. We looked around a bit and sat in on an orientation movie. Seems like the Indian elders had asked a famous Polish sculptor to carve an image of Crazy Horse into a mountain on native lands. The project was huge, much bigger than Rushmore, and the sculptor had worked on it pretty much by himself for the rest of his life. Now his family was continuing the work. The thing that struck us was that there was no mention of continued Indian involvement. No volunteers, no financial support, nothing. Maybe I missed something in the story, but it seemed like the Indians just said “Please do this for us” and walked away. On the other hand, it seems like the sculptor made a thriving business out of the project, so maybe it was a fair deal.
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We took a Comfort Inn on the south side of Rapid City and had dinner with Eric’s in-laws, Trent and Jennifer. They cooked up some rib-eyes and entertained us for the evening, and Trent gave us tips on some twisty roads in the area.
Not sure how far we rode this day.
