2025 August 15 - 22 South Dakota
Today was supposed to be the last day of the Parade of Planets. where 3 planets were visible in the same part of the sky, along with the moon. I woke up around 5:00 to look at it. I could see Jupiter and Venus plainly enough, and the moon of course. But I could not see Mercury. We have trees between us and the Western horizon but no matter where I went, I couldn't see it. My SkySafari app said it was well above the horizon and seemed to be in a gap, but no joy.
Sunrise and the Parade of Planets
After I wandered around in my pajamas for 30 minutes I decided to use the hot tub. The tub said it was 108 degrees but I don't believe it. It felt just like the last couple of times and the jets felt just as good blasting my shoulders and back. It was heaven.
I showered and changed but then had no idea what to do. I was caught up on the blog and didn't need to write anything, so I practiced some ukulele. I just sat down for a few minutes to write this section so I'll be started for after today's ride. Then I'll figure out what everyone wants for breakfast and do that. I can't believe it's already my last day of riding on this trip. Tomorrow we leave the VRBO and move to a hotel so my bike will be on the trailer and Nan will be with me in the car.
We loaded up at 9:00 and got on the road. Nan has ridden every day except Sunday and Devil's Tower. That is more than she's ever ridden on one of these trips ever. It has been great fun for me to have her on the bike. I sure hope its been fun for her too. If she ever comes on another trip, I'll know it was ok.
We started by taking the back road toward Deadwood, then turning onto highway 385. We stopped at the big Deadwood sign and took a group photo with all the bikes lined up. The photos seemed to come out nice.
We headed South down highway 385 towards Hill City. But there has been construction on highway 385 for months now and you can't go all the way to Hill City. So we chose to turn off 385 onto Nemo road and detour through Rapid City. It started out really nice with temps in the high 70s the weather clear and the forest around us smelled slightly of rain. It was heavenly. We even got the occasional smell of fresh cut grass.
Beautiful meadows
We reached the bottom of Nemo road and chose to go East toward Rapid City. It started getting warmer and warmer. By the time we were in Rapid City it was 93 degrees. We stopped at a gas station to get waters and a bio break. I parked in the shade but everyone else (all Arizonans) parked in the sun and thought nothing of it. I thought seriously about getting out my cold vest. A cold vest is just a vest made of really absorbent material that you can soak in water. Then as you wear it, the water evaporates and cools you off. I'd had Nan soak it in water before the ride and put it in a ziplock bag. But I held off.
We continued through Rapid City taking a seemingly random set of turns that eventually put us on Mount Rushmore highway heading West out of town. We've been on that road several times before but especially with Grand Kids when we've visited Bear Country USA. It's a big drive through park that includes about 50 bears in a big open space. The kids loved it.
Wooden Bridges seems to be a theme around here
Anyway, within about 30 minutes we were pulling up to the Mount Rushmore entrance. Because we're over 60, it only cost $5.00 for parking. There is no entrance fee, just the parking which is good for a year.
As normally happens, the lead bike pays then heads off without waiting for the 2nd bike. Who then takes off without waiting for the 3rd and so forth till we're all spread all over the parking area. This is about the 3rd trip that this has happened.
Nan and I parked in a covered area, again, for heat. A few text messages relayed that everyone was just heading into the monument. We got all our stuff ready, then set off for the gift shop . We were nearly there when I realized that I didn't have my camera. I'd left it sitting on the seat of the bike. So back I went to get it. It sucks getting old and .... what was I saying?
We met up with the group after everyone had spent allot of money on un-needed knick-knacks. We took pictures down the isle of flags then talked about food. No one really wanted to go to the museum or any of the other things, we'd all done it many times before.
We could either eat National Park food right here or travel back to Keystone. In the end we decided to go back to Keystone (about 2 miles) and eat there. We chose the very first place in the first strip mall. It wasn't great food but it wasn't terrible either. Nan and I split the fish and chips which was just right.
After lunch we wandered through the shops and I'm sure more un-needed items were bought. We left Keystone but barely crossed the street when we decided to take pictures by the Rushmore sign.
Finally we packed up and head for Iron Mountain road. Its a pretty famous road in the motorcycling world due to the pig tails. Those are a set of hairpin turns that exceed 360 degrees. and they do it by climbing up and over the top of themselves. It's pretty cool, especially because the bridge that over passes the lower section is made of wood. Very Very Cool. And kind of fun.
We climbed up one that turned left, then a half mile later we climbed a 2nd that turned right. The top of the second leads straight into a one lane tunnel so you have to slow down and take turns.
There are 2 cool tunnels on Iron Mount Road that both face Mount Rushmore, but one in each direction. Whichever direction on the road you're travelling, the 2nd tunnel will point you right at Rushmore and you'll see the monument as you pass through the tunnel. It is an awesome picture if you can get it.
Iron Mountain also has many good pullouts and scenic overlooks. We only have 1 that we normally stop and, and like the tunnels, it has several places where you can get pictures with the monument behind you.
We continued down Iron Mountain Road until we got to the "Iron Mountain Road Visitor's Center" which is just the name of yet another gift shop. We stopped for yet more water and a rest from the heat. We did get the wifi password and spent a while browsing and buying yet more t-shirts and hats.
Once we were all rested, we went out to the bikes to leave. That's when I discovered that I'd left my camera on and videoing. It was down to 3% battery. I've done that before, but this was especially bad because the next part of our ride was through the iconic Needles highway where we pass through a super narrow cleft in the rocks.
I led the way back up the road 1/2 mile, then turned onto the cutoff that took us over to the Needles Highway. The cutoff and highway are pretty narrow roads. There were no center line stripes, and often we had to pull far to the right to pass oncoming cars and trucks. Several times a truck would have to wait at a wide spot for us to go past before they could move on.
As we climbed higher, the road got even more narrow and the passing became harder until we finally reached the needle itself. Just as we came around the corner, I saw the tail end of a motorhome disappear into the gap. We had just talked about idiots that try to drive the needles highway in big vehicles, but here we were watching one. The 2 cars ahead of us were positioned to see through the gap and they weren't moving so I figured the RV was either stuck or just going very slow.
Other vehicles began to back up behind us and several walked up to yell at someone till they looked for themselves, shook their heads and walked back. It took probably 10 minutes till the RV made it through, then the traffic in the other direction started coming and they just kept coming for another 5 to 10 minutes before it slacked enough for us to go.
By this point we were hot and fed up and just wanted to get moving so we didn't stop for any pictures of sight seeing.
I led us out to highway 385, then back toward Mont Rushmore and Keystone. We stopped at a gas station for another round of water and bathroom break. The temperature was in the low 90s but the sun had been beating on us for the whole ride and I was especially feeling the heat. I really soaked my wet vest thoroughly and we headed for Rapid City.
I knew it was going to get hot, but I was unprepared for the 106 degrees we experienced while going through the city. Every time we hit a stoplight the heat just grew and grew around me. I quickly drank all the water in my bottle and even stopped for a quick minute to grab another and finished it too.
Nan and I were at the back and got stuck at a long light. By the time it changed, we couldn't see the others. To top it off, my phone ran out of power and turned off. So I pulled over and plugged the phone in, then sent a text that Nan and I were just going to head for the freeway and drive North to Sturgis and back to the house. That's the way the GPS had been trying to push us anyway.
Back on the bike we finally managed to get through the traffic and onto the freeway. We hadn't gone far when I got a text back from John that they were doing the same thing and were just ahead of us. Then not far out of town, there was a lane closed for construction and traffic started to back up. People started merging over, but I turned into "that guy" and just kept zooming up the lane that was going to close. We zipped past lots of cars and even past our other riders (we waved). At one point a big truck tried to nudge over into our path to prevent us going forward, but I wanted out of that heat in a big way, so we zipped around him too until the lane merged.
The construction was just 100 yards long so we were quickly back out onto open highway and driving 75mph. I can't go faster because it really makes Nan's helmet shake up near those speeds. Soon the others passed us back because they were doing about 10 over. By this time I was drenched in sweat and my legs kept cramping up. There was no where to pull over and cool off so I just kept going.
After what seemed like an eternity, we finally reached Sturgis and took the exit toward Lead. I stopped at the first gas station and practically flopped off the bike. My legs were weak and my helmet was dripping with sweat. I downed a gatorade and water, then Nan got some peanuts and other salty snacks to much on.
No comments:
Post a Comment