Day 5
Well, it was another early morning, with me getting up early to finish yesterdays blog. Since the
breakfast
buffet in the motel does not open till 6:30 am, I've got some time to play with. At 6:30 am, I head
down to get my coffee, yogurt, and a sausage patty. Actually at this point, I have to stop and upload
all my pictures from yesterday to google, on the motel WI-Fi. Done.
That's the one thing about Sturgis, there are a ton of bikes here. They even have one of those rare to
find, BMW dealerships here.
Which surprised the hell out of me when I drove by. I'm on the road by 7:30 am,
and I head west on I-90. Which takes my into Wyoming, and to my farthest landmark while staying
in Sturgis. The Devils Tower.
Made famous in the movie "Close encounters of the third kind", and to be honestly,
really the only reason I'm going there. If you haven't guessed yet, it will take just over a hour
to ride there. It's a cloudy day, with rain expected in the afternoon. So I bring enough gear, just in
case. The temps for when I leave are around 60 degrees, which as I'm learning, means in the low 50's
on the interstate. I've got 3/4 in the gas tank, so I'm all good to go.
After I get outside of Sturgis, I can see that it rained a few hours ago, but the cloud cover
looks ok. So I continue on. The first thing I see is a sign that says "Center of the Nation". I've either
heard about it, or watched a you tube video of someone visiting it. Anyway, I hit the off ramp to see
where it is and that's the sign I see.
To be honest, I'm not going to drive 11 miles there and back to get a picture of a plaque saying
"Center o the Nation" So you'll have do with this. Well, at least I know where I am! So back on the
road. The scenery changes a bit, more hilly and more red in the rocks. I hit the border and cross into
Wyoming. There's the usual sign and welcome center. About a 1/2 hour later I'm at the turn off for
The Devils tower. I look up and the clouds have turned darker with a bit of fog about. But since I'm
only 30 miles away from the tower, and probably never be around here again, I go for it. It's a nice
ride in, lot's of going up and down hills with lot's of curves.
The best part as the devils tower is out in the middle of nowhere, there is no traffic this early in the
morning.
About 15 miles in you can see the tower. It is impressive. I pull over for a pic.
Non zoom
Zoom, actually I'm surprised on how well it came out on my Samsung Note 8
So, for the rest of the drive you can see the tower getting bigger as you go up and down the hills.
It is kind of cool as you get closer, it keeps getting bigger and bigger. I also got to see my first live
deer at the side of the road. It's nice, as I've been seeing too many dead ones at the side of the road.
That's not a knife, this is a knife!
I arrive at the park gate, and just before I get there I spot the "Devils Tower Trading Post". As a nice
cup of coffee would be nice, I stop in. So while drinking my coffee I was wondering if I really
needed to go into the park.
I'm plenty close as it is, and who really needs the interpretative center where they
tell you it was formed 30 million years ago, etc.... So instead, I spent the admission money on a biker
t-shirt and some stickers.
I stayed there for around 1/2 hour, and then back on the road. As you can see from the above picture,
the weather got better. My next destination is Deadwood, SD. I've heard that it's a cool western
town to visit, so why not. If you haven't guessed yet, it will take me just over an hour to get there.
So I ride back along the road and Interstate that I came down on, and turn off to the highway down
to Deadwood. What a great road, twists and turns, up and down hills, and the best part, not tons of
traffic to get you down. You can enjoy riding. So as soon as I know it, I'm in Deadwood. Since I'm
out of gas, I fill up and take a drive down Main st Deadwood. I hit the public
parking lot, but at $10, so I'll take a chance and try for one of the metered parking spaces. I easily
find one at the other end of town. The nice thing about the meter is that it took your pocket change or
you could download a app. It was one of those old school meters, which made it nice.
Since I have a pocket full of change, a $1 for a hours worth of parking was no problem.
Off the bike and time to do some exploring.
The main drag, which after checking with Google, is actually Main Street
I really liked this store and it's selection. If I wasn't on a bike I would have partaken in the tasting.
Deadwood is one of those few 1880's gold rush towns that has survived. Most towns and cities of this
era have either grown, been abandoned, or caught on fire and burnt down. I'm amazed on how every
thing here has survived from the 1880's
Some more fun t-shirts
Deadwood has two things in excess, old saloons, and Casinos. There has to be 40 or 50 of each!
The charm to Deadwood is it doesn't try and be anything, no fake cowboy's walking the streets, etc
Deadwood is a good little western town to visit. So if your in the area drop by. I head out to the more
modern part of Deadwood for some lunch. Then I'm off to my next destination, Mt Rushmore. Which
as you've guessed, is just a little more than a hour away from Deadwood. That's the attraction of
staying in the Sturgis, Everything is a fun and interesting 1 hour ride away.
This nice little carved tunnel greets you as you come into Keystone. The town (or tourist trap), which
ever way you look at it. So I'm through the town and up to Mt Rushmore. The funny thing that I
didn't know is the presidents are carved at the top of the mountain, and you actually have to drive up
to the top of the mountain.
 |
| Great view though |
It's $10 to park, but it's well organized and there's no waiting for anything. I'm
actually surprised on the lack of crowds, considering it is Saturday. That's the one thing about
traveling in September. No crowds.
I like this pic, even the bike looks clean
It's like going to the Grand Canyon, you can see pictures of it, but you can only understand the scale
of it in person. It is huge.
Damm, didn't see that one coming!
I end up taking the side path down to the sculptors studio. Which is well worth the trip. The funny or
not so funny part is about 90 % of the people visiting today didn't make the trek down.
The plans for the non completed record room at Mt Rushmore.
I want these, so when I get back, I'm going to order them
There are some great views on the way down to the sculptors studio's, and a lot less people
The studio
The not so enjoyable part, lot's and lot's of stairs. I did made back up. Though, I did ask if they had a
shuttle bus to go back up, and it was worth a try. It was a good visit and a enjoyable one.
It's 2:30 pm and I was thinking of heading down to Crazy horse, but since it's on the way to Denver
tomorrow, I decided to head back into Sturgis for one last time and check things out and to see if
more stores were open.
The motocross is in full swing and everyone is enjoying it
Who says that Sturgis is only full of Harleys?
Just a nice VW bug
Finally a ATM with tap, just think, if I forgot my card and needed money, yah!!!
Brought to you by
So now it's off to the auto parts store to purchase the second thing I've forgotten, and that is an
oil filler funnel. 5 days into the adventure and I've only forgotten 2 things, things are getting better.
I also stop by the gas station to fill up, and then back to the motel. I watch another episode of
Pennyworth, which as I writing this, reminds me to download this weeks episode(Done). Then do
some work on the blog, and have some dinner. It's been a long day, so time for bed, Goodnight.
Today's mileage 272 miles or 437 km
Total for trip 1696 miles or 2729 km
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