Day 20 - Keystone - Sloan

Day twenty of our trip, last touring day, after Badlands National Park we will be making a straight line home and try to get back to New Jersey as soon as possible but today we still have beautiful places to visit.
We spent the night in Keystone at the Rushmore View Inn, next to the Grizzly Creek Gourmet Burgers & Spirit where the previous night I had dinner.  Keystone is a small town in the Black Hills of South Dakota with a population of less than 500.  We leave the motel and head to Peggy's Place, just a few hundred yards away, for breakfast.  We have the usual fare, 2 eggs, bacon, home fries accompanied by toast and coffee.  With our hunger satisfied, we hit the road and head up the hill towards Mount Rushmore.

Less than half a mile up the road we pull off when we see a perfect place to snap a few pictures of Mount Rushmore.  The place is so perfect that we decided right there not to bother going into the park but continue up the hill going around the monument and continue our trip by going straight to Custer.  The view from the highway is the same as from inside the park and we couldn't waste too much time anyway.

We go around Mount Rushmore on route 244 and continue south through the beautiful Black Hills ponderosa pines forest merging into route 385 south towards Custer.   The town is generally considered to be the oldest established town and the "mother city" of the Black Hills of South Dakota.  The site of one of the major encampments of the Black Hills Expedition of Brevet Major General (a largely ceremonial title, his official rank was Lt. Colonel) George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry in 1874. (Wikipedia)

We park our bikes near the Steaks & Ribs Place located in the "First National Bank of Dakota Territory" building.  The Bank was established 8 years before South Dakota became a state.  The exterior and interior of the building has remained much the same as it was originally.  We spend some time walking around town admiring the old establishments.  I love the little western towns, they appear so peaceful and much calmer than the busy and always rushing towns of the east coast.

We leave Custer and head east through Custer State Park on route 16 taking route 79 north towards Rapid City where we get on Interstate 90 and continue east towards Badlands National Park.  We stop a little later in a place I cannot recall the name to rest and have a drink.  I snap a picture of the local fauna and sit down to chat with a young lady, very shy, she didn't say much.

One of the most interesting creatures of South Dakota is a mythical animal of North American folklore, the Jackalope, a so-called "fearsome critter" described as a jackrabbit with antelope horns or deer antlers and sometimes a pheasant's tail.  Jackalope legends are sometimes used by locals to play tricks on tourists.

We continue east reaching the entrance to Badlands National Park midday.  I had been looking forward to visiting this scenic park because it's such a strange land, the rugged terrain offering spectacular views. I was in awe when we made our first stop.  The almost unnatural landscape disappearing into the distance as far as the eye could see.

We continue down the road passing amazingly colorful rock formations as I continue to snap photo after photo of the almost lunar looking landscape.  It's a very surreal scene and at the same time peaceful, the roads almost deserted with an eerily quietness.

The now obligatory shot

We stop again a little later and I see a sign warning us of rattlesnakes, we didn't see any.  It was a very hot day and it felt better whenever we were moving, we continue through the park stopping at the visitor center to buy stickers for our bikes and buy some cold bottled water. 

We cover around 40 miles through the park and then return to Interstate 90 near Cactus Flat, we then proceed east now through the Buffalo Gap National Grassland. Interstate 90 is pretty much flat and straight as an arrow.  We pass Kadoka as we leave the Grassland. 

The next 120 miles are uneventful and we make good time stopping for a late lunch at Al's Oasis Restaurant on the west side of the Missouri River near Oacoma town. There are a few restaurants and stores, an Old Trading Post and the First Dakota National Bank on site. The perfect rest area along Interstate 90 on the edge of the river.

We have a quick lunch and then hit the road crossing the Missouri River.  The touring part of the trip being over, we were now in cruising mode as we were trying to cover as much ground as possible.  We continue on I90 until Sioux Falls then take I29 south passing Sioux City later in the evening and then with the sky threatening rain we quickly find a motel in Sloan, Iowa and stop for the night.

Missouri River

We covered 535 miles of beautiful hills, forest, semi-desert and just plain out of this world land in the Badlands National Park.  A long day but also a short day as there's always so much to see.  A beautiful last day on the touring part of our trip, soon we will be home with the family but before we get home we still have to cover a little over 1300 miles and my brother's BMW needs a new tire.

Day 19 - Worland - Keystone

We have been on the road for 18 days, we have covered many miles through this beautiful land and yet it feels like we just left New Jersey a few days ago, we get up and are ready to hit the blacktop, spirits up and full of energy day after day.
We leave the motel and after a short ride through town find the Rams' Horn Cafe, we quickly park our bikes and go inside for a full breakfast.  We had been hungering for a full breakfast of eggs, bacon, home fries and toast and the Rams' Horn Cafe didn't disappoint us even though the service was a little slow.

We leave Worland and head east on route 16 towards Ten Sleep, a tiny town with a population of less than 500. Ten Sleep was an American Indian rest stop, so called because it was 10 days travel, or “10 sleeps,” from Fort Laramie (southeast) or Yellowstone National Park (west-northwest).  The road just out of Worland offers us some spectacular views, a landscape filled with weird looking rocky and colored sandy hills.  This land never ceases to amaze me with its beauty.  Every day is a new surprise.

A few miles later as we approach Ten Sleep we pass farms with beautiful lush green fields providing a beautiful contrast against the reddish colored hills in the background.

It's a complete change of scenery as we approach Big Horn National Forest, the road now winding and climbing through a rocky terrain, a beautiful canyon with majestic rocky hills.  The forest is named after the Bighorn River, which is partially fed by streams found in the forest.

A little later we pull off when we see Meadow Lark Lake.  We take a quick rest and pause to admire the beauty and serenity of the lake and its surrounding area.

We continue east through the park towards Buffalo where we pick Interstate 90 and then it's a quick dash of 70 miles on the slab until we reach Gillette.  We get off the Interstate and head south on route 59 towards Wright and the Thunder Basin National Grassland, located between the Big Horn Mountains and the Black Hills to the east.  Further down the road we take route 450 east and travel through another 70 miles of mostly deserted roads until we reach Newcastle.

We reach Newcastle with our stomachs rumbling, it was time for lunch.  We see Donna's Main Street Diner and quickly head there when we notice the "Home Style Cookin" sign.

With our bodies replenished we leave Newcastle on route 16 and head towards South Dakota and the Black Hills National Forest.  The forest's ponderosa pines are a nice change of scenery.

Our next stop is at the Crazy Horse Memorial, a mountain monument under construction in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in the form of Crazy Horse, an Oglala Lakota warrior, riding a horse and pointing into the distance.  We enter the memorial park and head towards the visitor center but were a little disappointed that we could not go near the mountain, instead having to look at the carving from at least half a mile away.

We go inside the visitor center and spend some time reading about the history of Crazy Horse and The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as Custer's Last Stand.  I find the history and battles of the Indian tribes against each other and the United States Army fascinating.  As a kid I loved reading cowboys and indians stories.  The visitor center is a beautiful wooden structure decorated with Indian artifacts and pictures.

The monument has been in progress since 1948 and is still far from completion.  If completed, it may become the world's largest sculpture.  I doubt I will ever see it completed at the rate it's moving.  We leave the memorial and head towards Mount Rushmore National Memorial.  We take the last picture of the day by the sign because by the time we reach Keystone the top of the mountain is covered in fog and we can't see the monument.  We head towards Keystone where we quickly find a motel and decide to call it a day.  I later walk into a local restaurant and end the day with a sandwich and a cold one.

We covered 340 miles from Worland, Wyoming to Keystone, South Dakota.  We visited two National Forests and the Thunder Basin National Grassland.  Another amazing day with good weather and beautiful scenery. Tomorrow will be our last touring day, we will visit Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park and then we start our trek back to New Jersey.