Touristy stuff

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Chuck had joined us from Oregon. He was taking care of his sister's dogs and thus couldn't ride out here, but he was able to jump in her car and join us (with the dogs). While we rode he spent time with the canines in various places and we all enjoyed beer and stuff. He slept in the car with the pooches.

Bill is excited about the Needles!

Another morning, another night with snorers. It promised to be a hot day, so we had decided to ride in the black hills, which has a higher elevation and thus was a little cooler. Breakfast was again taken at the KOA, and since some of us had a slow start the other group went into Custer for some cheap coffee, where we met them as we proceeded on our ride.

Stoic Tim

First up was the Crazy Horse monument. I couldn't discern any progress since my last visit here a few years ago so we skipped it and proceeded into Custer State Park. We paid our dues and entered, and the first stop was the Needles Highway. These metamorphic rock formations are part of the Black Hills dome which has been lifted then eroded, exposing the granite.

Next stop was the wildlife loop, and on the way there we got our first view of bison, then a bunch of mules.

Bill points at animals.

But the twistiest road was Iron Mountain Road. Before we were allowed to enjoy this we had to wait for a herd of buffalo to cross the road. At one point, a minivan was blocking their progress and it appeared that it would proceed through Thor's motorcycle ... but then it changed its mind and went around the minivan instead. Phew!

Iron Mountain Road. This would be a great road if it weren't for two things: Poeple and speed limits. Most of it is 35 mph and I would agree that this is appropriate for the corners. These are very tight corners, leading into one-lane tunnels and wooden pigtail bridges. But the problem is that there are other people on this road traveling at far lower speeds, and in particular Harley's who stop in the middle of the road or pull onto the road without checking to see whether someone was coming.

Bill points at other animals.

In Keystone we stopped for a BBQ, and chatted with a group of sportbikers, one of which was from the UK and brought along his girlfriend from Hillsboro, OR. They clued us in on the "good" section of Nemo Road to the east, which I had never been on.

A couple of us zoomed up to the Rushmore monument to get a photo from the side of the road ... while admittance is free, there is a concession parking facility which charges $12/vehicle. We felt that was too steep and thus admired it from the side of the road before returning to Keystone.

Nemo Road was on our list of trip highlights, but a couple of us felt it was time to retire for the day, so we split up. One group went back to the KOA, the rest of us hit up Nemo Road. Apparently there was a miscommunication on how much of Nemo Road we wanted to do, as I lead the group to the eastern end and was about to do the turnaround to ride the western end, half of our remaining group decided to split and head back to Custer. To be honest ... there are some nice sweepers on the east side of Nemo Road, but the speed limit of 35 mph was stupid, and the pavement leading up to it was crappy. The rest of us proceeded to enjoy the much better western end of it. At the termination of the road, Mark and Brett went north to Deadwood and I went south to the KOA.

Once at the KOA, and not yet having found dinner, and being somewhat low on beer, Paul, Amanda, Rob and I went to the local brewpub. While chatting with the bartender (who teaches archeology during the school year) and bartenderette (who wants to get into the restaurant business and once lived in Apple Valley, MN) we had a few of their brews on tap. Eight of them, in fact, in 4-oz servings, and some weren't week. That was followed up by a trip to the local pie shop which we had spied each time we went through town, and yes, the pie was excellent! In fact, it was so good that Paul and Rob molested the pig ... although I suspect the beer was the primary culprit that lead to that. Amanda and I maintained our dignity ....