Day 20
Billings, MT to Rapid City, South Dakota
   Miles today = 460
Total miles = 5360		  
     
   
   
   
     
     
   
     
 
In the Badlands Natl. Park about six miles south of Cactus Flat, South Dakota.
  I slept in this morning. I mean—I REALLY slept in this morning. I think the ride is finally catching up with me. I was finally on the road at 11:30 for a quick run around the Black Hills enjoying the sun and 74-degree. Added to the mix was some good music and I was in a nice relaxed mood.
What goes up must come down. The spin around took longer than expected. Mostly due to my sleeping in than it anything else. Though not really scrutinizing the map the night before didn't help. I was going to take the Needles Highway under the advisement of an older couple I met in Billings but once I got there I found out that it is a "fee area" as part of a state park. $12 for about 5 miles was a bit much so I went around to the road the winds its way north directly towards Mt. Rushmore. Along the way are a series of tunnels that perfectly frame the monument. Which also made for some of the tightest turns of the whole trip.
Passing through Custer State Park I saw some Buffalo and people taking pictures of Buffalo. Can't exactly say they are wild since they are fenced in but what I wouldn't give for some small children to have them get good and close for some pictures. I always love the stories of kids who get mauled because their parents want them to get good and close to wild animals for a swell picture to show the grandparents.
Once off that road I headed right for the Badlands. I didn't think that getting a closer look at the monument was necessary after the tunnels. The leaves were close to peak so it was a very good time to be in the Black Hills but I needed to position myself to be able to make St. Paul the next day.
I took the southern larger loop around/through the Badlands. I was following a car from Illinois and we flew through there. It is certainly a desolate area and I was riding the fastest of the whole trip. The sun was still shining and the wind was hitting my right front corner so it was bearable compared to the cross winds I would endure as I headed straight east later in the afternoon.
The Badlands, to me are a sight to behold much more than the Black Hills. The western section was very wide open and the colors were pretty chalky bleached looking but there were some brighter peach, orange and even some yellows in one spot. There hasn't been a spot that resembled outer space as close as what the Badlands looked like. Many of the formations remind me of sand castles that start to loose their shape in the rain.
As I finally swung north to the interstate I passed through a section that passes the closest through the formations. Just a step or two from each side of the roadway you could step onto what looked like the chalky surface but is really a hard surface. Even though I didn't pay for the entrance fee because the station was closed, I did stop in one area to take pictures and "talked" a bit with a gentleman from Austria about my motorbike. It seemed the whole bus of tourists were from Austria and are on a three-week tour from New York to San Francisco. I'm not sure South Dakota is what they had on mind for their tour but I'm sure it’s a rest spot before Yellowstone.
After the Badlands it was hard to resist the Minuteman Silo Park or whatever it was, but I did. It looked like a couple of boxes set up to explain why it was necessary to put nuclear missiles in South Dakota instead of some useless place like Washington DC or the Safeway in Tillamook, Oregon.
I was planning on camping for my last real night on the road. The weather had finally caught up with me so it was warm, but it was not to be. I had lost too much time to camp and have my next day a tolerable ride into St. Paul.
I think I finally hit the interstate around 3:30 pm and finally saw that to the Motel 6 in Mitchell would be a long ride. Plus, out here on the prairie there is no respite from the wind so a hot shower was going to be welcome. To make things harder there is a time zone change and I lost another hour. Which would mean that I was going to ride into Mitchell in the dark, which is okay, I guess, but it is not a way that I like to ride. Too many things you can't see that are just waiting there in the shadows to jump out in front of you while riding innocently along at 75 mph.
The ride itself was marked by an almost constant wind that left me riding at a noticeable angle to compensate for the wind. To make things worse, going over overpasses, for whatever reason, the wind would completely change and it was as if my speed would increase 30 mph for the short distance and then instantly change back. Passing semi trucks required some forethought because I was getting quite a bit of turbulence up to 75 yards or more behind them. I would try and pass them going uphill when they were slowing and the wind was decreased because of the
 
Mt. Rushmore from an overlook on the Iron Mountain Highway.

hills, which coupled to decrease the turbulence of the truck enough to pass it. Which isn't to say that it was an easy thing to do. A time or two lets just say it was as if I was in a tug-o-war between two warring entities and fairly dangerous. But it was better than sitting behind them for however long and to have a faster one come from behind.
The only real highlight other than the frayed nerves was seeing the Missouri river. Every part of the river that I've seen has been really beautiful and wild. I got to this section just after the sun dropped below the horizon so it was getting chilly. At the rest stop at the top of the bluffs on the other side of the river I stopped to take a picture of the sunset and put on my electric vest. For after that I would have at least an hour in the dark.
In Mitchell I rode to the Corn Palace to see what it looked like at night. I was hoping to get a picture but the lights were on it instead of lighting it so the design was hard to see. The downtown was interesting and lots of cars. Made me think that it was Friday night and the cowboys were all in town.
Otherwise, I added Prairie Dogs to my list of animals I saw. Now that I think about it the only other wild animal I saw were the usual birds. I don't know why but apparently the birds out west here are not used to motorcycles because there have been numerous time where they have come out to investigate and I swore they were going to fly into me. I don't think before I've ever had one close call but in the last two weeks it has to be close to a half a dozen times. Once or twice I even ducked. I am quite sure a bird in the helmet at 70 mph could have some serious consequences. The bird most common is one I'll have to look up because I've never seen it before. It’s a black bird with a white V on its back as it flies. Seems to have a long tail so I'll have to put a name to the bird.
To my list of perfect road music would be the live Neko Case show that I downloaded off of the Public Radio site and Bob Dylan's new cd. Dylan's new cd just makes me feel like I'm sitting on the front porch rocking on the swing looking out over the farm, a good sound for the west. Now Neko, well, lets just say I've a bit of a thing for her. It was perfect to keep the wind and darkness at bay.
Tomorrow it’s into St. Paul before the cold hits in a couple days, but it will be a long ride in the gusting wind. I plan on getting off the interstate and run through the back prairies of South Dakota and Minnesota and see more towns I'd heard of growing up but never seen.
And so with that keep warm where you are.

Route: Highway 16 southwest to South Highway 385, to Highway 87, south on Highway 89, to East Highway 16, to Iron Mountain Highway, north to Highway 40 east to North Highway 79 to East Highway 44, to Highway 24 east to East I-90 to Mitchell.
Sunset over the Missouri near Chamberlain, SD.
 
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