South Dakota Trip-Day 3

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68 miles

A beautiful day in Rapid City SD. Bright and sunny but somewhat cool with 50 degrees outside. The bed at the Hilton was wonderful but why do hotels use the incredible soft pillows? They kill my neck. We decided to eat at Denny's right near our hotel and got on the bikes. I started mine and it ran for about a minute and then stopped running. Now on my bike I always have to use the choke to start it and keep it running for a little while so Steve accused me of flooding it but I told him I think I was out of gas. I checked my tanks and sure enough, empty. This means I literally rode in on fumes. Fortunately, I hit reserve and was able to get to a gas station. We stopped at Denny's where the service was incredibly slow. What is it about Denny's that the service is slow??? The food was good so I will give them 2 motorcycles for service and 4 for food.

We decided to ride to Mount Rushmore and into Custer State Park. We took Highway 16 out of Rapid City. The views in the Black Hills are spectacular!!! Every second of the trip was a beautiful sight. We stopped in Keystone and enjoyed the small town atmosphere. We went to a leather store (what else would 2 bikers be interested in?) and bought me a small pack for my bike and a really great purse that I know my friend Eve will envy. Steve bought another t-shirt. T-shirts are to Steve what shoes are to me, an addiction😊 We wandered around there for about an hour and then headed onto Mount Rushmore. It was quite chilly out and we had on leather jackets and I had on gloves, I thought it was suppose to be summer. No tanning for me today.

Mount Rushmore is a sight to be seen. The immense size of it and the work that went into creating it are unimaginable! We wandered the grounds and walked up at least a 1000 stairs, I may be over exaggerating but it sure felt that way. We drove through the Peter Norbeck National Scenic byway and got to ride on the pig tail curves, yikes. It was so beautiful at times it would take my breath away. Mother Nature never ceases to amaze me on what she can create with wind, rain, volcanos and earthquakes.

We then circled around and took the Needles Highway, oh my gosh! When we first entered the park I saw a couple of bears on the hill and then about 3 miles down the road, a turkey and her baby chicks was crossing the road but turned around when they heard our Harleys. This is not the ride for anyone who has a fear of heights. The shear height that we climbed is unbelievable.There were times we were so close to the edge of the cliff that I truly worried that one slip and we were goners. We drove through the hole of the needle which is a, narrow one lane tunnel that you need to wait your turn to go through. Right before Steve and I got to the eye of the needle we watched a tour bus go through and wondered how in the world the driver managed to do it. At one point the bus had to back up a little to line up right for the tunnel and looked like he was going to go right off the edge, if I was on that bus I would have been having a heart attack. We ended in Custer around 3 p.m. and had not had lunch yet, did I mention I get cranky when I have not eaten??? I was getting a little snippy with Steve so my loving husband took me to a restaurant called the Baker's Cafe. I had grilled chicken and a salda and presto, happy again. Both the service and food get 4 motorcycles!

We drove past Crazy Horse but decided not to go in based on things we have been told like you have to pay to go in and park and you can see everything from the highway, besides we were getting tired. Though we only went a short way all of the curves and there are a lot of curves on the byways wear a person out. We decided to head back to Rapid City, get some groceries to keep in our room and chill out. The last couple of days we have been riding hard and tonight is about relaxing. Stay tuned for more adventures.

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Photos

Peter Norbeck Byway
Lisa taking a break from the curves.

Needles Highway
Steve sitting down to rest before the eye of the needle tunnel.

Comments

[Your Nephew]

Awsome trip!
Sounds like a blast! Amy and I are going to take all of our indians to see Mt Rushmore in Aug, glad you guys could pre scout the area for us! lol, now when are you going to have Steve write something about the trip? Glad you guys are having a good trip! Looking forward to reading about your next day. Andy

[Anderson Adventures]

Great trip
HI Andy, It is great, wait to you see it, we want to live here it is so beautiful, thanks for reading our blog. Steve lets me do all the writing, isn't he great???