391 miles today. North Platte, Nebraska to Woodward, Oklahoma.
KSU was 8:00 AM, a little later than normal since it was 54 degrees. Brrr! Bundled up, layered up, buckled up and… eventually it warmed up to around 80 and the layers came off. With the exception of those two massive construction delays , it was, as many folks along the way commented, “a beautiful day for a ride!”
This flagger was quite chatty. But she would not let us put our kickstands down for our FIFTEEN MINUTE delay. She said the blacktop was too soft, so we had to hold the bikes up in the wind. The trucker behind us got out to ask how long, and then made a snide remark about being a female on a construction crew. She ended up switching to our pilot car driver after the wait, of which we were thankful because the other driver was really slow.
It was a super duper wicked windy day…and has been for the past several days.
Tomorrow does not look as promising. For the first time in ten days, it looks like we are heading into a storm. Yikes!
Rapid City, SD to North Platte, Nebraska. On our way home!
We rode on the Gold Rush and Western Trails Scenic Byways and stopped for a brief, cool-off, museum visit in Bayard Nebraska to see the Chimney Rock National Historic Site. The pioneer emigrants used this landmark to navigate the trails. More emigrants wrote about Chimney Rock in their diaries than any other trail landmark. The museum is interactive and pretty cool for being in the middle of nowhere Nebraska. We agreed the entrance fee was our contribution to education. We didn’t walk all the way out to the Rock, as it was very hot and we had on our riding gear, but maybe when we were in our twenties we would have enjoyed the climb!
Me and my riding buddy at Chimney Rock Historical Site
Chimney Rock
After the museum, we rode through some horrible wind. Actually, we rode through strong winds all day. The byways are spattered with idyllic views. In the distance we saw Courthouse Rock (where we are told they used to put criminals on trial) and Jailhouse Rock (where they would hang them). We were on the bikes so I didn’t get a picture of those, but it entertained us nonetheless. I would like to visit them up close, as well as the remains of the pony express and other sites on the byways. This trip is the first we have spent riding through Nebraska and we left much for future trips. It’s a beautiful and historic state!
The bikes got thirsty so we stopped at Sinclair to fill up. It’s a popular gas station in this area, famous for their dinosaur icon. Even the DINO (Apatosaurus or Brontosaurus?) has a unique history. It was fun to see how each Sinclair presents the DINO. We like this local chain as it is clean and all, but they don’t usually have premium gasoline as it is harder to get. We settled for unleaded without ethanol. 🙄
Site seeing around Rapid City, South Dakota. Some people trailer their bikes, then ride around when they get there. Not us. We rode our bikes to South Dakota and then rented a truck 😂😂. It’s not quite the same thing as those trailers. After all, we do ride! But we wanted to see more than we could accomplish in a day on a bike. We went all the places we missed (or didn’t see as completely) when we came here before.
Last time we came through the Black Hills, we pulled over on the motorcycle and took a picture, but we didn’t go in. This time, we went inside and walked all those steps. 😳 My legs were just beginning to feel normal after that climb at Happy Jack’s Peak, so I felt a bit of a burn on the thighs. However, these steps were not nearly as intense as the Peak. Of interest was how the sculptor chose the four presidents according to birth, growth, development, and preservation. We also remembered seeing Nicholas Cage on these same steps in the movie National Treasure: Book of Secrets. Mount Rushmore is an amazing wonder!
After Mount Rushmore we drove through Custer State Park and the Needles Highway (SD-87). The bison had just walked through some wildflowers, so they had a lot of hitchhikers. (No, those aren’t bees LOL). One of my FaceBook friends said she wants to brush the poor thing. I agree; but, I don’t want to get any closer than my camera lens will take me. They did walk right by the car but generally left us alone. We saw lots of wildlife, in addition to the donkeys 😂, one-lane tunnels and magnificent views. We went to Custer State Park last time, but this time we drove on the extra tiny roads. We ended up on the Needles Highway somewhat by accident, but it was well worth the drive! A local told us about an RV who had to drive in reverse all the way back down that mountain, as the tunnels on SD-87 are too narrow and clearance too low. There’s an example of poor planning! I said to Tim multiple times while spinning around the 10 mph hairpin turns and narrow roads cluttered by traffic, “I’m so glad we are not on the bikes!!” Yikes! We had “plenty” of room, but we did fold in the mirrors on that big truck, just in case. A bit claustrophobic at times. To sum it up…Wow! Go there!
Crazy Horse Memorial was a quick stop for a photo but we didn’t go inside to save time. My great-grandmother was Cherokee, so I am always interested in learning more about Native American history. Maybe you know the story about the negotiation for Mount Rushmore. This was the Indian alternative to the other mountain sculpture. They declined government funding. The sculpture is still under construction.
It’s a steam engine, round trip ride to Hill City from Keystone (a very crowded city, so we were glad we didn’t wait until Saturday to do this one). We saw beautiful sites, more wildlife, and smiled at the joy of children on the train reminding us of our grandkids.
We learned lots of fun facts about the Black Hills from the narrators, but our favorite story revolves around “The letter Q.” If you’ve ever wondered why a train does too long whistles followed by a short whistle and another long whistle at the crossings, it is Morse code for the letter Q. Why? Because this was the signal ships would use when the Queen was on board, signifying she had the right of way. This remains the signal at Railroad crossings today, and of course a train always has the right of way. Don’t debate it. 😂 😂 It was a refreshing ride in the warm afternoon.
Our last stop was Bear Country USA. We have never seen so many bears in one place!! I especially loved, loved, loved the bear cubs, and learning the different brown and black bear 🐻 subspecies. We also enjoyed watching the Timberwolves playing. This was a fantastic stop with lots of wildlife on the drive through safari. It was well worth the money. We could not have done that on a motorcycle (not because we wouldn’t, although one might be a bit mental to try it, but because they do not permit it.)
I took many, many pictures! These are only a few. I love ❤️ checking items off my bucket list. I don’t know if I will ever finish the list, but traveling to these great icons and spending time with my honey is such a wonderful treat.
The weather was perfect. Nice and cool, breezy, and sunny. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. 🌞
Day 5 of our 35th Anniversary HOG Ride. From Kearney, Nebraska to Rapid City, South Dakota.
We rode 436 miles today.
The projected storm ended up delayed so we made it all the way to Rapid City where we will stay three or four nights. We road the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway for a couple hundred miles, following the Middle Loup River and a railroad most of the way. Ruins and cemeteries decorated the path, making us wonder if there were any unique tombstones or gravesites of famous locals. This is a pretty cool ride, actually. We saw three out of the 10 “must sees” on the link above. In the spring, sandhill cranes migrate through this area, and the prairie chickens put on a show (apparently). We’ve seen the cranes in Florida, but they are here in abundance so we want to go back in some future spring.
We took the scenic byway all the way to Alliance, which has brick roads downtown for a super cool ride. Tim said he saw some old guy checking me out as I passed by 😂. You can hear me commenting on it in this brief video.
Before leaving Alliance, we stopped at a unique art exhibit called Carhenge (cars painted and put in the ground patterned after Stonehenge) 😂😂, then rode through the Nebraska National Forest and two more scenic byways and on to Rapid City (through miles of construction).
We decided to give our legs a break for a few days. We have seen some of the sights from the road on a previous bike trip, so now we plan to get closer. They only had two options…a 1500 Dodge Ram or a minivan. You can guess which one we picked 😂. We didn’t realize it was missing running boards until Tim had to hoist me in, laughable for sure.
Found a fabulous pizza place before heading back to the hotel. It rivals our favorite pizza joint in Florida. I had the Wisconsin Cheese soup and garlic knots, but Tim’s pizza was some of the best we have tasted. The weather was perfect for outside dining, and again no one seemed too concerned about the coronavirus. Few if any masks out in public. We steered clear of people and kept our faces covered, but it was nice to feel a sense of normal again.
As we were heading to bed the sky lit up and gave us a beautiful show. What a storm!
, it was, as many folks along the way commented, “a beautiful day for a ride!”
She ended up switching to our pilot car driver after the wait, of which we were thankful because the other driver was really slow.
We rode 436 miles today. 
