So we are off from Custer to see Mt. Rushmore and we took a road I had not yet traveled. And a nice road it was. Spectacular scenery, a few curves, buffalo, more curves, bighorn sheep, deer, a wild turkey, curves, wild burros and more curves. I have seen buffalo here every time but never had I seen wild burros. They stood in the middle of the road and made the traffic go around them. They were absolutely fearless. We stopped for breakfast at a small cafe and were pleasantly surprised at the prices. The prices were low for anywhere but incredibly low for a tourist area. C&C went on to Mt. Rushmore via the direct route while Linda and I took a road that we had never been on so we could see the needle like rock formations. It too was a scenic, curvy road but we saw no wildlife at all. But the rock formations were unique as were the small one way tunnels where there is often a 30-60 minute backlog during the rally in August. When we got to the entrance of Mt. Rushmore we saw Charleen at the entrance waving at us to go past. They were leaving and assumed that we did not want to pay $10 to park and see something that we have seen before. They were right and we were glad to save the money. Then we rode through Rapid City and the city of Sturgis. One reason was so that C&C could say they have been to the cities of the famous Black Hills Rally (often called "trailer week" for the many people who trailer their bikes to the festivities instead of riding). And we were looking for someone who could change Clint's rear tire. Although it was fairly new it did not have the life remaining to finish the trip so I brought another with me. Naturally we could not find anyone to do this on Sunday. We decided to continue on to Gettysburg (where the battle was not fought) and stay the night. There is a Honda dealer there and maybe he could do the job Monday morning. On the way we crossed Lake Oahe which is part of the Missouri River. We would be crossing it a couple of more times tomorrow. We also did not consult our references about towns along our route and had some anxious moments watching our gas guages keep dropping with no towns in sight. At Gettysburg we debated between camping at a small private trailer park or taking a motel. Clint has been fighting a sore throat so we decided on the motel. The owner gave us all the supplies to clean our bikes which really needed it as we had ridden through a hundred miles of grasshoppers. 330 miles.
Buffalo Family
Dannenberg Family
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