Our Adventures in South Dakota....

August 26 - September 5, 2016

Left Cheyenne, WY and got to the Black Hills the same day.  We stayed in Keystone, SD (pop. 347) Pictures of Keystone, SD 2016 and camped at Holy Smoke RV Park.
Holy Smoke RV Park.
This was really a nice little park about 5 miles from Mt. Rushmore, National Park Service Mount Rushmore.  We took some really cool rides while we were here.

More Pictures of Mt. Rushmore, SD

We rode to Sturgis, SD (pop. 6,883) & Deadwood, SD (pop. 1,270).

Sturgis, Sturgis Website, was just a dinky little town.  Maybe 1 stop light at the most.  I think the biggest business there was the Harley dealership.  We were there the week after the rally (thank God!)  The population in this little 2 horse town grows to over 1/2 million people for this one week!  I don't even like a crowded elevator!  We've been to Bike Week in Daytona Beach, several times.  This is a much, much larger city (pop. 61,000) and they get around 1/2 million people for this!  There's a lot more room to put that many people!

Deadwood, Deadwood Website, on the other hand was an old, national historic landmark.  The cemetery, Mount Moriah Cemetery, is where Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, as well as other notable wild west outlaws are buried.
There's a museum, plenty of gaming halls & casino's, a gold mine and quite a few places to eat & shop. 
The HBO series, Deadwood, was based on this little town.  When talking to some of the local's, they said that HBO spent quite a bit of time there doing research on the true history as well as the original saloon where Wild Bill was shot.  The series buildings were modeled after the buildings in town.  Pretty cool.

We took a ride through Custer State Park, South Dakota Custer State Park.  Beautiful!  We came across a herd of about 200 wild bison.  We had to stop as they walked across the rode...coming very, very close to my bike.  I think I might have shit a little in my jeans.  I didn't move!  They just meandered by in no hurry at all!
Georgie took a ride the next day by himself (I didn't mind a little "alone time").  He called after being gone an hour or so and could hardly speak.  He had been almost trapped by 1000 or so bison!  He said one stopped right in front of his bike and just gave him the hairy eyeball!  He wasn't sure what to do.  It finally walked off but left him a little nervous.


 

 

Pictures of Custer State Park, SD 

We rode Needles Highway, Black Hills Needles Highway, part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway, Highway 87.  This road was way too cool!  Only motorcycles or small cars could fit through some of the tunnels...like threading a needle.

More Needles Highway...

 

Also on our list of rides there was Iron Mountain Road (16A), http://www.allblackhills.com/scenic_drives/iron_mountain_road.php.  It was part of Custer State Park.

Our Time in Cortez, CO...so far!

Friday, July 15, 2016

Arrived at La Mesa RV Park in Cortez, CO (pop. 8,500) about 4 pm. 

 
What a nice park.  No pool but we don’t need one.  Staying 17 days.   We set up in about ½ hour.  They have a Safeway & City Market (Kroger) as well as a Super Walmart.  They also have quite a few “weed stores” (as Georgie puts it).  You can easily spot them…they have a large green cross outside.  Georgie made sure this was our 1^st stop!  That’s all I heard from him the last 2 days of our drive here.

Since it’s legal here I decided I could smoke some.  Yea, well!  We were laughing SO hard.  I was laughing so hard I started to fall backwards.  I grabbed the edge of the counter…and ripped it off…on my way down to the floor!  Great!  Of course this was just one more thing to laugh about!  Old people and dope…what can I say. 

Saturday, July 16

Unloaded the Harley’s.   Cleaned the garage.  Took a nap…a long nap…because we can.

Sunday, July 17

Had to take Annie to the Emergency Vet in Durango (pop. 17,800), Riverview Animal Hospital.  

 

 

 

 

 

Found a nice restaurant where we could eat outside so Tori could be with us, Ska Brewery.  I think they have the best hamburgers we have ever eaten!

Monday, July 18

Hung out around here.  Did some laundry.  Took a drive to see the town.

 

Tuesday, July 19
Rode the Harley’s to Four Corners Monument-90 miles round trip.  Stopped at Ute Mountain Casino on the way there.  A lot of penny slots.

 

Wednesday, July 20

Back to Durango.  Annie had to get her bandages changed.  Made reservations at Alpen Rose RV Park for Aug 1-8.

Thursday, July 21

Rode out to Dolores (pop. 953) through Mancos (pop. 1,360).

Friday, July 22

Rode back to Dolores.  Had really good pizza at Riverfront Bar & Grill.  Sat out on the deck, right on the Delores River. 

Saturday, July 23

I stayed home to do some things around the house.  Georgie road to Dolores.  He rode through San Juan National Forest.  Was only gone about 2 hours. 

We’ll take a drive up there some evening before dark.  Georgie thinks we’ll see a lot of wild life.

 

Sunday, July 24

Back again to Durango for Annie’s check up.  Got her bandages off but now has to wear her Cone of Shame ALL THE TIME!

Elevation in Silverton

Silverton

 Drove up to Silverton (pop. 629).  What a SCARY drive!  Rt. 550 is called The Million Dollar Rd.  We hit a deer as we came around a curve.  Most of the road has no shoulder, just a looooong drop off.   No guardrails!  Silverton doesn’t have any fast food places BUT…they have at least 1 “weed store”.  We decided that since Annie will have to go to the Vet at least 1 more time we’d stay another week in Durango and ride the Harley’s up to Silverton.

 

On the way back from Silverton

Monday, July 25

Rode the Harley’s to Mesa Verde National Park.  What a beautiful ride!  Lots of switch-backs but there were guardrails so not too bad…for me.  About  50 miles round trip.

 

There are a lot of places to stop.  As far back as 800 AD the Pueblo Indians built and lived in the Cliff Dwellings.  

 

Tuesday, July 26

Started to wax the rig.  This is going to be a big job.  We’ll do a little at a time.  It was somewhat overcast today so was a good day to do this.

Dropped the bedroom clicker beside the bed.  On my side there is a small space between the bed and the floor so the slide can go in and out.  The clicker fell down in that small space.  We had to take the strip of wood off Georgie’s side then slide the broom handle all the way across to push the clicker up where I could reach it.  Georgie was in charge of putting the strip of wood back.  He’s getting so handly!

We fixed the emergency window latch.  It broke on the drive here.   We ordered a new one.

Getting the Harley's Strapped Down...

Well...we must be just plain stupid!  We had strapped our bikes in the garage several times.  Each time George's bike would tilt even though it was tied down tight each time...or so we thought!

As you know, it's possible to find anything & everything on YouTube.  I watched tons of video's on "How to load & tie down a bike".  They were all basically the same and appeared to be the same way we were loading & tying down. 

Then I started watching video's on "How to use ratchet straps".  (George wouldn't watch them.  He said, "you watch them & tell me what they said")  We could get them tight but when it came time to loosen them...that was a whole different story.  We just couldn't!

I found DirtFarmerJay's video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0r16xOkVJZQ.  He shows how to use ratchet straps & how to loosen them.  Viola!  We did EXACTLY what he said to do.  Those bikes aren't going anywhere!

We put 2 strips of ETrack  down for George's bike.  It weighs about 875 lbs.  This would give us more options to secure his bike.  Mine only weighs about 525 lbs so the D Rings on the floor worked fine.

Live and learn...again!

Alley...watching everything we're doing.
She's ready to go for a ride!