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.

Finally...I will be updating this blog in the next week.

Well...there's a lot to talk about.  I have been very, very bad not updating this.  We didn't have very good internet connections (we will be looking into this in the next few months) plus we have just been going & doing non-stop.
Since we left Cheyenne, WY we have been to:
-South Dakota
-Illinois
-Pennsylvania
-Virginia
-Back to Florida for 3 months now.

Cheyenne, WY...a Quaint "Little" Town...

Friday, August 19 to August 26, 2016

Made it to Cheyenne, WY.  Only a 3 ½  hour drive from Colorado Springs.  We stayed at the “famous” Terry Bison Ranch for a week.  http://www.terrybisonranch.com

 

We saw Bison, Camels, Antelope & Deer.  They have a great Steakhouse there as well as Tombstone Café that serves breakfast and lunch.

Cheyenne (population 64,000) isn’t a big city.  It has a small town feel.  There is a historic downtown that’s pretty cool.

 

There’s an old Union Pacific train station that is now Accomplice Beer Company.  http://www.accomplicebeer.com

 

A lot of the original floors and walls are still there.  The Union Pacific train runs right behind here.  While we were there 5 trains passed.  3 of them stopped to change train engineers.

There is a state museum.  http://wyomuseum.state.wy.us

 

We spent a couple of hours there.  We didn’t realize there was so much history in Wyoming.  They found dinosaur bones.  A lot of them.  As well several Indian tribes, cowboys, etc.

We took Tori & Annie swimming at Lion’s Park  http://www.cheyenne.org/listing/lions-park/60

 

It was 59 degrees out.  (not sure of the water temperature)  I thought I was going to have to go in and get them.  We’d call them, they’d get close to shore, then out they’d go again!  They swam for about 45 minutes and loved it.

We went somewhere every day.  There was always somewhere to go and something different to see.

Our Ride up Pike's Peak....What an Unexpected Adventure!

 

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

 

 

We left Cripple Creek on our way to Cheyenne, WY.  Coming down the mountain from Cripple Creek, Rt 24, is kind of a harrowing experience.  Georgie downshifted but still had to use the brakes pretty regularly. 

 

Big Horn Sheep we saw on our way down the mountain

It took us about 1 1/2 hours to go 45 miles, to Colorado Springs.  We smelled something but thought it was someone in front of us because our windows were up.  I rolled my window down...it was us doing some serious smoking.

Georgie pulled over on the shoulder...yep...our brakes were SMOKIN'!!

We waited a while for them to cool off 'cause Georgie got under the truck and put the Infrared Temperature Gun on the brakes...280 DEGREES!  Those suckers were really hot!

He said, "Find a Ford Dealer.  We are getting new brakes."  I found a dealer about 5 miles away.  He then said, "Find a campground for a few days."  I found a campground about 2 miles away for 3 days.  (kind of a dive, Fountain Creek RV Park) but it served our purpose.

We pulled in, got unhooked and Georgie went to the Ford Dealer.  He came back with an appointment for the next day at 7:30 am.  Wheeewwww!





 

 

Since we were too far in Cripple Creek to go to Pike's Peak we decided, "Hell!  We're only 10 miles from there now!  Let's ride it!"

 

 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

 





So we did!  What a thrill! 

We left at 9:30 am and got to the top at 11:30 am.  It was 70 degrees when we left but we still wore our leather jackets.  We were SO glad we did!  It got colder & colder as we went up.  By the time we got to the top it was 42 degrees.  We were FREEZING our asses off!

We got some hot chocolate, bought a few small souvenirs, peed, took some amazing pictures then headed down. 

Georgie said it was more thrilling than riding up The Million Dollar Highway to Silverton & Ouray.  Most of the switchbacks were marked 10 mph...I went 5 mph 'cause most didn't have guardrails! 

Of course I had to talk to myself out loud...again.  A lot of HOLT SHIT! and YOU GOTTA BE F'ING KIDDING ME! as well as REALLY!  All while trying to keep Georgie (the pro) in sight.  He was pretty good...he'd tap his brakes if he went around a corner that I should slow down for.  He obviously didn't know...I WAS SLOWING DOWN FOR EACH & EVERY CORNER!

On the way up some smartass on a BMW passed me!  On a curve!  Those f'ing bikes are too quiet!  I didn't even hear him.  I only saw him when he went whizzing by me!

Another thrill of a lifetime!

 

We picked up the truck when we got back to town.  Georgie decided to have 4 new tires put on the rear & get an oil change.

We were ready to head out Friday morning for Cheyenne, WY.

What a great, unexpected stop!