Deadwood,SD... We're having a hard time leaving South Dakota. Weather has been pretty good out here. Fantastic today - Sunny and in the 70s today, even up high in the mountains.
In the Black Hills, Needles Highway (Rt 87 between Custer and Mount Rushmore), is spectacular - one of the most scenic roads I've ever driven. Double hairpin turns, single lane tunnels, and "pigtails" - bridges that loop over themselves to create a corkscrew effect for elevation changes. It goes to 6,000 feet and it was warm despite the time of the year. Most road conditions are good, and although this road would be better on a dual sport, the other roads would equal any in the east. Met up with riders (we're not far from Sturgis) who come for bike week on sport bikes, touring bikes, and DS. Several of them said they don't even bother going into Sturgis.
We're now a day behind my original loosely formed schedule - planned on being 400 miles farther west by now, but it's been hard to let go of South Dakota. We'll see Devil's Tower tomorrow and try to be in Yellowstone area by the end of the day. I've been making hotel reservations by stopping as the sun goes down, switch my phone to wireless hotspot, and pick an available hotel with Orbitz. We spent 3 nights in Wisconsin with daughter and grandsons; saw the eclipse from their back yard.
Wisconsin surprised me with some real (not very big) mountains in the west, southern Minnesota was predictably flat but still had rolling hills and then the trees start to disappear as you drive SD east to west (although the Black hills have plenty. We were in the Badlands (another neat drive) and saw pronghorn antelopes, and had just seen a prairie dog town and were excited by that, then we drove around the next corner and saw a flock of Bighorn sheep crossing the road, grazing alongside the car, looking at us... wow. No buffalo spotted yet. Grass is still green out here and there are still late flowers blooming.
.. I wonder how long we will stay in Utah....
Many thanks to all who gave suggestions. All were good. Didn't stop at all of them, but there's always another year.....
On 9/21/2015 2:26 AM, Mike Frey mike21b@... [DSN_KLR650] wrote:
I put NKLR in the subject line because we'll be in my wife's 2000 Chrysler Concorde, driving it back to its homeland in central CA after holding it hostage in PA for 12 years. Looking for suggestions on what to see while driving through the mountain states. I'm not looking for dual sport type roads, this car is a boulevard cruiser, not well suited for twisties We're going straight to Waukesha for the family visit (they will then join us 2 weeks later in CA) Since we are leaving familiar ground behind as soon as we head west out of WI, We'll be playing tourist through South Dakota and the remaining states, re-entering familiar ground after Reno - if we go that way - or Vegas, if we take a southern route through Utah. At what point does the landscape really change in western SD? Any good scenic highways through the Badlands and Black Hills areas, or should we just stay on the interstate and take side diversions as we see the opportunity? Then, Wyoming. Weather permitting, we plan on going through Yellowstone and then turning in a southerly direction, deciding somewhere around Salt Lake City whether to take I-80 towards Reno / Tahoe, or continuing south through Utah, going into CA at the southern end of the Sierras. We lean towards the National Park areas of southern Utah. I've never been to SD, WY, or UT, other than flying over or airport stops, and I'd like to read some suggestions on what to see. and where to go. There is also a mothballed 1996 KLX-650 waiting for me in CA, it has less than 1,000 miles on it and this bike will eventually be back in PA - or I'll ride my ready-to-go 2006 KLR across the country, but that probably won't be until spring. No point in keeping 2 bikes in CA since I am still out there only 20 or so days out of the year. Mike
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