Oregon, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, etc

[pdedse]

The Beartooth pass cannot be beat. Great ride.

Thanks Elipten, it is indeed spectacular.

Day 3: Billings to Buffalo, WY: 363 miles via Beartooth pass
Day 4: Buffalo to Chamberlain, SD: 496 miles via Devil's Tower, Black Hills and Badlands, below...

I woke up in Buffalo not really knowing what the landscape looked like having arrived at night. Got an early Sunday morning start, on hiway 90 and basically had the pavement to myself. Stopped for no reason other than to appreciate the complete lack of noise other than the wind blowing. Waited about 7,8 minutes for a car to pass...arg, the traffic!!


After Gillette and at Moorcroft, veered north on 14 to finally see the star of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"--Devil's Tower!


Didn't feel the need to pay the park entrance fee to ride around it, so snacking here was good enough


Then it was back to 14 doing an arch to return to 90. In retrospect, I could have headed for Rushmore at Sundance, but I had never been to Sturgis, even though I knew the party was already over. Maybe more motorcycles were around than the average town, but nothing special going on here.


Time to head south for the Black Hills and Rushmore.
Out of Sturgis by 1pm and headed south on Vanocker Canyon Rd. Somehow even with I-phone maps I got mixed up and maybe missed a turn for Rushmore, started heading back to 90 and Rapid City, SD. By this time it was getting quite warm and I started thinking that I'm either going to have time for Rushmore, or the Badlands, but not both, unless I wanted to slow down and spend the night in Rapid City. Between the two, I knew that the Badlands appealed to me more, so I headed east knowing that I left Rushmore for another ride. Within the hills...

The Badlands! A painfull place to visit for those who like taking pictures! Literally, every curve offered up worthy photo opps.
Badlands continued


I went a little photo happy here, but it's a good place to do that. It's about a 40 mile loop from 90 to Badlands and then back, but crazy fun curves and lookouts


A few more shots of the Badlands before heading north back to hiway 90

Another person taking photos to give some perspective


A little closer

And that felt like enough photos, and then it was time to enjoy the curves!

I would have loved to get off 90 and meander through and along the less traveled roads, but I also thought that I wanted to make distance to actually spend some time with my mom and family in different states, so on 90 it was time to get it going, staying about 80-85 for several hours till I reached Chamberlain for the night. Not sure why hotels were expensive there, but the cheapest I could find was around $100. Still, I was happy to have seen what I did and didn't fret about Rushmore.