Is this Heaven? No, it's South Dakota.

If you ever plan to visit the whole Black Hills region of South Dakota this map is going to be your best friend. The Road Trip loops highlighted on it are some of, if not the best roads you'll ever put under your bike.

You can see it full sized at their website

http://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/home/planyourtrip/maps/mapdetails

They have big "pads" of these at almost every place in the "Hills" and they're free for the taking. Uncle Bob sez, "Git one!"

Some of this will be out of sequence with earlier posts because Beckie posted a bunch and I'm just now getting around to putting my two cents worth in so if you've already read what she had to say now you get the view from Ol' Bob's side of the ride.



Cool neon! This is a steakhouse / roadhouse in Belle Fourche, S.D. Great steaks, friendly folks, and a very cool neon sign.

When we last met Ms. Beckie and I had just spent the night enjoying a real bed, a private bathroom, and air conditioning. Not that Der Dawghaus isn't reasonably comfortable but a break now and then to savor modern convenience is nice. Our motel was a survivor from the U.S. highway glory days and the current owner has done a nice job of updating the place without destroying the "cool factor" of an old motel. They had decorated it in a "western" theme that while bordering on cheesy (I like cheesy) was still fun. Best of all it was clean, the WiFi worked, as did the airconditioning, and it was cheap. An important consideration if you're not independently wealthy trying to do a month long road trip.




A biscuits and gravy breakfast at a local diner then we were on the road, again.



Have I mentioned that all of the pictures are scalable so if you want to see it bigger, just click on the pic. It will magically enlarge for you. Cool, huh?

Headed down U.S. 85 toward Spearfish. Picked up U.S. 14A on the other side of town and entered the "Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway." This is the "Northern Hills" loop on the Black Hills map. Without a doubt it's 75 miles of incredible beauty. We stopped at nearly every observation stop, and there are dozens of them. Bridal Veil Falls was one of the more incredible sights.




It's enough to say that if you're driving these roads you'll want to stop often. It's also safe to say that, if you aren't careful, even the most jaded among you will be so distracted by the surroundings that you might just drive off the road. I recommend stopping often.

We took 14A through Lead and into Deadwood, then aimed south on U.S. 385 toward Custer City. It'd start to get redundant to exclaim how magnificent the scenery is but I gotta say, it really is. My only disappointment at that moment was that I was driving the Dearborn Locomotive and not sailing on my Red Sled Electra Glide. This is a lot of road just begging for your ass to be on your bike. Like i said before I put the roads around the Black Hills up to any I've ever ridden and I've ridden some of the best biking roads in the world. Save the overseas airfare and point yer putt up North!




Now if you were tooling along down a beautiful, mountain road and you came across these signs, you'd just have to stop, wouldn't you? I sure as hell did!




The "Prairie Berry" winery outside of Hill City, S.D.. With wines such as "Red Ass Rhubarb" and "3 Red Necks" you just know this is a Maddawg kind of place. We pulled into the parking lot (I'll skip over the part about finding that the back lot was full and it didn't go around the building so Cap'n Bob had to back the Dawgmobile and trailer out of a twisty, turney parking lot full of expensive German imports)(Ok, I won't skip it. I was magnificent in my skilled backing of said vehicle out of a tight spot fraught with insurance cancelling impacts just inches away. No, really, I was just plain baddass! Really...)

Where was I? Oh, yea! The winery!

So, we park the 'Haus and head inside for a tasting. Pretty typical of winery tastings except more designed for a large, fast moving crowd. And the wine? While I know the difference between good wines and even know what wines are supposed to go with which foods, I really don't care about convention. I like what I like and my taste runs toward MD 20/20 (go figure, right?) and Boones Farm. All of that bullsquash aside, this is really good wine. The Redass is rhubarb based, kind of sweet but not syrupy. And the 3 Rednecks is as good an American Cabernet Sauvignon as you'll find anywhere. We buy a few bottles to take home and some souvenirs and we're on our way.

you'll find them online at www.prairieberry.com

Just south of Hill City you'll begin see signs for the Crazy Horse Memorial. Coming from the northern side you won't see it until it's in your rear view mirrors but when you do you'll want to stop and turn around. Even from five miles away this carving is gigantic. We were going to keep heading on to our next camping spot but, still, we just had to stop and take it in. Whetted out appetite for the next days riding adventure.




It's getting late in the day and we still have a bit of a drive left so we press on through Custer City. Ms. M notes that this touristy little burg has a number of Indian shops and other Western type spots so we put stopping there on our agenda for tomorrows ride back to Crazy Horse.

Another thirty or fourty miles on through the town of Hot Springs and we find out next stop, the Hot Springs KOA. Those of you who RV camp, including them thar motorcycle pulled pop ups, know how hard it is to find a really nice campground near a major tourist area. They know they'll get business because of their location so they don't put as much effort into maintenance and upkeep. Not so with our newest hosts. So far, this is the nicest, cleanest place we've parked. It's a bit to the south for you Sturgis bound folks (if you're going to Sturgis, you stay at the 'Chip anyway, right?)but for any other visit to the Black Hills this is close enough and convenient to the many road trip loops as well as the big stops at Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore. The Ol' Dawg gives it all five pointy fingers on his rating scale.



I'm just amazed at all of the old iron still on the road around here. Not rusted to death and when they're for sale the prices are usually reasonable. Many are still daily drivers. Just old cars instead of "rare and collectable, only $50K and it's yours!" I have to come back here when I have some bucks to spend on my next project car.



We set up camp and call it a day. Weather calls for t-storms all day tomorrow, which will suck most heinously. I don't care, though, I need some two wheel time come rain or shine.

Tomorrow it's up on two and off to see a big Indian.

later, sportsfans!

Bob