Mt. Rushmore and more

The day started out with a nice breakfast at a local American Legion Post. Then we went to see Mt. Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument that is still under construction. We rode about 150 miles in the Black Hills that also took us to Custer City and Hillside. The finishing touch to the day's ride was to Dinosaur  Park up on a peak in Rapid City. 

A nice breakfast was served here.

Avenue of flags

Mt. Rushmore

Bruce, Jim, Kim, Frank

Crazy Horse monument

Lots of bikes in the parking lot

A spot along Needles Highway just before a one way tunnel

Eye of the needle

Bikes waiting to get through a one way tunnel

It wasn't as easy to get up here as it was 52 years ago

Still kids at heart.

Loud pipes saving lives

We all made it to Sturgis in fine order me, Bruce, Frank and Kim. Steve opted to continue on towards home. All the tents are set up and now it's time for a little rest.

To see more pictures and read more narration of the Sturgis trip click on the button to the right for Frank and Kim's blog

Another state line crossed

Steve waving so long

Kim and Frank setting up their tent

Bruce setting up his tent

Home sweet home for a week

Cody to Buffalo

I'm hard pressed deciding whether or not yesterday's Beartooth Pass or today's ride is number one on my list. Today's ride on highway 14A from Cody to Dayton and then 16 from Ten Sleep to Buffalo were different types of roads than Beartooth Pass where even though the speed limit was still a fast 65mph the corners were fairly long sweepers so you could "usually" maintain top speed + going through them. There were plenty of passing zones so getting behind campers or clusters of Harley's wasn't too much of an annoyance.

We ended the day checking out motel prices in Buffalo but with this being a summer tourist town and all the Sturgis partiers coming through the room prices were out of our budget so we opted for another night of camping. This campground has nice grassy areas for tents and I was able to catch up on my laundry. 

Steve and I will split up I'm the morning with me heading for Sturgis to meet up with Kim, Frank and Bruce. It will be a quick 188 miles on I-90 for me. Steve is checking maps and trying to come up with an enjoyable ride back to Kansas City.

Sorry the pictures don't do justice to the winding twisty highways but I needed to keep my eyes on the road.

Deer Park campground, Buffalo, WY

Beartooth pass and Chief Joseph Highway.

Between Red Lodge and Cody, WY is THE 2 best motorcycling roads I've ever been on. Beartooth pass has some very technical twisties and views to die for (literally if you don't watch the road). After going over this pass you can either continue on to Yellowstone or turn on to Chief Joseph Highway which takes you into Cody. We opted to go to Cody where we are spending the night in a KOA campground.

Pictures don't do justice to the scenery

The hot shower felt good.

Deer lodge to Red Lodge

A pretty uneventful but pleasant day of riding. We hit a couple motorcycle friendly sections of highway and had nice Buffalo and Elk burgers in downtown Red Lodge. We found a nice campground in the forest and finished the day out with a good conversation with a motorcycling couple from Wisconsin.

No pictures today.

Glacier National Park

Today we rode over the Going To The Sun highway in Glacier Nat. Park. then on down to Missoula, MT where I had the oil changed in my bike. Afterwords a little jaunt back East to Deer Lodge, MT where we grabbed a motel do to rainy weather.

Oh Canada

Well we made it into Canada Monday morning and then traveled West along their Hwy 1 first through Manitoba then Saskatchewan and finally Alberta. We camped that night in a real nice provincial park and met some locals who were camped there. It's always nice to visit with other folks while on a trip like this.

Tuesday we continued on and dropped back into the U.S. and camped just outside Glacier National Park near the East entrance. Tomorrow we'll be riding through the park and out the West entrance.

A nice night of camping

Camp visitors

Lots of these yellow fields of Canola which is where canola oil comes from.

My cock pit.

Making sure I didn't lose Steve 

Back, back in the U.S.A.

Mountains in Glacier Nat. Park

Camping outside of Glacier