Gary's Moto and Foto Adventures: Day Four

Today we finally became tourists. After a ride of about three hours across I-90 we arrived at Badlands National Park. The route there took us across the vast grasslands of South Dakota under blue cloudless skies. When clouds finally showed up they were beautiful putts of white cotton. Temperatures were in the low eighties. It was just beautiful.

Before entering the park we stopped at a gas station/gift shop/eatery for a quick snack. We had a couple bison hot dogs, and soft drinks, fueled up the bikes and head to the park. Riding into the park the scenery immediately changed. The golden grassy plains became a canyon of color. As soon as we entered we saw deer and mountain goats. About 5 miles in we stopped at the visitors center, learned about the area and got a couple souvenirs. The route through the park is about 40 miles. We rode slow and stopped often. Sometimes we stopped to take pictures and other times we stopped just to take it all in. Every turn revealed a new vista or some critters to watch. We ended up spending a lot more time in the park than intended, but it was worth it.

Finally leaving the park we headed to Wall, SD and Wall Drugs. Wall Drugs is a drug store dating back to the 1800's. It now takes up an entire block in downtown Wall. It is basically about half of the town. The store has everything, from OTC drugs to boots, jewelry and clothing. It even has a soda fountain. Again, we stayed a little longer than intended.

By the time we left Wall the sun was setting in the west. We hopped on the bikes and followed the sun. We still had about 100 miles to get to the hotel in Spearfish. There was a bright orange sunset AT 10:00. At 11:00 it still was not completely dark. I guess the clear skies and our location on the edge of the Moutain Time Zone all contributed to the late sunset.

We stopped in Rapid City for a very late dinner. Finally about 12:30 am we arrived at the hotel in Spearfish. It was late we were happily tired and we all headed for bed.

Today was about 400 miles and put us right at 1700 miles so far.

Tomorow we will sleep in a little and head to Billings, MT for a day at STAR Days. We plan on getting off the interstates today and riding some local roads and enjoying the countryside.