A little bit of Washington, All of Montana and South Dakota

June 24th

Up early and riding, today was just a driving day no sightseeing really. I rode and rode and rode then I rode some more, I took a fairly scenic route as my road atlas indicated. I crossed into Montana today and I must say Montana is just as beautiful and amazing as I left it 2 summers ago. Before I crossed into Montana I stopped to get some gas and I was absolutely starving and I asked a couple people where I should go to get food in this town I was in and everyone said I had to go to this place called Owen’s which was an old fashion soda shop, and it was of course amazing they make all their sandwiches fresh right there and I got a vanilla and black cherry malt. Yum! I made it as far as West Glacier and I bedded down there for the night in what was a luxury RV park but they were nice enough to let a lowly tent camper like myself in.

June 25th

Ah finally I made it to Glacier, I had been wanting to come here for years. And that summer I spent in Montana did not help one bit, I was clear on the other side of the state so I never had the opportunity to make it up here when I was working in Montana. Everyone along the way these past two months has said oh you have to go to Glacier, well here I am! However I picked to go on a bad day, it was the weekend so yes it was crowded, very crowded. They were also doing construction in the park so I had to wait for almost 10 minutes at a time stopped in traffic. Aside from the traffic it was a great place to be. My only regret is that I didn’t spend longer there. I know that I have to come back now because there were just too many hikes that I wanted to do. I would really like to spend a couple days here just backpacking. I took it slow going through Glacier just enjoying the main road which ran through the park called ‘Going to the Sun Road’. The highest drivable point in the park is Logan Pass which is where I crossed back over the continental divide, unlike the first time when I crossed back at independence pass on my way to Aspen I was at something of 12,000 feet, while Logan pass was at just 6,000 or so feet. Like the rest of the park when I got to the top at Logan pass the parking lot was filled completely! Luckily though I have a motorcycle and there was a plethora of motorcycle parking, I even found a spot amongst several other KLRs, so I felt right at home. While there I met a really nice couple on two red KLRs whom have been all over on them. They have done two trips down to Panama which I think would be an amazing ride, and is a pipe dream of mine, basically any ride down into south America would be amazing to do. We talked bike for a while exchanged some stories and parted ways. They offered to let me stay with them as I would be passing near their house however my route changed and I ended up going another way, and why do I know this already, because I am typing this blog several days late. So I had planned on making it to a town called Lewistown last night named in honor of the famed Lewis and Clark explorers however I did not make it there, I did make it to the banks of the Missouri river to a town called Fort Benton, it was small and quaint and I stayed in the windiest campground thus far which was on the banks of the Missouri river. The ride from Glacier to Fort Benton was rather uneventful, lots of straight roads and lots of haying and combines running all over the place.

June 26th

I call today marathon day, as it is the most miles I’ve covered the entire trip, 517 to be exact in a single day, and 498 of those miles was completely straight, and 0.1 miles was an actual dirt interstate. I awoke early I mean really early for once, at 8:45 and I was on the road by 9, in my haste I most likely forgot all the essentials, but who cares I was on the road early and I had to because I had a bazillion miles to cover. I hightailed it to a town well I couldn’t even call it that it was more of a stop sign junction, but there was a sign that said free Wi-Fi and delicious breakfast so I had to stop. I was craving some real breakfast food and that is what I got. Three huge slices of French toast on fresh bread, 3 crispy and greasy slices of bacon, and a gigantic plate of hash browns, oh wow I was in heaven and a nice glass of free Wi-Fi to top it off. I managed to get some emailing taken care of and as you can tell no blogging was done, I just didn’t have enough time. So I got back on the road and I was racing, well not really the speed limit in Montana is a hearty 75 mph which is what maverick runs at when the throttle is wide open. So I rode and rode and rode, not much to see, a smattering of grain towns here and there but that was about it. Along the way I began seeing more and more bikers which was a welcomed relief. I hadn’t planned on making any stops today but on my way I just happened to pass Custer’s Last Stand National Monument which of course I had to stop at. And let me tell you there were even more bikers here than I had seen on the road, and they were all headed the same place I was, that wonderful south Dakota motorcycle friendly town of Sturgis. Well I didn’t spend long at the monument it was just too hot and I was just too antsy to get back on the road. As I was riding I had noticed that I was burning fuel at an exorbitant rate, usually I will get about 220 to 230 miles until I have to turn on my reserve tank however I was turning to my reserve tank at 170 and 180 miles into my ride which was not a pleasant feeling. So I reevaluated some things and I realized I was running at a good 7000 rpm which is close to redline and if I backed off maybe to a more moderate 4500 rpm then I would get better gas mileage. Because believe it or not gas sipping maverick was getting a whopping 36 mpg whereas I normally get around 40 to 50 mpg. So yes I had to change my driving habits, so what if it took me longer I would be saving a boat load on gas. Well it worked, and I kept my rpm’s down to 4500 sometimes I peaked at 5000 to pass a slow truck or something but I got way better mileage, up until now I have been on a lot of twisty back roads which has kept me from running full throttle, engine wide open, blazing 80 mph. Today was a three stater day for me which was pretty cool I left Montana, crossed into Wyoming for a bit and I am now in South Dakota. On my way I stopped at a gas station to fill up some water in my nalagene which reminds me of another thing rather sad that I must tell you later. Ok so anyways I stopped in for some water and I saw two bikers one on a Honda 650 cc dirt bike loaded down and another Harley with a unique trailer. The trailer this guy was towing was shaped like a boat, so it looked like he was towing a miniature boat I thought it was way cool and he said he drove all the way from Wyoming to Alabama to pick it up from some guy who custom makes them. Ok so back to this kid on the dirt bike, his dad bought it in Texas and he lives in Washington so he was riding this dirt bike all the way back to Washington, I was quite impressed I mean his bike was even more dirt worthy than my maverick! Ok so I got back on the road and drove some more, and I must say South Dakota is quite a beautiful state, the black hills are amazing and its just something I have never seen before. I rolled into Sturgis close to 9 pm and boy was I spent. So Sturgis is famous for hosting one of the biggest motorcycle rallies in the world, and you know what, I came the week before it starts! But that is probably a good thing because I wouldn’t have gotten this sweet campsite if I came a week later. This town is totally devoted to motorcycles and I am very happy to be here, my campsite even has its own beer garden which I will be visiting after this post is complete, and it is, so I will fill you in more on tomorrows events of some good dual-sporting in the black hills and my first visit to Mt Rushmore!!!

June 27th

South Dakota has got to be one of the most under rated states in the continental US, because I must say I was completely and utterly impressed by how awesome North Dakota’s little brother is. I woke up late today because it was a long day yesterday and a long night, I met tons of other bikers at the Beer Garden, they had dollar drafts so that was very good news for me. I relaxed at the campsite in the morning with no particular schedule to follow for the day. When I did get on the road I headed back into the town of Sturgis to the main drag to check out all the commotion. Since the rally is next week the town is basically still being built, I must say I think if you came here in the winter then there would be nothing, not even a month ago would there be anything. I think this entire town survives on these two weeks of biker mayhem. Everywhere I went people were telling me good thing I came this week because everything doubles in price and there isn’t even enough room to park a motorcycle! A rough estimate puts it at over 500,000 bikers swarm this sleepy Dakota town the first two weeks in August every year. I kid you not there were construction crews all over the place literally building the town I saw bars that were not even finished yet no tables chairs not even a bar. While in Sturgis I did what any biker does and I bought a bike rally t-shirt for that one day when I by some chromed out Harley, I will have something to wear then. I was pretty pumped to get on the road once I left Sturgis because I found some great trails on my map through the Black Hills. Before I got to the trails I passed through an old west town called Deadwood, which I did not find out until after I was 100 miles away that every couple hours the town has western gun fights in the street for all the tourists. Riding in the black hills was awesome the forest roads in there are innumerable I could have spent a good week just exploring, but my time was limited. I rode for about 30 miles of dirt roads and it put me out near Mount Rushmore. More excitement ensued, however when I got to the gate come to find out they charge $10 just to park. Ok I know I drove all this way and what’s another $10 but I just wasn’t having this. Even with my National Park pass I still couldn’t get in, So instead of getting an up close look at Mount Rushmore I saw it from the highway which was good enough for me. Once you leave the Mt Rushmore area it gets really touristy, then nothing, absolutely nothing, flat grassland for miles and miles, it was really an amazing site and I was riding right around sunset time so it was even more amazing looking. I drove through Badlands National Park for a bit which was very cool to see, and then I found a nice campground with a pool and all, plus in the morning they have an all you can eat pancake breakfast which I cannot wait to try out! Tomorrow is another high mileage day, today was easy just 150 miles or so, but tomorrow I’m driving all the way to the Twin Cities in Minnesota!