I mis-remembered a major detail from my ride in this region last year. One of the highlights was riding from Great Falls, MT to Sheridan through the Little Belt Mountains. I thought that lovely bit of natural splendor was between Sheridan and Gillette. Nope. I kept expecting a woodsy canyon with sweeping curves but what I got was the aforementioned open country. I wondered if I'd taken a wrong turn or if my memory was just crap. Turns out it was the latter.
My guess is that most people who live in Gillette, WY are happy there and proud of their city. But it is not a pleasant place, neither the city nor the geography. I was glad to get it behind me and into the Black Hills.
Basing myself in Rapid City for a few days, riding the Black Hills and seeing the requisite tourist attraction.
Needles Highway, Custer State Park
The speed limit on Needles Highway can be as low as 25 mph. But with as many hairpin turns as it has, that really wasn't a problem for me. Traffic was low for the most part, which made for a pleasant ride. And it didn't hurt to be out of the wind.
So, Mount Rushmore. I wasn't going to ride all this way and not see it up close. As I'd read and heard, it's much smaller than one would expect. When I was a kid, looking at photos of the monument in textbooks and encyclopedias, I thought the Presidents' heads would fill one's view. Not so, but still worth seeing if for nothing else, for the people watching.
These three ladies rode in on their Harleys at the same time as me. I love seeing women riding their own bikes, no matter what they are. And they were on big Harleys. Road Kings, I think. While waiting to pay our parking fees I noticed that one of them had a water bottle mounted on her handle bars. It was translucent so I could see the water sloshing around from the idling engine's vibration. They could have mixed margaritas with it.
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