Winner South Dakota
We are up and out early today, west on 44 we head for the Badlands. As the temperature seems to drop, we pull over to get some winter gear on. While at this stop we meet a couple on a Goldwing trike pulling a pop up camper, complete with an electric heater in the camper. They are from Maggie Valley N.C. where they have an rv park. We tell them we will be through there in September when we ride the Blue ridge parkway,,they invite us to stop and see them,,I hope we have time to drop in and say hello.
Back on the road we follow them towards the Badlands, when one of the strangest things I have ever seen happened. We have all seen birds fly close and thought we would hit them,,but they always soar away. I watch this bird fly low and turn upwards, but not fast enough. I am watching him get closer and closer,,then THUMP!!! he hits my windshield, I duck my head to the left and see his body fly over my right shoulder, a quick look in the mirror and I see him hit the ground. Steve pulls alongside me and yells,,bird killer!!! We had to laugh, that was was of the strangest things to see.
We top a hill and the Badlands comes into view, incredible,,the scenery is beautiful,,I have never seen anything like it. We ride into the park and stop often for pictures. We even hiked on Saddle pass trail. At Burns basin overlook the VTX hits the 10,000 mile mark, that many miles in just 1 year,,,that's a lot of riding.
Next stop, Wall drug in Wall South Dakota. We make the ride to Wall where we have Buffalo burgers for lunch. From there we decide to head to Rapid city , get a room and then ride south to Mount Rushmore and Crazy horse.
Once in Rapid city I go to a bike shop to buy a new helmet. I needed to replace mine before the trip but put it off. Now the face shield will not stay in the down position so I have no choice. From there we get a room and head south to Rushmore. Mount Rushmore is quite a site, we enjoy our visit and take plenty of pictures. From there we go to the Crazy horse memorial, stay longer than we should. As we leave it is getting dark and cold. Oh well it is only a 40 mile ride back to the hotel,,how bad can it be?? Well when it began raining we found out.
It has been a long and busy day, we hit the hotel tired and irritable , sleep comes quickly tonight.
