Day 10 – Monday, July 2 – Hill City SD to Alliance NE
Today started with a stop in town
at the local café called Hill City Café. It was a great
breakfast stop, which reminded me of a hometown location that served home made
breakfast. A trip to the Hill City ‘Black Hills’ HD shop was in
order. Not necessarily for a shot glass,
but for a new pair of riding sunglasses.
I seemed to break the pair by merely just putting them on my face. There was a brief moment of silence, as had that
pair of sunglasses well over a couple of years.
Gees, they were just getting broke in…
Oh yeah, I did end up getting another shot glass for the collection as
well. :)
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| Threading The Needle |
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| Tunnel Shot |
We headed out a little later and
got to Custer
State Park entrance, which took us down Needles Highway. Another great rode
for bikes to cruise on. It takes a path
through tunnels, around blind corners, and to the granite ‘needles’ amongst the
trees and landscapes. After traveling south and east through Needles, we jumped
over to Iron
Mountain road, which took us north and west
towards Mount Rushmore. The reason why I
like going north on this route is due to the ability to see Mount Rushmore
through two of the three tunnels and trees.
Absolutely. Breathtaking. Iron Mountain road not only takes you through
the tunnels, it goes over spiral, or also called pigtailed bridges, that remind me of how roller coasters are set up. I felt right at home while riding through
this area, since I have technically been here twice – once in 2005 with Kathy
and another couple and once in 2006 with 5 other guys.
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| Tunnel Shot of Mt Rushmore |
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| Yeah, That Bus Fits! |
After getting out of Custer, we had
the option to go left to Mount Rushmore or right in to Keystone. We cruised through Keystone looking for a
watering hole, but didn’t end up stopping due to all the traffic and lack of
parking spots. We headed back up the
hill and went to view Mount Rushmore. It
was there where we saw some other friends from Kansas City, Dave and
Linda. How ironic that they were touring
the same area as us at the same time.
Ronnie and Theresa, Dave and Linda, and Kathy and I all chatted on the
side of the road for a bit, exchanged hugs and hand shakes, and parted
ways. We found another establishment a
short time later near Hill City called Silver
Dollar Saloon, not to be confused with the one we
stopped at in Cody Wyoming.
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| Mount Rushmore |
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| Silver Dollar Saloon - Hill City SD |
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| Spiral Pigtail Bridge |
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| One Way! |
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| Nice Shot of Woods |
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| Mountain Goats |
We left SDS and headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Since we hadn’t
covered much ground, we didn’t stay long.
It has changed only slightly since the last time I saw it. Nice area, but we had to get south and get
some lunch in Custer. We landed at the Buglin’ Bull,
where we opted for the buffalo burgers.
Yes, Theresa even shared Ronnies burger, which she enjoyed (I
think). After lunch, we headed out of
South Dakota in to Nebraska. We stopped
in Alliance to get some water and fuel then went up to Carhenge to check
out the #2
wackiest attraction in the United States. I would tend to agree with them, though
Ronnie and I were pretty jazzed about the cars and trucks upended and buried.
We discussed an exit strategy from
Alliance, since it appeared we had only traveled around 225 miles. I suggested we go down the road a bit and land
a hotel at the next town via highway 2.
We got around 15 miles down the road and encountered quite a storm front
coming from the south. We opted to turn
around and get a motel room at the Sunset
Motel, just on the edge of town. It wasn’t the best motel we stayed in, but it
was less expensive than the local Holiday Inn Express at $150 a night for the
same room. I could live with the caved
in beds and save around $80. :) Kathy,
on the other hand, likely wanted to go to the other hotel… We ordered a local pizza from Sam and Louis New York Pizzaria, which was pretty good, and ate it in our room while
having a brew that Ronnie went and got a little earlier. The plan was to wake up early, since it was
going to be hot the next day with a 550+ mile trip to KC.
Other highlights:
·
Miles: ~ 250
We left SDS and headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial. Since we hadn’t
covered much ground, we didn’t stay long.
It has changed only slightly since the last time I saw it. Nice area, but we had to get south and get
some lunch in Custer. We landed at the Buglin’ Bull,
where we opted for the buffalo burgers.
Yes, Theresa even shared Ronnies burger, which she enjoyed (I
think). After lunch, we headed out of
South Dakota in to Nebraska. We stopped
in Alliance to get some water and fuel then went up to Carhenge to check
out the #2
wackiest attraction in the United States. I would tend to agree with them, though
Ronnie and I were pretty jazzed about the cars and trucks upended and buried.
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