H-D Report Card

It's become a tradition for me to rate the motorcycle performance and issues of the trip. For those that do not know, we ride a 2010 H-D Ultra Limited (FLHTK Electro Glide in Harley-speak). Accept for some accessories, it's factory stock - no pipes or other performance upgrades, just the 103 ci engine that was stock for the Limited that year. Here's the breakdown:

• I spent $86 on oil, air filter and spark plugs and performed the labor myself. Needed to do that anyway.
• I spent $229 on the new front crash bar that cracked. Bad H-D! People that don't ride H-D may be shocked at the price of this simple bent-steel tube with chrome plating, but H-D really means that there is nothing you can buy less than a Hundred-Dollars!
• I averaged 40.6 mpg @ about 60 mph over the 1,363 miles on mid-grade (87-89 octane) corn fuel. Not too bad considering the weight, altitude and mountain pass driving conditions.

The good news is that I'll get 20% back on all parts from the Motor Company through my friend John, an H-D employee. Other than the crash bar, the bike ran flawlessly with only the usual hill-pulling issues when using Cruise Control in 6th gear so I give it a rating of A- on this trip.

As for the trailer, I mentioned earlier that I borrowed it from my friend Paul. This trailer is nearly $2K less than the Triton aluminum trailer I was considering to buy. Half the price but twice the weight. The jury is still out on this - the price is right, but I can [barely] move it myself without the truck and it's a gas-hog (we averaged 10.6 mpg for the trip and I get 14.5 mpg towing an enclosed snowmobile trailer; but I suppose I can buy a lot of gas for $2K! Paul's trailer although heavy, was solid and tracked-well (and didn't budge on a Bambi) so I give it a B+.

As for the old 2004 Toyota 4Runner, it ran great with a max load for all 2,000 miles averaging 62.5 mph (with stops) - a solid A.

Lastly, I liked this Hill City Horse:

One Thousand, Three Hundred, Sixty-Three Point Two

That's right - we rode an impressive 1,363.2 miles this week! What a fantastic trip! I can hardly believe this is my last post about our activities (unless something crazy happens on the way home!). I'll leave any further recap of the trip to John.

Anyway, all good things come to an end and this trip is no exception! We got an early start and headed back through Spearfish Canyon. It was just as beautiful as the first drive through - maybe even better coming from the other direction. We also made a stop this time during the canyon route to Roughload Falls, where there were several "levels" from which to view a beautiful series of waterfalls.

From there, we were determined to once again find Nemo, and more importantly, drive the first stretch of Nemo Road that we weren't able to pick up from the route we took yesterday. Again, a great stretch of road and a nice ride. This time we even stopped at Nemo Mercantile for a snack, where we got a hot tip on lunch.

So it was down Nemo Road and back up Highway 385 for a lunch stop at The Sugar Shack for some tasty burgers. Toward the back of the property, they had a huge chair. Now the folks who suggested this spot for lunch mentioned the chair, which we all pictured as one of those eight-foot tall photo opp type of things. But no, this was literally big as a house! And apparently they hold concerts ON it!! It was neat.

Finally, as planned, we did a "take two" of Iron Mountain Road (also known as 16A), which was our last route yesterday. The loopdy-loos and twisty-turns were just as great! We knew, though, that it was now Friday afternoon and, sure enough, traffic was much heavier. And, wouldn't you know, something crazy happened!

We're coming through the park, on a downward slope. To our right is a bit of a dropoff with trees and nice naturey things like that. The oncoming traffic lane is to our left and just beyond that is a tall sort of cliff-like rock structure. So we come around a lefthand curve and imagine our surprise to see a BUFFALO running (trotting?) in our direction in the oncoming traffic lane!! Luckily the car behind it in that lane was smart enough to just stop and wait. We didn't have much of a choice - we had to react quickly and luckily that meant cruising on through as quickly as possible. Just as we were passing him, he started swinging his head around as he was trotting and we are still sure he was gearing up to get unpredictable. I felt bad for him, pinned against that cliff and probably very scared. And he scared us too - remember how I said those things were BIG?!?!

Well, if you know me at all, you know I tend to take to humor when I'm uncomfortable, so I rewrote an All-State Mayhem commercial to commemorate the occurrence. It goes something like this: "I'm a hot buffalo out trotting. I'm making sure all this (hoof motions up and down body) stays tender." Now read it again and picture the guy from the commercials dressed in his suit with a furry buffalo horn hat and fur around his wrists. LOL

Anyway, from there it was back to Newcastle, where the guys got the bikes loaded up while Michelle and I did the indoor packing. Then we went to dinner back at Canyon Springs, where we just enjoyed one of the best meals ever on Wednesday night. Well, tonight it was clear when we got seated in the front of the house alone, while all the locals got seated toward the back together, that this was going to he a very different experience. And so it was. The food took a very long time and it was alright but just not the same. Feeling satisfied but slightly dismayed, it was back to the Sundowner for our last night of sleep before the trek home.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our excellent adventures - we sure enjoyed having them!

Hi-ho Silver!

And away we went! John did some research with the new book we picked up the other day and found a few new roads we wanted to try, instead of the "usual" roads we've come to know so well over the course of the week. First stop, though, was a quick breakfast at West End - it IS the most important meal of the day, you know.

And then we were off on a new discovery to Silver City. I instantly imagined something from the Wizard of Oz, all shiny and exciting! The route was rated moderate to extreme in the book and it surely did not disappoint! Lots of ups and downs with fun twists and turns through a forest-like setting. There was a stream in some areas and we even saw a herd of free range cows! (They just keep sendin' pictures)

When we got to Silver City, however, we were (at least I was) slightly dismayed to discover that Silver City was not really a city at all - more like a few houses with a gravel road intersection. Oh well, the ride was a blast! And we got to do it again the other way back to the main highway.

Next stop - Sturgis! I can officially say I've been there now! All the businesses were already preparing for the upcoming rally. It's the 75th this year and they are expecting HUGE crowds. Boy am I glad we'll be gone before all those yahoos get here!

Our next quest was to find Nemo. Nemo, South Dakota, that is! And, more specifically, Nemo Road - another of the routes suggested in the book. And we found it! While the town itself was quite unmentionable and the road started out a bit "boring," the book was right again! It shaped up to be another nice ride. We pulled over and rested for a while on a small bridge overlooking what I would call either a small, rushing river or a large stream. Not sure where the line is drawn on that?

Anyway, while in Sturgis, I was studying the map and discovered Iron Mountain Road, which a guy we met at breakfast had highly recommended. It's actually the only stretch of Custer National Park that we hadn't explored yet. Happily we were able to work it into our route on the way back to Custer, where we planned to stop for a bite before heading back to Newcastle.

Wowwie zowwie!!! All four of us agree that the Iron Mountain stretch of road was perhaps the best part of the whole trip! What a beautiful ride! There were several one-lane tunnels, like the ones in the Needles area of the park. But on THIS stretch, when you were heading into the second tunnel, you could see Mount Rushmore in the distance at the other end! It was awesome! Again, I feel the need for a thesaurus. The route was so great that we will be doing it tomorrow.

Finally we made it back to Custer for sustenance and decided to eat at Frontier, which is the place that let us pull the bikes under the awning during the storm earlier in the week. The food was good AMD the sky was sunny.

Although it was fairly early, we headed back to home base. On the way, John and I pulled over for a picture that he's been wanting to take for a few days now. In the middle of a field near the road, someone put a stove out with the oven door open and there's a sign over it that says "open range." Pretty funny, right?

So we've got an early morning planned for tomorrow and it's so hard to believe that its our last day out and about already.

PS - can you find me in the crowd photo?

What a Rush

The first Republican and other notable presidents!!!

Guess what day it is? Guess what day it is!!

Happy Hump Day!! We got an early start this morning (well, early for us) and headed back to Custer Park. The weather was near perfect - 70 and sunny - and this time we came in through the Wildlife Trail to see it from the other direction. What a difference too! We started counting wildlife, hoping for the ultimate buffalo experience. We saw a turkey, a deer, two buffalo behind trees, a prarie dog (little cutie!), a man, a weird donkey hanging out on a rock thing and a group of horses and donkeys sticking their heads into car windows. All the while, John was calling "beeefaloooo" to the tune of the Ricola cough drop commercial in hopes of gathering all the buffalo in one place for a photo opp.
Then things got interesting! We came over a hill to a clearing just FILLED with buffalo on both sides of the road! There were 100+ all just hanging out doing their buffalo thing. Mamas, babies and big, mean dudes roaming the prairie, crossing the road wherever they please. Boy those things are BIG!! I even saw a mama nursing a baby! What a sight!
You may have deduced that since we entered the park through what was "the end" last time that we also took the reverse route through The Needles. This, too, was another great ride and gave a new perspective. We stopped off a few times for photos but by this point it was about noon and we were getting hungry for lunch.
So, back to Hill City for a bite at The Bumpin' Buffalo, where the soup special was (no lie!) beefalo chili!! John and I had a good laugh about that. Then we get seated inside only to discover that our server's name was Mike!!!! So of course I said, "MikeMikeMikeMikeMike guess what day it is?" He didn't get it. I didn't care - we laughed some more. The food was delicious.
Once again we took the old railroad path headed toward Mount Rushmore. Turns out the road crosses the tracks for the scenic train 13 times (yes we counted this time). Mount Rushmore was awesome once we finally got up to the visitor area. Upon arrival, John and I both had to use the restroom. Imagine my surprise when I came out but he wasn't there yet. I saw Dan and Michelle right away and they said he was still in there and there was no way he got passed them. Well, after at least 15 minutes of waiting I was starting to worry. I knew that either he wasn't in there anymore or something was seriously wrong. Dan said, "trust me - he's just sweatin' it out in there." I said, "trust me - there's no way he'd spend this kind of time in a public restroom." But alas, Dan wouldn't go check. Finally I get a text from John asking where I am. All this time, he's been up in the visitor area photobombing people and eating ice cream! I was relieved and celebrated with a root beer float (with chocolate ice cream, of course).
We admired the monument, watched the brief movie about the creation and took in the sights at the museum. What a cool place!
During lunch, MikeMikeMikeMikeMike told us about a cool little back road that wasn't a tourist path, so we set out to find that as a partial new way home. But we didn't find it - could be because we had all eyes on the increasingly ominous skies. We decided to book it home. This time we made it to the other side of Custer before the skies let loose. We got rain jackets on just in time. Luckily it wasn't a true soaker but it was enough to make the haul home pretty miserable.
Of course it was supper time when we got back to Newcastle. We decided to take the truck on the 20 mile quest to Four Corners to try a steakhouse that the owner of The Sundowner kept telling us about. They're not open Monday and Tuesday so today was our day. What a great place! It was tucked pretty far off the beaten path and it was so worth the journey! The establishment itself was in impeccable condition and was sort of a mini museum, as they had many collectables around the place. The owners, Frank and Judy, had the best personalities and refreshing senses of humor. We all had steaks, which were delicious - perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked. The stop was just what the doctor ordered.
We'll see what tomorrow will bring. There are still a few things to tick off the list. I can't believe there are just two more day left in which to try and do it all...

Buffalo Chip!!!

Genuine, farm fresh!

Tuesday's Gone...

But the great memories remain! Another fabulous (dry!) day in the Black Hills. Today, we got a leisurely, yet respectably early, start to the day. Which was good, because we hit our first bit of road work. It wasnt too bad though, which was good because we were headed to Deadwood!

What a cool little old town - just enough of a touristy feel to be fun and different without being totally overboard like Keystone. We stopped in at a saloon, were we chatted it up with Ken, the friendly, super fab-u-lous bartender. He gave us some tips on how to get to our next destination too. We did some quick parusing of the shops, grabbed a bite to eat and hit the road again.

Next stop - Bella Fourche, the original geographical center of the United States. They had a great little museum and an original old cabin that was fully furnished, in addition to a huge granite marker to show mark the spot. We stayed here a little longer than we thought we would because there were so many fun little things to see.

After that, we went to the DC Hatch Historic Fish Hatchery. Well, Dan did - the rest of us sat out and enjoyed the sunshine by the nearby stream. John thought it would be nice to dip his feet in. Turns out the water was REALLY cold! As you may have noticed, I took the opportunity to catch up on the blog too. :)

It was interesting because John ordered a book from Sturgis and had it set to deliver to the hotel. Well that was a week ago and it had still not arrived, so he called to find out what was going on. Turns out the fulfillment center was like six blocks from where we were sitting in Spearfish! He arranged to pick it up on our way out of town. Not only did he finally get the book, but they also refunded the shipping fee and gave him a cool patch for the trouble! It was cute because the place we went was just an internet order fulfillment center for all kinds of stuff. The (two) employees we saw were so excited to actually MEET one of their customers! So everyone was happy.

Finaly, we rode through Spearfish Canyon on the way home. And, once again, wow! The area did not disappoint at all! We saw some waterfalls and all kinds of other cool stuff. The roads were great, traffic was pretty light and it was just a really enjoyable ride.

The weather was called for evening rain so we headed back to Newcastle a little earlier than usual. We agreed on a 6:00 meeting time for dinner. Dare to venture a guess on where we went? Eehh - wrong! No Pizza Barn for us tonight! We tried a new place in town called Isabella's and it was great! It is Italian, so you KNOW I was happy. We've all agreed that we would come back if we end up eating in town again before we leave (which I'm not ready to think about yet!) The rain started just as we were paying the bill, so we got back to the hotel safe and dry to hunker down for the evening.