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?
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