June 28, 2009

Day 2 - South Dakota

Ater a great nights sleep in Mitchell, we awoke to beautiful clear skies. A scooter friend of ours (Buckeye Burger) said that Cabelas in Mitchell was a must see. Of course this was not hard to convince Pete we should go. If you don't know Cabelas is the hunting equivalent to Bass Pro Shop. All I can say it is way to cool! If you are ever in Mitchel, SD, Buckeye is 100% right, go see Cabelas!!





The hunting trophies that adorn the walls are amazing. The centerpiece is a huge taxidermy collection of wildlife.

After Cabelas we headed over to the World's Largest Corn Palace.. ok sure it is also the World's Smallest as it is the World's ONLY Corn Palace.



Finally on the road burning day light right??? We head across the plains of South Dakota. Just as they are beginning to be a tad boring we see a rest stop with a scenic overlook. Pete and I look at each other and say how scenic can more prairie lands be? Then I remembered we were approaching Chamberlain, SD. This is where the Missouri River splits the state.

WOW is all I can say, the pictures can tell some of the story but will never begin to fully show the beauty.



Still burning day light and we want to be to Custer, right? Back we head on 90 West... As we get to Kadokta, SD the landscape to the south starts changing. We start seeing Badland exit signs. We thought what the hell we are here let's do the Scenic By Pass into Wall via the Badlands.

OMG, I am so happy we did, it was a truly amazing site everywhere we looked. We were also fortunate enough to see a storm roll in across the Buffalo Grasslands National Park and into the Badlands. Afterwards we were treated to a rainbow. We plan to go back to the Badlands on the bikes as there is more we wish to see.






Still burning daylight?? Wall here we come! Wall Drug. Never heard of it? Ok google it! Most everyone told us to skip it but we went. Was a cheesy place but cool! We had a buffalo burger in the Badlands Bar in Wall then got back on the road.



Now we REALLY are burning daylight! Next stop is Custer via Mt Rushmore (bummed Mt Rushmore was not lite up) and Crazy Horse. We pulled into Custer about 11:30pm exhausted but the day was absolutely perfect in every way. Nothing planned we just rolled along South Dakota stopping at every great big ball of twine she threw at us!

June 26, 2009

South Dakota - Day One

On Wednesday, Pete picked up the RV and started packing while I was at work. Wednesday night, Pete's bother-in-law Mike came in town for business. Pete picked him up at the airport and then brought Mike over to load the bikes. (Thanks Mike)

We are using JFred's 3 rail trailer (Thanks JFred). The DN-01 tire is a tight snug fit so it makes the bike lean a tad. As a result we were very nervous.

Having stayed up very late packing the bikes and spending time with Mike we slept in till 6am. Still feeling nervous about the DN-01 lean we decided to go to Wal-Mart and get more ratcheting tie downs. The DN-01 leans but the Land Shark is going no where with 5 tie downs on left side. Probably overkill but we feel better.

Here is our home away from home for 10 days! 29' RV sleeps 8, since it is only Pete, Slasher and I, I think we are set.


One of the advantages of having the RV is bringing our cat Slasher! She is doing so great and loving help drive the RV!


We headed out of St. Louis at 9am, was fun coming across Missouri on something other than a bike. We hit a few rest stops just to make sure the bikes were still with us ;) Just a piece of mind. The ride up through Iowa and south east South Dakota was really not that bad. we enjoyed seeing following the Loess ("luss") Hills of western Iowa.

We headed west on 90 from Sioux Falls to a beautiful sunset!


While watching the awesome sunset, Pete was remarking on how mesmerizing the clouds were ahead. I made a mental note we were 30 minutes out of Mitchell after being on the road for over 12 hours, I thought to myself maybe I better talk to Pete more to keep him awake :) Then out of nowhere we both see this BIG white/gray blur headed towards the windshield. Then we hear a HUGE bam on top of the RV. Pete pulled over to inspect and reports no damage or anything on top that shows a hit. Fast forward to Friday morning. Daylight inspection finds an owl carcass on the satellite mount. I will spare you the photos :)

We pulled into Mitchell to spend the night. Mike had mentioned if there is Wal-Mart, stay there they welcome RV overnight parking. So that is what we did. A really nice Wal-Mart SuperCenter that was open 24 hours. Nice of Wal-Mart to do this. However they got an additional $150 from us which is the norm when Pete and I enter any Wal-Mart. Note to self we really need to buy Wal-Mart stock.

Nice long sleep and we will be ready for Day Two: Cabelas, the Corn Palace, Wall Drug and finally our destination of Custer!

I am marveled by technology. We are traveling down I-90 while I blog on my laptop.

Other pictures from Day One:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/stlscooterclub/sets/72157620598995832/show/