Out and About...

Day 10: Black Hills tour

Today we made the rounds of all the Black Hills highlights. We started out in Rapid City at the Harley attractions. Hog pins, stunt riders, free jerky and a display of all the 08 bikes. There are lots of changes going on with bigger motors, 6 speed trans, ABS-pretty impressive changes.

We then went to the Fiirehouse Brewery for lunch. It's a cool restaurant set up in a 1909 Rapid City Firehouse. As we were finishing up, a party of three came in and sat down at the table across from us. They looked kind of familiar and after a minute we realized it was Willie G, his wife and maybe his grandson. For the non bikers, thats Willie G. Davidson, as in Harley-Davidson. Willie G. is the grandson of William A Davidson, one of the original founders of Harley Davidson. It was an unbelievable coincidence, pretty cool. We got a quick picture so we wouldn't bother him and checked out his bike on the way out- A Screaming Eagle Ultra Classic Electra Glide.

From Rapid City we rode all the scenic drives - Needles Highway, Custer State Park and Iron Mountain Road. We rode 18 miles of the Parks Wildlife Loop. It was HOT and all we saw was a few scraggly antelope and prairie dogs. Pretty disappointing. Just a couple miles from the end the buffalo appeared. It was great. They were running along the road creating a massive traffic jam with bikes and cars stopping to gawk at them. They went barreling right across the road as if we weren't even there. A bit farther down they gathered in a big clearing and there had to be 300- 400 hundred of them. Hard to imagine they used to travel in herds numbering in the thousands. I think everyone was impressed by the sight of them.

Needles and Iron Mountain are small, VERY twisty roads thru the mountains with cool narrow tunnels and corkscrew bridges. Three of the tunnels on Iron Mountain frame Mt. Rushmore off in the distance as you drive through them. Some pretty impressive planning and engineering.

We ended up at Mt. Rushmore, a sight everyone should see in their lifetime. It's a very patriotic place and makes you feel good about living in this country. While waiting around we talked with some older couples out on vacation, one of them had lived in Williamstown, MA at one time. It was funny getting their impressions of the Rally. They pretty much showed up with no idea that they would be in the middle of 400,000 bikers. "Oh all the traffic and noise!" We stayed for the closing programs and lighting ceremony. Again, something everyone should see.

In all it was a pretty busy day.

Here's a question for the foresters that are reading. We are wondering why they stack up the slash in a recently thinned stand like a t-pee. There are many of these piles and they are very close together. There's a picture in the photo album to see what they look like. What would be the reason, any ideas? Thanks.