State 7 of 50  

 

 

    South Dakota

 

Capital: Pierre

Population: 782,000 (ranked 46th of 50 states)

Area: 200,000 kmē (ranked 17th of 50 states)

 

 

 

 

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Ride Report

This state: 945 kms     Journey to date: 8,842 kms

Scroll down below the route map for this state's ride report and photos

 

Ride Report

I'm tapping out this report on South Dakota some 2,000 kms later and 3 states across in a cafe on the shores of Lake Superior. That's the first wireless opportunity I've had since leaving South Dakota.

There were a few "must go to" places I wanted to do in SD. Devil's Tower, actually in Wyoming, was the first stop. If you've ever seen Close Encounters Of The Third Kind you'll know the pull of Devils Tower. Earlier that morning back in Gillette I had the fan fixed so it was with joy and happiness I could actually idle through small towns and road construction without sweating on the rising temperature bars.

And speaking of temperature it started to climb a lot as I rode east to the geographic centre of the 50 states, near a place called Belle Fourche. In BF they have an actual visitor centre but Twisting Throttle does not do visitor centres unless they are authentic and this was at least 25 kms away from the the actual spot. So I rode north to the junction of two back roads expecting a plaque or a sign. I stopped at exactly the coordinates of the centre and all there was was a cow looking over a fence. Oh well, the photo is below anyway.

Then I rode back down the dog-leg back to Sturgis, home of the famous Bike Week every year which ended last week. It was just a small unassuming town when I went there apart from all the bike-related shops all competing for my fridge magnet business.

Then I entered the Black Hills of South Dakota and Deadwood where in a mini-Las Vegas style, everything was pardner this and vittles that. I took a wrong turn through some cones blocking a roadway, because the GPS told me to, and found myself in an empty street except for hundred of people watching me as they lined the street. Then a gunshot went off and it became a little embarrassingly obvious that I had ridden into a street theatre set of a gunfight. I did a quick u-turn making sure this wasn't to be the moment I'd drop the bike and to the cheer of the crowd rode back through the cones, past the "road closed" sign and away.

Just as the sun was setting I saw the Crazy Horse Memorial which is the indian version of Mt Rushmore. Surf the net for the background to this http://www.crazyhorsememorial.org/ as it is very interesting how it's being chiselled out of the cliff face.

Camped the night in Custer & the next morning got an early start to get to Mt Rushmore before the hordes arrived. Its smaller than you expect but still gives you a jolt to actually be there.

I rode out of the Black Hills and immediately regretted it. That regret is called the Badlands. Looks nice and scenic on the map but they're not called Badlands for nothing. A wilderness of stark & unforbidding moonscape type rocks & cliffs. Cost $10 to get into the park but after a 150 km ride to get there I wasn't going to turn around.

After the Badlands it was down to business and stop with all the touristy stuff. Time to put in some miles. And that's when the wind started. It has really not abated right the way through 3 states. It is a southerly wind and only knocks you about when riding east. I'm riding east.

I zig-zagged my way towards North Dakota, shouting for joy when the zig was a northerly one and screaming with anguish when the zag went east.

Finally crossed the state line and collapsed into the first campground I saw at a speck of a place called Strasburg.

Photos, as usual, tell the story. By the way these ride reports are brief because I have to spin out a cup of coffee to justify using wireless in this cafe.