We left Denver first thing in the morning and decided to ride north on I-25 past Cheyenne, WY since we had a long way to go and it was a hot day. I spent my time looking west to the Front Range of the Rockies while Mike navigated the traffic.
When we crossed into Wyoming the mountains disappeared, replaced by green prairies as far as we could see.
This wide-open country is known for strong winds and fierce winter storms. Luckily today we had neither, but we did see miles of snow fencing.
As we continued north, the landscape changed to rocky cliffs and hills covered with trees in this southwestern corner of the Black Hills. The Black Hills National Forest covers 1.2 million acres with only 10% in Wyoming and the rest in South Dakota. The Black Hills got their name from the dense ponderosa pines that look black from a distance, and we enjoyed the change in scenery as well as the sweeping highway turns through the area.
We're staying at a VRBO in Whitewood, SD for the weekend with our sons, their girlfriends, and dogs where we sit outside on the porch and watch the wildlife in the fields. We're back on the road Monday, continuing our trip west into Wyoming - and more hot weather.
We started the 34th day of our cross-country motorcycle trip in Hot Springs, South Dakota in the Black Hills, and as we headed south of out of town quickly descended out of the mountains into the flat prairie. It seemed like we could look across the prairie for miles until the grass met the horizon, with no buildings or hills to block the view.
Mike zoomed along U.S. 18 and then U.S. 85 as we headed south from South Dakota into Wyoming along the traffic-free highways. Periodically we would see a herd of cattle or an isolated windmill that made me think about the people who originally settled this part of the country and how difficult their lives must have been. We passed through one town, Hawk Springs, with a population of 45 people.
Soon after we crossed into Wyoming the BMW's odometer rolled over to 10,000 miles. We've traveled almost 8000 miles on this trip, and it's difficult to wrap my mind around the number of miles and the places we've been to accumulate those miles.
It's windy here on the open prairie, and we saw miles of snow fences along the west side of the highway. The snow fences must not be very effective because there are also large signs and snow closure gates that look like the red and white striped gates at railroad crossings outside of every town that warn motorists to turn around and go back when the winter road conditions are unsafe.
We were looking for the Rockies as we continued south into Colorado, but we first rode through the Pawnee National Grassland, a 30 by 60 mile area important for wildlife and especially migrating birds.
U.S. 85 south of Greeley, Colorado becomes more congested with semi-trucks associated with agriculture as well as the booming oil and energy activity in this area. The closer we got to Boulder, the more traffic grew. The good news was that we also started seeing the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains that rises almost 10,000' above the plains.
We're in Boulder through the weekend to visit our son before we start the final 3 days home to Arizona. We're looking forward to mountain riding after the hundreds of miles of prairie over the past few days. Here is today's route
It's the 33rd day of our cross-country BMW motorcycle trip, and we accomplished our mission: ride into the 19 states of the lower 48 that we haven't yet been in on the BMW. South Dakota was our 19th new state, and this morning we rode south from Bowman, ND into South Dakota. We've covered over 7000 miles so far on this journey, and are now headed toward home.
U.S. route 85 has so little traffic that Mike parked the bike and we stood around in the middle of the highway taking pictures to celebrate this once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment.
We got back on the BMW and continued south with the Black Hills looming in front of us. This small mountain range is aptly named; due to the covering of pine trees the hills appear black from a distance.
U.S. 85 took us through Belle Fourche, a town of about 5,500 people that is the geographic center of the 50 states. Belle Fourche, which means 'beautiful fork' was named by French explorers, a good reminder that until the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, much of the country west of the Mississippi was 'owned' by the French.
We continued south on U.S. 385 into the Black Hills National Forest, 1.2 million acres of forests, mountains, and to our delight - twisty, curvy, sweeping roads. It seems like we've been on ruler-straight roads for the past 2 weeks, and we loved the challenge of the technical mountain roads.
These roads aren't for the faint of heart, especially after seeing the road signs warning motorcyclists and 10 mph recommendations for hairpin turns.
Our ultimate goal today was the Needles Highway, a technical, twisting road with hairpin turns and steep switchbacks within the Custer State Park. It lived up to its reputation as one of the ultimate roads for motorcycles.
One of the tunnels was about 9' wide, and another only about 8' wide - narrow enough that we felt cramped riding through it.
The Needles Highway is named after the large granite formations that resemble needles, and the views of the mountains and valleys made this an amazing ride.
Custer State Park covers over 71,000 acres and is home to about 1400 bison along with feral burros, antelope, deer, elk, and mountain lions. As we wound through the lush green valleys we encountered several bison, including some standing in the middle of the highway. Watch the excitement here:
We also rode slowly past 2 feral burros, descendants of the burros brought to the park early in the 20th century for tourists to ride up the mountains.
We left the park and continued south to Hot Springs, SD where we're spending the night. We've had an amazing journey riding through the 19 states we needed to complete our mission:
Oklahoma
Kansas
Texas
Arkansas
Louisiana
Mississippi
Alabama
Florida
Georgia
South Carolina
Tennesse
North Carolina
Delaware
Rhode Island
Wisconsin
Michigan
Minnesota
North Dakota
South Dakota
Along the way we rode through 14 states we've already traveled through: Arizona, New Mexico, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. That's a total of 33 of the lower 48 states on this trip alone.
Tomorrow we ride to Boulder, CO to visit our oldest son for a couple of days before the final three days of our ride home to Arizona. There are sure to be more adventures along the way! Here is today's route
