Post RMR Day 8, Sept 17th, Saturday

365 miles  Wall, SD to Sioux Falls, SD
We had a longer day planned for today.  We got up fairly early and head out to do the Badlands loop.  65 miles of Badlands.  It was awesome.  The colors in the rocks were amazing.  We visited the following lookouts: yellow mounds, panoramic and white river.  We stopped along side of the road several times.  Sometimes the best pictures are not at the overlooks.  We did skip a couple as we were spending a lot of time there.  We saw a bunch of mountain goats.  After the scenic route, we stopped at the Badlands trading post where adjacent to it was the building and viewing area of the fields where our government buried 150 silos that house nuclear missiles.  AWESOME!  They said that just one of these missiles was a powerful as 60% of the ammunition used in WWII.  WOW!  Just one! And we had 150.  Well many of missiles have been disarmed due to a nuclear treaties with Russia. 
Moving on.... Heading east on 90 wasn't so bad the first 30 miles then the cross winds came.  This is tiresome and painful.  Fighting to keep your head straight, your neck and shoulders take a beating.  Robaxin was my friend today.  We realized we had crossed into another time zone and just lost an hour.  It was now 3:30pm.  Moving to the next stop just outside of Sioux Falls to gas up.  We were only getting 120 miles to the tank.  It was the high speed.  The speed limit was 75 so 85 seemed appropriate.  Since we were just getting our interstate 'legs' back so to speak, we were tired and the weather was cold.  The mixture of tired and cold crosswinds had gotten to us.  We decided to stop and stay just south of Sioux Falls on 29.  Quality Inn was our choice tonight.  It was extremely roomy and nice.  We drove squid style (well with no helmets) to the Denny's at the opposite end of the entrance road.  Back at the hotel the usual went down of pictures and charging, checking the weather (which was not good) than off to bed.

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Post RMR Day 9, Sept 18th Sunday

286 miles  Sioux Falls to Waverly, Iowa
 Severely overcast-- gray black skies with no light or blue in sight, and misty/foggy, we headed out about 10am.  the Quality Inn had a good breakfast.  We had our rain gear on ready to go.  We did the first 100 miles with no problem.  Wind wasn't bad at all.  Stopped to gas up and get a hot chocolate.  moved onto the next stop, Clear Lake 120 miles later.  Still only getting about 120-130 miles per tank.  We grabbed a bite to eat.  While eating quickly, the mistiness turned into rain.  A steady light rain that didn't look like it was going to stop anytime soon.  So we finished up and moved out.  Full on rain by this point.  In fact the further we got the harder the rain came down.  Boy did this suck.  Even though I was dry on the inside it was still weighing on me and I got cold fairly quickly.  My hands had stayed dry due to the snowmobile gloves David bought me while he was getting a tire for me in Rapid City.  I didn't want to give up, but I patiently waited for David to come on the chatterbox and say 'lets stop for the night'.  And he did. About 10 miles later we found an exit with hotels.  We stayed in Waverly, Iowa at American Standard Inn.  We checked in soaking wet and passed the pool and hot tub on the way to our room.  Got our gear off and went to hot tub to warm up.  This didn't take long at all.  It was sooo very nice!  We showered, ate, and checked the weather.  The future looked brighter.

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Post RMR Day 10, Sept 19th, Monday

470 miles-- Waverly, Iowa to Indianapolis, Indiana
After checking the weather last night we were very optimistic.  With 970 miles to get to Liz and Cheap's house we split the miles and headed for the other side of Indianapolis.  Greenfield was our goal today.  The morning was 50 and overcast.  Knowing the sun was suppose to make an appearance we started our day early about 8:45am.  Stopping after 45 miles to gas up as we didn't start the day with a full tank.  It was a quick gas-n-go.  You could see breaks in the sky and some blue here and there but not clean at all.  In fact it was overcast and gray looking, as if it could rain at any time.  Stopping again after 153 miles we got a slice of pizza, shoveled it in, gassed up and went on our way.  We were feeling good about our accomplishment so far.  We noticed more breaks of clearness in the sky, being hopeful that perhaps it would clear up.  It did not.  It stayed the same overcast, gloomy look, with cooler temperatures.  We stopped in Champagne, Illinois to gas up and eat a donut.  MMM! First donut I had in about a year or so.  Moving onward toward Indianapolis, the sky became darker and darker the closer we got.  We knew we would be getting rained on.  The question was when.  We were only 60 miles from our goal we just wanted to get there and perhaps a little further.  The weather would prove differently.  We pressed on and as we got to Indianapolis, I was reminded of a song we used to sing in church 'the heavens came down and glory filled my soul' only it was glory in the form of black clouds, thunder and lightening, and torrential downpour.  We quickly got off the interstate as we were hydroplaning everywhere (not fun on a motorcycle) and swooped into the Lowe's under the contractor awning area.  Dry!  We used the facilities and while inside the rain got harder and worse!  It lasted about 10 minutes then stopped.  Completely soaked we decided we were close enough to our destination that we would get a hotel just a couple blocks away.  Just 40 miles short of our goal we pulled into the Best Western.  We were most pleased with our decision.  The lady at the front desk was extremely nice and helpful.  The room was nice too.  Since there were laundry services here (not last night) we decided to dry our clothes and do a load of wash as well.  This morning it was not fun trying to put on wet pants.  They didn't dry all the way from the previous night's downpour. We walked over to the Bob Evans and ate a good meal. Did the normal nightly routine of charging chatter boxes, first drying them out, uploading only the few pictures and blogging.

only had one picture of the pond in Waverly.  It was so pretty so I asked David to ride over and take a picture.

Post RMR Day 7, Sept 16th, Friday

220 miles- Mt Rushmore, Wildlife loop, Deadwood, then to Wall, SD
We got up early and left about 8am.  We went to go see Mt Rushmore.  We opted not to go into the park as we had a lot of ground to cover today.  The views we got were the same and we were very satisfied.  I think we both had  a deeper appreciation for the monument after we both went to the Borglum museum yesterday.  We then moved on to the wildlife loop, where we saw Harney Peak, Sylvan Lake, Needles, much wildlife, and the Pigtale roads and bridges.  We had such an awesome day.  We saw wild turkeys, a ton of prairie dogs, many buffalo, both up close and from a distance, and a bunch of donkeys, up close and personal.  They were looking for food.  It was really funny to watch these guys scope out the vehicles and walk right up to them looking and receiving food.  We then drove to Deadwood.  David was interested in seeing the little town since he watched the show.   We ate at the Gem.  This is now a casino on the bottom and a steak restaurant on the top.  Back in the day and on the show it was a theater posed as a brothel.  The food here was excellent.  David's steak was actually excellent and far exceeded the one in Mexican Hat.  Cheaper too!  We walked the main street and saw the Saloon No. 10 where Wild Bill was shot.  We also visited the cemetery where Wild Bill and Calamity Jane were burried.  Most of the town is now and perhaps was casinos.  We then rode on to Wall, SD where we decided to stop for the night. Coming out of the foothills of the Rockies was very beautiful and we had to say our 'goodbyes'.   We stayed at Motel 6 and ate at the BBQ place.  We were pooped.  I believe it was because of the strong cross winds that continued to push us and reek havoc on our neck and shoulder muscles.  We went to bed early.

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Post RMR Day 6, Sept 15th, Thursday

Dina= 0 miles, David= 50miles
Today's agenda was David going to Rapid City on my bike to get a tire.  I had mailing of gifts and camping gear.  We decided camping was becoming a pain to arrange, due to places and weather.  We had decided to stay yet another day in Keystone because the weather was not allowing us to site see.  This afternoon was suppose to clear up and be in the 70's tomorrow.  We had to change rooms because ours was booked for tonight.  So the hotel graciously stored our stuff until another room was ready.  After turning the pool's table into a mailing spot then mailing everything, I decided to eat and plan our day tomorrow while waiting on David to return.  Poor him,  he came back shivering and cold, though only wet on the outside.  After David ate, we checked into our room and decided to go to the Borglum Museum here in Keystone.  Borglum is the artist who spent 14 years carving Mt Rushmore.  The museum was the life of Borglum and all his work.  It was actually very interesting.  Then on the walk back to the hotel, David impulsed purchased.  He bought an Iceland sheep skin and a Serape.  Good thing I saved a box this morning to mail back any last minute purchases.  We stopped for fudge and hot chocolate as it was still cold.  So much for the sun coming out about 2pm per the weather man.  Once back at the hotel we got into the hot tub!  This was a nice treat to warm us up.  It finally got a bit warmer and the sun appeared just before 5pm.  We walked to do laundry then ate dinner while waiting.  Came back to the hotel and packed up bags as we were actually going to site see tomorrow and leave this town.  What a great day.


Not many pictures to look at but click here

Post RMR Day 5, Sept 14, Wednesday

5miles-- left to go do the local site seeing but weather had us turn around
It was cold, in the 30's, and rainy.  We left to go do Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse then Deadwood.  We got a couple of miles up the road and decided it was too cold and nasty.  Besides the pictures wouldn't be good anyway.  We decided to stay in Keystone.  We went and bought a heavier waterproof coat for me and a sweatshirt and windbreaker for David.  Then decided to go on a train ride.  The train took visitors on a round trip from Keystone to Hill City then back.  The train ride was very nice, both the scenery and my company.  Once there, we had an hour, we walked around and ate lunch then back to the train.  It was turning out to be a nice day.  Not because of weather, but just because.  Once back at the hotel, we uploaded pictures then decided to go to the pool.  Afterwards, we went shopping.  We bought hoodies for everyone, the cost was excellent.  We ate a calzone at the pizza shop.  It wasnt' very good.  We came back to the room, drank two drinks and watched a movie called 'Complicated'.  Good day, in spite of the weather.


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Post RMR Day 4, Sept 13th, Tuesday

192 miles plus 60miles extra= 252miles  Scottsbluff, NE to Keystone, SD
Had good intentions on getting up early.  Alarm set for 6am but got up at 8 and finally left about 11am.   Once we hit the road we realized the next town was 60 miles away.  We were a little sketchy as we didn't gas up.  But with the nice steady speed and altitude we could make it.  Thirty miles out we see the next sign for the same town saying it was 46 miles away???  That's 76 total not 60.  What the #@$$?  We knew we could not make it so we immediately turned around and went back to Keystone.  Gassing up we set out again.   Thus the extra 60 miles for the day.  Backing up I feel I need to mention that the town of Scottsbluff was not impressive at all.  The monument is worth the picture but the town seems to be all industrious.  Its old and dirty looking.  Nothing around and kind of spread out among 4 streets. We gassed up into the original town we were heading for, Crawford.  There we saw some tourist information and coupons for Keystone.  Lady running the store said it was nice little town and we would enjoy our stay.  So we decided, that was our destination. Driving into Nebraska was nothing but grasslands and farms, and continued a little bit into South Dakota.  The closer we got to Keystone you could see nice rolling hills of rock with trees on it. Using the earlier coupons we found, we ended up staying in a very nice hotel called Mt Rushmore White House Resort.  The town of Keystone is so cute.  There is so much to do here.  We checked into our hotel and went to Mt Rushmore.  The sun was going down and mountain was shaded so we did not go into the park but saw it off the main road.  We decided we would move on to Crazy Horse monument and return in the morning.  Crazy Horse was crazy.  They charge you to get in (only $5) to see a face, not even the entire head.  Its suppose to be Crazy Horse's head, arm, chest and the horse's head.  The guy has been working on it since the late 40's, died and now his son took over.  I personally don't see it getting done.  Anywho, we were running out of time and decided to get a return pass and return tomorrow as well.  We went back to the hotel and walked to the town, ate at Teddy's Deli, home of the famous 1-lb pastrami sammich.  It was delicious!!  Only eating half of mine I saved the other half for breakfast.  We planned our day tomorrow and decided to stay 2 nights in Keystone.

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