trip details vol. one

so i've avoided posting about the vacation. mostly because i'm not sure i can do it justice. but i've got to do it now or risk forgetting details completely...



Stage 1: The prelude (Days 1 & 2)



So we started out friday morning from Abby's mom's house in Crown Point, IN (about 45 minutes west of chicago). we elected to take US 30 to I 80 to avoid chicago traffic. This meant that we'd be traveling through Iowa instead of Minnesota. That was fine by me, I'd never been through Iowa.



And it was interesting. I thought growing up in indiana that I was living in an agricultural epicenter of america. Indiana is urban compared to Iowa. The corn fields dominated the landscape and would have been the only thing of note in the state if it weren't for the rolling hills. I felt like I was in a Microsoft Windows Background.



At one point we saw a crop duster tending to some crops. This was a first for me.



We eventually made it across the state, met up with I29 north and used it to cross into South Dakota. We eventually settled in for the night at Soux Falls. We lucked out and got a great rate at a very nice Sheraton Hotel. This was the height of our hotel staying experience for the trip. we had no idea how tough things would get.



Day two was took us across South Dakota on I90. The missouri river valley was an impressive sight and the landscape was becoming increasingly mountainous. But the most noticeable difference was that motorcyclists were seemingly everywhere. With every mile west we traveled, motorbikes became more numerous. Not having been through South Dakota before, I figured that this must be normal. afterall, we're in Marlboro Country. and bikers are the new cowboy.



At some point we made it to 1880 Town which looked like a movie set for a western. When we pulled in for a pit stop we saw a banner that welcomed the bikers and mentioned something about Sturgis '05. ah ha! so this isn't par for the course. There must be some kind of event in Sturgis that bikers are swarming to.



Well, some of you might know what was going on already. Sturgis is home to only the largest Motorcycle rally in the world. They expected 700,000 bikers to show up to this thing. And we were driving right into the heart of it at exactly the wrong time. Sturgis was plum between us and our destination for the night.



but not quite yet. First we had to visit The Badlands and Mount Rushmore (an ambitious day!). There isn't much to say about the badlands. The photos we took probably say more than words. In fact, I took so many photos that i ran out of batteries before we got to mount rushmore (which is why there are none in my gallery until I get fred's pics).



Just north of the badlands was Wall Drug. and it was a circus. For those of you who aren't familiar, Wall Drug has perhaps the most ridiculous marketing ploy in the west. They have road signs from iowa to wyoming. and when there isn't much to see out there anticipation builds easily. So Everybody stops at Wall drug. It's basically a huge tourist trap. And when so many bikers are passing through already the place was essentially deadlocked. We didn't spend much time there. We had a long way to go.



Next up was Mount Rushmore. and it was also crazy. Bikers were everwhere. The town at the foot of the mountain (Keystone?) had more parked cycles than i've seen (in life or photo). it was insane. My guess is that there was going to be one heck of a party there that night.



Mount Rushmore itself wasn't all that exciting. You go, you see the heads, you take a few pictures and that's all there is to it. They've done alot to embellish the experience, but the attraction isn't very interactive. I guess there were some hiking trails near the base of the mountain, but we had plenty of hiking ahead of us.



And that was most of the excitement for the day. We made it through Sturgis without trouble. We passed Devils Tower and stopped for the night in Buffalo, Wy. Thanks to the sturgis madness and a local County Fair/Rodeo, I think we got the very last hotel room in a two hundred mile radius. Too bad it was a smoking room. We got in late and we had alot of packing to do. Because tomorrow was our first day on the trail.