Sunday,
June 17,2012 Father's Day, was a joyful day filled with
excitement hearing from my oldest son and being visited by my
youngest son (who lives nearby). It was also an exciting day as I
was packing for a road trip from Seymour, TN to Keystone, SD and the
Black Hills of Dakota. My sleep that night was sporadic at best so I
slipped out of bed at 4:00 a.m. Monday morning, got dressed, and put
the remainder of my stuff in the bike. I opened the garage door,
slipped on my riding jacket, gloves and helmet and eased my bike,
Sweet Thang, out of the garage into the cool morning air. At 4:50
a.m. I pulled out of the driveway for my ride. The air was chilly at
that time of the morning and the traffic was practically
non-existent. A good day for the ride. The weather was to be good
for most of the way with some summer thunderstorms over the mid-west.
I eased
through Knoxville, grabbed I-75 North and headed for Kentucky(KY).
This is a very scenic highway that I have traveled before but only
into the southern edge of KY to the Cumberland Gap National Park.
Long rolling hills with lots of trees and farms on either side and
some morning mist hanging in the hollows between the hills.
The
foot hills of the Cumberlands along I=75 near the TN-KY state lines.
At
London, KY I pulled into a convenience store for my first fuel stop
of the trip. After quenching Sweet Thang's thirst I decided to grab
a cup of coffee and one of their maple sausage biscuits for
breakfast. Not a bad stop and the biscuit was good also. After
downing my breakfast I cranked up and headed North on I-75 to
Lexington. Caught the morning traffic at a good time and changed
routes to I-64 West. Zipping through Lexington was not a problem.
After a few miles the next stop was Frankfort for more fuel. I
usually run about 120 to 130 miles per fuel leg. More often as the
throttle cranks open more and the wind comes up. But no problem this
morning. The sun was well up as I continued West on I-64 across
rolling hills, pasture and farm land lush with the spring rains.
Not to
many miles later I rolled into Eastern Indiana which resembled
Western Kentucky. Imagine that. More farms and more corn, soybeans
and various grain crops. Along with a large amount of cattle. At
the first IN rest stop I pulled in to use the facilities and take off
the riding jacket. It had gotten considerably warmer than when I
pulled out this morning. I folded the jacket and secured it to the
buddy seat with bungie cords, mounted up and pulled out. I could
tell it was going to be a rather warm day.
Further
over in IN my stomach let me know that it was time to eat. I forgot
to reset my watch so when I pulled into an Amish style restaurant, I
checked their clock and found I had crossed over into the Cenral Time
Zone. It was only 11:15 a.m. there but my stomach didn't care, it
was still time to eat. As I was paying my buffet check I told the
lady that it was an almost perfect meal. A gas station nearby and a
great country farm lunch. She asked why it wasn't perfect. I said
because she didn't have a piece of rope or velcro to prevent me from
falling off my bike after eating that big lunch. Couldn't you just
see the headlines, “Fat old man goes to sleep and falls off
motorcycle.”
I
clipped along continually heading West and finally crossed over into
Illinois. Why it looked like the state I had just left. That is
until you start getting closer to St. Louis as it then seems to
flatten out, more like the delta lands of the South. Did I mention
there are thousands of acres of corn along this highway. Maybe even
millions of acres. That's a lot of ethanol and cornflakes.
Corn, corn and more corn.
We should never run out of corn flakes.
In St.
Louis I changed from I-64 to I-70. St. Louis seems to have a long
term highway construction project that has no end. And it's always
plenty of traffic. At the time I hit it there were a lot of people
getting
off work and I was starting to get a little tired. Mostly from the
heat. I originally planned to spend the first night in O'Fallon, MO
but when I got there it was still plenty of daylight left so I
pressed on to Columbia, MO where I spent the night. Distance today,
647 miles.
The
next morning I fueled up and pulled out for Kansas City, MO. The
wind picked up and was very gusty. Makes you do a full day of
isometric exercises just bucking the wind. So, I figured as I hit
I-29 in Kansas City, MO the wind would be to my back and the ride
would be easier. Well, it wasn't to my back until about thirty miles
and then I got some relief.
I rode
like the wind, stopping only for fuel and to eat arriving in Sioux
Falls about mid-afternoon of the second day out. Here I would turn
West to ride on I-90. I didn't think the wind could be any worse
than it had been but I was wrong, very wrong. Gusts of 30 to 40
miles per hour wind made for a very difficult handling ride. Finally
at about 5:30 p.m. I pulled into Mitchell, SD, home of the Corn
Palace.
After I
got a room for the night I decided to ride into town to see the Corn
Palace again. It had been many years since I last saw it. If you
get in the area it's worth a short trip off the interstate to see a
building decorated on the outside in ears of corn and corn stalks.
These murals on the exterior of the Corn Palace are made using corn.
They are not painted and are changed at least annually. This particular
year they were honoring sports.
After
dining at a nearby restaurant I pulled across the highway to my motel
room and enjoyed a long hot shower needed to help relax my muscles
from fighting the wind all day. It was a rather warm evening and the
air-conditioning felt great. I'll sleep good tonight. Distance
today, 559 miles.
About
4:00 a.m. I was awakened by the sound of thunder. At 4:30 I got out
of bed, looked outside and it was raining, a thunderstorm was passing
over. I got dressed, took my stuff downstairs as asked for an
umbrella so I could get my rain gear from the bike. Had no idea the
night before that it was going to rain during the night. No
umbrella. So when the rain slacked off a bit I ran out and pulled my
rain gear out of the saddlebag and hustled back inside. After
putting it on I quickly carried my things out to the bike and loaded
while trying to keep everything dry by spreading my jacket over them.
After loading I cranked up and headed West again on I-90. I thought
the wind was rough the day before but during the thunderstorm it was
even rougher. The lightning part had passed by or I would still be
waiting at the motel.
About
70 miles down the road is Chamberlain, SD. It's on the East bank of
the Missouri River, a quaint little town and was my first destination
stop for the day. The down ramp to the town was closed for road
construction so I had to ride across the river and backtrack on the
old highway. As it was only about 7 a.m. I decided to find a
restaurant and have breakfast figuring the Lakota Museum would not be
open until 9:30 or 10:00. There was one on the main street of
Chamberlain. They serve a great breakfast and of course, when the
cable crew that was dining there went outside they started admiring
the Val. Finally one came back in and asked if that was a six
cylinder engine. I said yes and he went back outside telling
everyone,”See, I told you it was a six.”
After
breakfast I mounted up and road through town to the St. Joseph Indian
School where the Lakota Indian Museum was located. It is beautiful
on the inside. The artifacts were arranged in a circle according to
the times of the Lakota. Beautiful bead and porcupine quill work on
clothes, bags, shoes and other items. There I met Dave, a sixth
grade teacher, who met me by the school to show me around. The
school setting is very pretty with plenty of trees and scenic areas.
He showed me around the classrooms which were being remodeled at the
time. They take Lakota children from all around the area and educate
them. I have been donating money to the school for several years and
now had the time to see what was being done with my donations. They
are doing a great job there with the kids.
I then
met him at the Chapel which was absolutely beautiful inside,
especially the woodwork and the stained glass windows.
Each
window has stained glass constructed by a local artisan and tells a
story similar to the stations of the cross in Catholic churches. The
chapel is quite impressive but definitely not gaudy. I was much
appreciative of Dave for taking the time to show me around. We
talked for quite a while about the school, kids and education in
today's times.
The outside of the church is covered with ivy with a white statue
neatly trimmed and plainly in view. The grounds of the school were
impeccable.
I
pulled out of the St. Joseph school grounds and caught the old
highway back to the interstate. It was still drizzling rain but
riding over the bridge and the lake that has been made by backing up
the Missouri, was still very scenic. Catching I-90 again, still
heading West, I cranked up Sweet Thang for the next stop, Wall Drugs
at Wall, SD.
On the
way to Wall I pulled into a scenic tournout where I took the pictures
on the bottom of page 6. It is amazing to see all that land without
trees and just imagine what the first Europeans must have felt. It
is rather awe inspiring especially when you come from the East
Tennessee mountains where hardwood trees dominate the land.
After
2,986 billboard signs along I-90, I finally reached this landmark
location. It had been many years since my last visit there but once
inside it seemed to all come back. It has been expanded a lot since
my last visit but they still have free ice water and a five cent cup
of coffee. Naturally I had to eat lunch there and buy some trinkets
for the grandkids and Mama. For desert I downed a second cup of
coffee and a plain doughnut. Didn't have room for a malt. The
temperature had also climbed a lot by this time.
I hit
the road after a bit for my destination of the trip, Keystone, SD,
home of Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse Monument, and my fellow
Valkyrie riders. Arriving at the Mt. Rushmore View Inn, I pulled
into the parking lot to see a sizable number of Valkyries parked and
several gathered discussing their favorite subject, riding
motorcycles, especially the Honda Valkyrie.
This ended the first leg of the trip. Next will be riding around the
Badlands and then the journey back to Tennessee. Good riding to all.
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