Category: Cross Country Trip 3

We started the day in Sioux Falls, SD and rode about 520 miles.  We cruised down I-90W some more until we reached the Badlands National Park.  The best part about sections of I-90 is that the posted speed limit is 80mph, so we were able to make some ground.  There’s also a lot less people on the roads in comparison to home in the northeast. A few exits before the park, we got off for gas.  It’s the exit for 1880 Town, which I believe is a small historical exhibit.  I remembered last time I took this route in 2019, there was a camel laying in the field and I was able to tell Eddie.  The camel was there again, but unfortunately I was not able to get a picture of it. There was a train there so we opted to get some photos with the train in the background.

We headed towards the park and we were starving so we stopped at Wagon Wheel which is little local restaurant in the Badlands.  We ate there then started from the beginning of the park and rode through it taking photos and videos along the way.  Once we were done riding through the park, we were on our way towards the Black Hills.  Google Maps suggested us to take a dirt road to get back to I-90, but it was a dirt road.  This dirt road had the rumble-strip type of bumps in it so we immediately turned around.  It was super bumpy and we did not want to take a chance with any of our gear vibrating loose while riding down this 6 mile dirt road.  As I turned around, my front end started to wash out and I tried to correct it but between the soft sand and my traction control, I almost went down.  Thank good I didn’t!   Even though nothing happened, my heart was racing for a little while.  I really thought that I was going down.  Eddie said it was sort of funny to see in the rear view mirror haha.  But, since nothing happened, we continued through the park until we reached the western exit and made out way towards Rapid City.

Once we arrived in the suburbs of Rapid City, we were looking up at the sky. We could see storms in the distance and were watching the radar and local weather.  We stopped for a drink and waited for the storm to pass.  It was perfect timing!  As we left, the storm passed though the Black Hills National Forest.  The roads were wet in spots, but we were dry and we didn’t have to suit up for the rain.  It was about 95 degrees until we reached The Black Hills, then the temperature dropped to about 60 degrees.  Since we were on limited time, we first stopped at Crazy Horse, rode up Iron Mountain Road (16A North), and then stopped at Mount Rushmore before ending the day in Sturgis.  We arrived at Crazy Horse and paid to get in, but we couldn’t get anywhere close because of the recent lightening, so we left and headed to Iron Mountain Road.  There are tours up to the top of Crazy Horse, but the tours last over an hour and we wouldn’t have had the time. One day I will be back and explore it!

If we had more time, we would have also took a stroll down Needles Highway, but we couldn’t.  We were fortunate that by the time we rode up Iron Mountain Road, there was nobody in front of us so we got to enjoy the twists and turns.  My favorite part about this in Custer State Park are the pigtails.  The tunnels are also amazing.  In 2019 I was fortunate enough to get close to a Mountain Goat, but this time we didn’t see one.

Once we finished Iron Mountain Road, we stopped at Mount Rushmore.  We found out that every day they perform a show at night where they light up the faces. IT was getting late so we headed to Sturgis. There was another hour wait until the sun set before they began.  We basically took route 385 north until we ended up in Sturgis, found a hotel, and had dinner at Loud American Roadhouse.  We were stoked to have completed all of this and end up in Sturgis by the end of our third day.  Before leaving for this trip we were hoping to arrive in Sturgis by our second night.  That’s 1,800 miles from home!

More photos: Day 3 Photos

We started off in Rockford, IL and ended in Sioux Falls, SD. Before we left and started the day, I ran across the street to throw my sleeping bag in the dryer since it was soaked from the rain in Ohio.  Once it was dry, I put it in a garbage bag with my tent and we headed out. It was a very foggy and misty morning. We did about 530 miles for the day. Because we were still trying to make up for a lack of time, we just shot across I-90W the entire day.

Shortly after leaving Illinois, we crossed into Wisconsin, stopped for fuel, and met a guy on his way home to Washington.  He was 70 years young and took his motorcycle from Washington to Maine and we met him on his way back home.  We were telling him where we were headed and he told us that Glacier’s requiring a permit to access the park, which is good to know.  I had no idea about purchasing a permit to enter the park, but it’s until September 11 and it’s to help prevent congestion in the park during the summer tourist season. 

After talking with him, we continued down I-90W, crossed over the Mississippi River, and entered Minnesota.  Now, I’ve never been to either Minnesota or Wisconsin, so I got to add two more states to my list. I have now been to 40/50 states.  We stopped at a gas station shortly after crossing into Minnesota and lubed the chains.  It was a little overdue after an 880 mile day. 

It was also about that time to start looking for a place to eat too, so we looked around for food and found a place with a ton of great reviews in Rochester, MN. It was Forager Brewery and Cafe.  While there, the owner’s father came up to us because he noticed our motorcycles, so we talked to him for a little while about riding.

Once we finished there, we headed down I-90W yet again and and onto Sioux Falls.  Along the way, we were watching our fuel gauges and Eddie’s bike showed about 30 miles until empty, but he ended up running out of gas.  His fuel gauge hasn’t been too accurate, but we went about 30+ miles without passing a gas station.  We had to pull off and he was able to coast under an overpass where we both used our spare gas to get to the next gas station.  The best part was we were literally 3 miles away from the next exit where there was a gas station.  We filled up there and continued to Sioux Falls, SD.

A little while later we crossed into South Dakota and I was able to get a picture of the sign as we passed. Before getting to Sioux Falls, I thought it would be neat to dip down into Iowa because Eddie hasn’t ever been through Iowa before and it’s about 10 minutes outside of Sioux Falls.  So, we made a little detour and arrived in Sioux Falls.

More photos: Day 2 Photos

Welcome back to my blog! This is my third cross country trip on a motorcycle. Unlike the previous two trips, I went with my buddy Eddie and did an out and back. Anyway, we left from Monroe, NY around 7am to get the trip started. We knew it would be a very long day. We only had two weeks to try making our way to Glacier National Park and back before Labor Day, so we had to cover some ground on the first couple days.

We cruised down I-84W then I-80W through Pennsylvania and into Ohio. At about noon, we stopped for lunch in Youngstown, PA at a local brewery, Ǹoble Creature Cask House. It was delicious. Right before we got there, a coyote crossed the street which was cool, but I didn’t have enough time to get the GoPro ready. After we finished lunch, we continued onward and westward. Our goal was to make it near Chicago by the end of the night.

A couple hours after leaving Youngstown, we stopped for fuel. We were watching the skies and we could see the clouds were getting dark. The local radar showed storms coming in quick. We started getting suited up and the rain started. I was in a rush because I packed too much stuff and didn’t quite remember where I put everything, so when I got back on the bike, I ripped my pants. As we left the service station it started POURING! Less than a minute later, it started to hail jellybean-size hail. That hurt the knuckles! I told Eddie I was already soaking wet, but I didn’t want to stop so we kept riding. The storm was so bad, there had to be about 50+ vehicles pulled off on the shoulder with their hazards on to avoid the hail and pouring rain. We just kept pushing and making progress.

At some point we crossed into the Central Standard Time Zone and got an additional hour to keep riding. It’s hard to tell in the photos, but I saw a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree near the border of Indiana. We rode until we reached Rockford, IL around 10pm (CST) and stayed at a Hampton Inn. It was a good day, just long. We did almost 13 hours of moving time and about $20 worth of tolls.

More photos: Day 1 Photos