On Thu, 27 Dec 2012 23:39:16 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 27 Dec 2012 16:33:22 -0500, GuzzisRule
wrote:

On Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:34:28 -0500, wrote:

On Thu, 27 Dec 2012 12:51:11 -0500, GuzzisRule
wrote:

My first real job was with the US Coast and Geodetic Survey, working the Minuteman sites in Sidney,
NE and Minot, ND. Neither place was very exciting.

I rode through the Badlands with some Guzzi friends from Holland. Very beautiful country. But, I
wouldn't want to live there. I kept imagining a couple thousand Indians coming down and attacking
our little motorcycle train.

I agree the Dakotas are mostly a lot of nothing but we had a good time
at the Minot state fair. We rented a boat in Beulah at the dam, toured
the synfuel plant and took the Air Force tour in Minot.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/Silo%20hatch.jpg
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/minute%20man.jpg
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/B52.jpg

We also checked out Wall Drug and went to the rodeo
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/Wall%20rodeo.jpg

My favorite area is the Black Hills and on out through Wyoming. There
are hundreds of miles of logging roads you can drive with nice hikes
along the way.
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/sylvan%20lake.jpg
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/Danc...h%20wolves.jpg

They have real convenience stores in Sturgis
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/convenience%20store.jpg

Of course they have this
http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/Rushmore%20profile.jpg

We saw most of those, including Sturgis, on the motorcycle trip through the area. We arrived at
Sturgis the week before the Harley Rally. All the vendors, or at least a huge number, had their
tents up and their wares on display, so we had a nice couple days looking around. My headlight had
gone out, and I was shopping for a bulb. Couldn't find one to fit the Guzzi in any of the places.

Mt. Rushmore was a letdown. I don't know what I was expecting, but maybe it had to do with the
distance from the mountain to the visitors' center. We didn't go on a mule ride or anything. It just
seemed small after seeing all the telephoto shots everywhere.

If you take the loop you walk pretty close to the base. It is not a
North by Northwest thing hanging on Washington's nose but it is pretty
close.
We also spent time in the area so it seems every road you take, goes
by Rushmore. That Iron Mountain road view is pretty cool, looking
through the tunnel.

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/Iron...n%20Tunnel.jpg

We also got pretty tired of Crazy Horse. It seemed like every logging
road ended up on the one that dead ended there.

We did find a cool restaurant out west of Rapid City on one of those
dirt roads where they will catch a rainbow trout while you wait and
cook it for you.

We really liked Spearfish. We had a nice cabin there that backed up to
the fire service road network. We drove almost all the way to Devil's
tower one evening before we ever hit asphalt.

If you go, get a green map. They have all the USFS roads on it.

You can find places like this

http://gfretwell.com/ftp/dakota/Wyom...ate%20line.jpg

We put about 1000 miles on driving these roads.
That Suburban we had got pretty dirty.

Cool. We did get to Devil's Tower, but that whole area was just a side stop on the way to
Yellowstone. I was riding with a bunch of Netherlanders, and Yellowstone, followed by Grand Teton,
was on the top of the 'see' list. We ended up spending about five days in Yellowstone. Then I had to
take off for home. They continued on down through Las Vegas and points south before returning to
Houston.