Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Day 37 - July 20th, 2010 Broadus, MT to Wall, SD

From Broadus, MT would be a long day to home.  We made the decision to break the distance into two days and become a Black Hills' tourist for part of today.  We've vacationed several times in the Black Hills and always find the area clean and refreshing.  Only time it seems crowded is during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and that wasn't for two or three weeks.

An excellent breakfast in Broadus and a charge down Hwy 212 brought us to the wide spot in the road called Stoneville.  We didn't sample the food but did have to test ride a local bike.


Made a quick stop at the Spearfish, SD Chamber of Commerce to pick up maps of the Black Hills and to plan a quick loop thru the hills.  Would go down Spearfish Canyon, thru Lead and Deadwood, back to Sturgis for lunch and a tour of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum, and back on I-90 past Rapid City to the Badlands.

Spearfish Canyon had construction ongoing that slowed traffic and grouped us together to make it seem congested.

Sturgis was busy preparing for the upcoming rally.  Shops were being filled with leather goods, t-shirts, and motorcycle accessories.  Sturgis has became a round the year stop with numerous motorcycle related stores, bars, and places to eat.  We ate at Loud America and loved the atmosphere and even discussed coming back for the rally.

We had never taken the tour of the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum but today was the day.  Admission was only $5 and probably the best money we spent on this trip.  They have a tremendous display of all types of motorcycles from Malcolm Smith's ISDT Husky, to a Harley with a million miles on it, to early bikes I've never heard of.  Highly recommended stop if you ever get to Sturgis.
 
Leaving Sturgis, we hit a strong cross wind on I-90 east of Rapid City.  The Suzuki had now blown both fork seals and nearly all the oil in each leg had ran down the fork legs or blown back on the engine.  Handling was getting a little vague with the strong side gusts or passing large trucks.  Made the decision at Wall to get off the interstate and go thru the Badlands thinking the wind would be muted by the Badlands' bluffs.  Not to be.  Handling really deteriorated because going in and out of the Badlands created unexpected wind bursts and the handling became a real handful.   Tammy even remarked that the bike was really wobbling as I went thru curves.  At the campground, I would screw the fork springs' preload to the max to stiffen the forks for the trip home.  This worked well.

Rain was in the changing weather conditions so we grabbbed the last camping cabin at the Badlands Campground.  Great deal for $29.
The campground no longer served a restaurant evening meal so we road a mile south to Interior near the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for a quick pizza and a few games of pool again.  Certainly going to try improving my diet once I return home.

Good, relaxing day (except for the poor handling Suzuki) and posed well for our ride home tomorrow.

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