Adaptable...

It is good to plan... even better to know when to alter the plan... especially when it is all about having fun.

The weasels are calling for rain for much of this week.  That means: there needs to be some scooting today, 'cause it is gorgeous today!

Joan made us each a cinnamon roll today; we cleaned up and hopped on the scoots.  There is a plan: let's go through Custer State Park again, maybe have lunch in Custer, then north past Mt Rushmore and stop for some ice cream.  Not a particularly detailed plan, but we're both in.

Some fun curvy road...

On to Iron Mountain Road.  I shot a few videos once again, but not many stills...

Instead of taking the Playhouse Road that takes you more direct to Needles Highway, we continued south on Iron Mountain Road, heading for the town of Custer.  This, too, is a great riding road...

The fun slowed a bit when we caught up with a bus...

You can see how narrow this road is - the bus is over the center double yellow line as it goes around the tight corners.  Rather than ride painfully slow behind the bus, we pulled into a turn-out to stretch our legs and hydrate...

No, I didn't take off, dragging her scooter behind mine - that is Joan doing some leg exercises.

We have a few days left on our Custer Park Pass, so we continued on through the park, and stopped again at the State Game Lodge.  This was another well-timed stop, because there are so many Minnesota plated cars...

We went into the Game Lodge to see if they were still serving breakfast (just after 10:30)... nope.  We wandered around a bit...

Then, back to the scoots and on to the town of Custer...

 

Custer has grown a bunch since we were here last!  They have "buffaloes" like we have "dolphins"...

 

The power of advertising: there was a billboard for Black Hills Burgers and Buns as we came into town - now, that was all I wanted.  We found a parking spot on the street not far away...

 

About a 10 minute wait for a table; before noon and the place was hoppin'.  It turned out to be a good stop: not only were the burgers outstanding, they had cheese curds!

After lunch, we changed the plan: that road was so great, let's go ride it back the other direction!  After a loop through Custer to see what all has changed.  Several big new chain hotels, more RV resorts, The Flintstones park is now Buffalo Ridge Camp Resort (upscale looking), and plenty of new shops in downtown.

Back into Custer State Park...

Signs, signs, everywhere the signs...

Yes, I slowed down for that sign above.  ;-)

Back to Iron Mountain Road...

This campground above is ready for the Rally ($1.50 Beers).

Some things changed since we went through this area just a few hours earlier: there was some kind of construction on Iron Mountain Road.  We did a U-turn and went back to a county road to get around the wait (and the inevitable long line of slow-moving cars)...

Back to Rockerville Road, and a change there: new yellow stripes painted in the last couple hours...

You know the rest: curvy roads, wheeeeeee, take a right onto Neck Yoke Road, more curvy roads, more wheeeeee, then back to Hart Ranch...

We had talked about a stop at Mt Rushmore for ice cream, but taking that County Road (which turned out to be fun) put us beyond Rushmore.  I bought her ice cream when we got back to Hart Ranch... because that's the kinda guy I am.  What?  Yeah, I had some, too.  :-)