Oh, Give Me A Home...

... where the buffalo roam... and I'll show you a seriously dirty house.

Today, it was about the buffalo...

A solo trip today.  I decided to head south again, to Custer State Park and take the Wildlife Loop.  Heading out Highway 16, you know this is a touristy area...

I went this way instead of the curvy roads so I could top off the gas tank with non-ethanol.  Down through Keystone - a Harley came up fast behind me, and I waved him around me.  Waves both ways.  We got stopped at the stoplight in Keystone, and he lifted his faceshield and said, "Thanks for letting me pass - great roads here, huh?"

"Yep - great place to be on two wheels."

I wound up right behind him when we both made the turn onto Iron Mountain Road.  He didn't want to wait for a passing zone to get around the car in front of us, and passed on the double yellow...

It didn't make much difference, because there was plenty of car traffic on the first part of Iron Mountain Road...

Once through the tunnels, the cars turned off at the scenic overlook, and it was delightfully traffic-free for a while...

Well, this critter gave me the chance to exercise the disc brakes...

I pulled into the entrance lanes at Custer State Park - the guy on the Harley was right in front of me.  The lady selling passes looked back at me and said, "Well, that is a very cool Vespa!"

I said, "You're only saying that 'cause it's true."  ;-)  No other traffic there, so while she took my money and put a pass on my mirror stalk, she told me she has an Aprilia because "My feet can't touch with a Vespa - I really wanted a Vespa."

I told her about the Corbin seat and offered her a "test sit."  She took me up on it and, "I can touch!"

"Well, now you have options."

It is only a few miles from the entrance gate to the start of the Wildlife Loop.  This big fellow was right alongside the main highway...

No traffic as I turned onto the Wildlife Loop...

Coming over a hill, I saw a few buffalo heading towards the road and pulled over to get a "glamour shot" of the Vespa...

A short distance later, I saw two of the "begging burros" being petted and fed snacks by an apparent city couple...

A hint of fall colors starting to show...

Passed by a couple herds of buffalo a ways off the road...

And then the first of a couple "buffalo jams"...

We had to deal with bear jams (or buffalo jams, elk jams, moose jams) when we worked in Yellowstone and the Tetons: tourists stopping on the road and getting out of their vehicles to get photos of the wildlife.  This group was just passing through - I stayed put to give them plenty of room.  And then, a couple more "glamour shots with buffalo)...

Moving on...

Another wildlife stop: this time a prairie dog town...

Getting back to Highway 16 from the WildLife Loop, I took the road around Stockade Lake...

Then, headed east to Legion Lake for a late lunch.  After lunch, I decided to head to the Needles Highway; there were 3 couples on Harley dressers that pulled out just ahead of me - they were going the same way, so...

They stopped at one of the pull-outs, I cruised on.  It was actually pleasant riding behind them: all had relatively quiet exhaust pipes (I could still hear my Vespa), and they drove the speed limit or just a bit more.  No traffic for a bit...

That didn't last long...

Before getting to the tunnel near Needles Eye, a rental motorhome almost took me off the road, claiming the middle as his half!  No, I didn't get a photo, I was too busy looking at the edge of the road to try not to drop off!  As narrow as that tunnel is, I'm guessing he came up the way I'm going and then had to fight to get that thing turned around since there was no way it was going to fit through the tunnel (and it wasn't big, just boxy) - no doubt the driver was in semi-panic mode.  And then...

The "parade of SUVs turned off at Needle's Eye, giving me clear road ahead...

One more tunnel...

And I was out of Custer State Park and into the Black Hills National Forest once again...

I took the road that runs past Mt Rushmore and headed for home...

A cool day today - sunny, but the temperature didn't get above 68º until about 20 minutes from home.  Nice riding, great scenery and wildlife.