A Chamber of Commerce Day!

After the cool start to the morning, Mother Nature blessed us with an absolutely glorious day!  Bright blue sky, low humidity, temps around 80º as a high, and very little breeze.  A perfect day for playing on the scoot!  Honestly, this may have been the best riding day of this season!

The ride started off with plenty of curves.  I didn't take a camera to use on the bike, so this post won't be filled with shots of the roads; just my phone to get the current Scooter Tag and post a new one.

First stop: Mt Rushmore.  It has been several weeks since a visit there; still construction going on, so the amphitheater and area around that is closed off.  No idea of a completion date.  But, the carving on the mountain is still impressive...

I was going to get something to drink, and saw they had Buffalo Chili on their menu - a cup of it for $4 and change.  During the summers we spent in Yellowstone and the Tetons, I used to really enjoy taking the bike (a V-Strom back then) to Lake Lodge and getting a cup of Buffalo Chili and sitting down to a view of Yellowstone Lake.  Yes, the chili here tastes the same (same company as the food vendor), but a view of "the faces."  That doesn't suck.

Getting that bit of nostalgia done, I decided to take Hwy 244, that runs around the far side of Mt Rushmore...

No schedule, no destination - today was about enjoying the ride, so I wasn't concerned about making stops along the way.

Leaving the Mt Rushmore area, I encountered the only bit of traffic all day: 7 or 8 small rental scooters that couldn't decide if they were riding on the shoulder of the highway or swerving to the middle... I was happy to quickly get around them.  One more "road block": a pickup truck with Minnesota plates.  To digress, when we had the studio and I was doing any location shooting during the summer, it was a certainty that if a car sat through a green light or drove 15 mph less than the speed limit, it would have a Minnesota plate on it.  This guy also got around the scooter, then left his left turn signal on for several miles... and drove 15 mph under the speed limit... and when he did finally turn, it was to the right... of course, with no signal... after nearly stopping on the highway.  You might think this would enrage me, but I laughed about it.  Yes, really.  I was only behind him for a few miles and (as I said) not on a schedule.  When he finally turned off, I did not have another vehicle in front of me the rest of the day... well, if they were in front of me, they weren't being a road hazard.

Hwy 244 is a great road: a 50 mph speed limit for most of it, nice sweeping curves, lots of hills, and beautiful views.  From there, I turned left onto Hwy 385, rode past Crazy Horse and into Custer.  I stopped in Custer to top off the gas tank... 92.5 mpg!  How could you not like that?

East through Custer State Park - more curves and hills.  I stopped here to get the Scooter Tag (a General Store) and used my photo with the profile of George for the next tag (your scoot with something of National significance).

Through the park then a turn to the north on Iron Mountain Road once again.  No, it doesn't get old.  Especially with no traffic.  I stopped to get a photo of the Iron Mountain Road "Headquarters" sign...

A young couple on a Harley were on the other side of that sign and asked if I'd take a photo of them with the sign as a background... "Absolutely!"  (I think they tried for a selfie and couldn't get the whole sign in there.)  We visited for a bit.  They were from... Minnesota.  No, I did not say anything about Minnesota drivers to them - they seemed nice and were excited to be riding in this beautiful area.  They asked how long I've been here and seemed awestruck when I told them "About 5 weeks now - I'm here to enjoy the riding."  They asked about any other roads I'd recommend, and I showed them a couple things on their map.  They are here through the weekend, so they should be able to experience some of those great roads... although I will be surprised if they will find the roads this unoccupied over the holiday weekend.

Continuing on Iron Mountain Road, there was no on-coming traffic at any of the one-lane tunnels - a first!  I had the "splits" all to myself.  Did I mention what a great day of riding!!??

Through Keystone, out Hwy 40, and onto the curvy roads of Rockerville Rd and Neckyoke Rd for the ride back to Hart Ranch.  Home in time to give Rufus his supper.  It is all about the timing.  ;-)