Another town with motorcycle only parking...

Smart to do that.  We were looking for a good ride and decided to head to Custer for an outstanding burger and, of course, the cheese curds.  ;-)

It was forecast to be a hot one, and they got that right.  It was 60º when I went for my morning walk and 64º by the time I got back; it was climbing quick after that.  84º when we were ready to head out on the bikes at 10 am.

Yes, there will be more "riding photos" in this post.  After a couple months of not being able to do much of anything except exercise and physical therapy, this is really like "vacation."

Heading out...

If we go south, it is the same twisty road that heads us in the general direction of Keystone.  It doesn't get old, and as you can see in the photo above, it was delightfully uncrowded.  At the end of that stretch, we have a couple options for which direction we want to go - today, we decided to take the shorter route that would get us to Custer just before noon.  And hopefully be ahead of the crowd and not have much of a wait to get a table.

Playhouse Road is another fun ride...

We turned onto the southern portion of Iron Mountain Road, which connects up after the pigtail bridges and tunnels.  The riding is generally a bit faster on this portion of the road.  It was long before we got behind a very slow-moving RV...

The driver of that motorhome was going quite slow and bypassed ample opportunities to pull into a turn out to allow traffic to pass.  I have no idea how he got on that road, unless he took that some Playhouse Road we took, because there are one-lane tunnels, tight curves, and narrow roads.  And prominent signs on either end of that road (near Keystone and Mt Rushmore on one end, and at Custer State Park on the other end) that warn you of the tunnel dimensions... and most Class A motorhomes will not fit through those tunnels due to their height.

This guy did not pull over until he had nearly a mile of traffic behind him... and then looked indifferent when he did pull over.  We were fortunate that we were close behind him, instead of way back - we were able to pick up the pace.  And, yes, that minivan was able to move right along...

Reasonably light traffic through Custer State Park and then into the town of Custer - we were impressed that there was no sign of the flooding that occurred last week; they did a great job of getting everything cleaned up!

And, we were surprised to see motorcycle only parking down the middle of their main street...

We parked our scoots and walked the short distance to Black Hills Burger & Bun Co.  It was 11:40... considering the slow-moving motorhome, we made good time.  It was a little early for us for lunch, but we knew if we waited a half hour, it would be close to an hour wait for a table.  They were able to seat us immediately (I think we got the last two available seats).  Since it was early, we decided to go for the cheese curds and split a double-patty burger... it was more than enough.

After lunch, we stopped at a nearby gas station that has non-ethanol gas.  116 mpg for Joan on the red PCX (she says it is peppier than the black one) and 90 mpg for me on the Vespa.  I continue to be amazed at how good the Vespa does at this elevation and riding style.

Then, heading out of Custer...

I missed getting a photo of a guy who was dressed and looked like General Custer waving at folks on Mt Rushmore Rd (the main drag)... including a tip of his hat to Joan as she went by.  Nice touch.

We chose to do mostly the same great roads heading back...

Turning onto Iron Mountain Road (from the south end)...

The traffic was heavier in the afternoon, but still not the bumper-to-bumper you'd expect during the Rally.  We stopped at one parking area for a scenic overlook - not for the scenery, but for a bit of shade and to allow my butt a change of pace...

Yes, we shed our armor coats for the ride back - the temp was in the upper 80s and mostly open sunshine.  Then, through the pigtails and the splits...

From Keystone, the rest of this is repeat, so I didn't shoot any more photos... but, the riding was great.  Back to Hart Ranch mid-afternoon.  Early enough for ice cream and a walk to the office to pick up a couple packages... at was 90º at this point, as warm as we've seen since we've been here.

It was nice to relax back at our motorhome... the roar from motorcycles going by was approaching sensory overload.  We are thinking about going to Sturgis tomorrow, just to experience the Main St crowd mid-week.  We'll see.