I didn't know...

... it was "Drive Like A Douche Day".

A beautiful day in the Black Hills: sunshine, light breeze, high 79 to 80º.  Someone should be out on their scoots... I suggested it should be us.  We are down to single digits for days remaining in our Black Hills stay.  A loose plan: let's do the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park again.

And, we're off.  Some would say: "About a half a bubble."  I know it is more than that, so I am not offended.

Neckyoke and Rockerville Roads...

Playhouse Road...

Iron Mountain Road...

And then we are into Custer State Park.  Into the Wildlife Loop...

It's a decent road, especially if you go a bit more than the 25 mph speed limit, which I've heard some people do.  But, no wildlife; halfway into the loop, and all we have seen are a bunch of grasshoppers...

And then - cars ahead (usually a sign that people are looking at something)...

Burros...

This is why they are called "begging burros"...

More nuthin'...

I was beginning to think we were going to get skunked.  No, not seeing skunks... skunked, as in: we ain't seein' nuthin'.  More cars...

A buffalo!

Wait, let me zoom in closer...

Yeah, one buffalo.  WAY out there.  Getting towards the end of the loop...

It was pretty clear that all the wildlife is taking some time off after the holiday weekend.  Speaking of "after the holiday weekend," traffic has been very light.  It was at the end of the loop that we came upon our first participant in "Drive Like A Douche" Day.  No, I don't have photos.  This couple was at the stop sign at the end of the road.  There was a car about a half mile away on the main highway... can't be too careful.  Turns out, these douchebags were not being cautious - the had stopped in the middle of the road at the stop sign, and were looking at a map, trying to figure out where they were.  Oh, yes, they could have pulled to the side of the road so traffic could get around, but that is not what douchebags do.  We finally had to pass them on the right to get around them.

Could people be any douchier?  Glad you asked... a few miles down the main highway, we came upon a line of traffic going 15 mph less than the speed limit... and the speed limit is only 25 mph.  One car at the head of that line, with traffic quickly building up behind (we were only about 6 vehicles back when we first came upon them).  Then, the driver of that car stopped... in the driving lane because there isn't much of a shoulder... going uphill... with a double yellow line... and then waved traffic around.  Unsafe, not to mention a giant douche move.  There was a turn-out a few hundred yards ahead, but no.  Maybe the driver was having a stroke?  They appeared to be lost.  Did I mention they stopped in the middle of the lane?  Uphill?

When I say they were in the lane, we had to cross the double yellow line to get around them... because this giant douche stopped in the lane.  It was a relief to get around them and get moving again.  We headed into the town of Custer, where we came upon "parking douche number 3": he pulled his Jeep into traffic and stopped, sideways, blocking a lane and a half; for no apparent reason.  In spite of the best efforts of the douchebag drivers, we made it into Custer...

Pretty quiet... we were able to get a parking spot close to the burger place and didn't have to wait for a table.  Nice.  We fueled up after lunch: the Vespa got 92 mpg, the PCX got 130 mpg.  Fuel prices in the Black Hills are higher than surrounding areas... we don't care.  ;-)

We decided to cruise through Custer State Park again for the ride home.  Wildlife Loop again?  Um, no.  No traffic...

We turned onto Iron Mountain Road again, and no traffic!  We quickly came up on this guy...

Driving 10 to 15 mph under the speed limit.  If you can't see his license plate, yeah, it's Minnesota.  We were only behind him for a minute or so before he pulled off (in a turn out, not in the lane) to let us get around...

When you can run Iron Mountain Road with no traffic in front of you, it is motorcycle/scooter bliss!  Then, we came upon these two spoilers...

I'm pretty sure they were having a "slow race"... and they were really battling it out to see who could go the slowest.  Every turn brought them to a snail's pace, and there are a LOT of turns on Iron Mountain Road.  They came to a complete stop at one of the tunnels... curves are scary, tunnels are beyond that... I think they pulled off to clean out their soiled pants.  Whatever the reason, we were able to get around and enjoy that great road again.  I have mentioned the "splits" on this road: it is a section where the two lane divides off and each lane meanders off on its own - big fun on a scoot, when there is no one in front of you...

Lots more twisty road as we made our way back.  Then, Joan enjoyed some patio time with Rufus while I cleaned up the bikes (we smashed a bug or twelve along the way today).

Fun riding, even with the douche drivers.  The seasons are changing - not seeing any fall colors yet, but the motorcycles that were here during the Rally were replaced with minivans with families, and now the retired folks are showing up.  Slowly.

We saw a few motorcycles out and about today - people on bikes are waving again, happy to see another two-wheel enthusiast.