The Rally is officially on...

 

After getting some errands done in Rapid City (getting the helmet sent back), we geared up for a ride.  We considered going first thing this morning, but just as we were changing into our riding gear, it started to rain.  We changed the timing on the errands.

Warm and sunny when we took off on the scoots.  With today being the first official day of the Rally, we chose to go south and avoid the crowds.  Our usual back-roads routing, and the riding was good...

 We talked about going down Iron Mountain Road, past Mt Rushmore, then deciding between Needles Highway or the Old Hill City Road.  As we turned onto Iron Mountain Road, we heard the first rumble of thunder... well, maybe we'll change that plan.

The traffic was light until a few miles in on Iron Mountain Road.  We got behind a slow moving group of bikes, but that is to be expected at this time... the riding was still good.  When we got to the end of Iron Mountain Road, a light sprinkle had started.  We decided to head towards Rushmore and see what the weather is doing.  Rain - that's what it was doing.  We turned around just past Mt Rushmore, rode through Keystone, then took Highway 40 to get us back to the fun curvy roads.  The rain continued to get heavier.  By the time we were at the intersection of South Rockerville Road and Neck Yoke Road, it was a solid rain.  There was some discussion about stopping to put on rain gear... but, we were already wet; we rode on.

Back on Spring Creek Road (that takes us back to Hart Ranch), the road was wet enough that you couldn't see the "tar snakes"... and they are even more slippery when wet.  Back to Hart Ranch and our motorhome.  By the time we changed out of our wet clothes, the rain had let up.  Both bikes were grubby, so we took a few minutes to clean them up before putting them away.  As you might expect, the Vespa was the grubbier of the two, without that front fender.

Joan had put a pork roast in the crockpot before we left, and it was smelling good in the motorhome.  Joan spent some time on the patio (with the awning out to keep her dry from the on and off sprinkles; I stayed inside and started downloading and editing the video I shot today...