2017 West Coast - End of fun

We've known all along that the trip would have to end.  But it sucks to be ahead of schedule, and running out of fun. Tomorrow we start the trek across the flat lands toward home.

Some of our scheduled route had been planned to be aggresive.  But we also had a few days were we just over achieved because we could. Such as it was, we have found ourselves a day ahead of schedule. So we added stops at Devils Tower and Mount Rushmore to the agenda.

This was LoriAnn's first trip to Devils Tower so I encouraged her to join me on the walk around the tower. The walk is only 1.3 miles, on a asphalt paved path, circling the tower. A circle has 360 degrees to it. As fascinating as the tower is, a person could easily take 360 photos of it on the walk. We saw 2 different sets of climbers going up. Thats a sport for a younger person than me! 

Its always a fun to stop and see Mount Rushmore. But the scenic route to it is also pleasure run on a motorcycle. LoriAnn had seen the presidents many years ago. So she didn't know about the massive upgrades to the parking and viewing areas. It was good to see the monument again.

Heading down hill from seeing the presidents, a storm front was rapidly blowing through the hills.  I made two mistakes leaving the park: 1) I turned the wrong way out of the park, 2) I  didn't turn around.  These added almost 30 minutes to the downhill run to the hotel that allowed the storm to catch us on the road.  While we were able stay ahead of the rain, we couldn't out run the wind. The constant wind had us already riding at an angle. But the gust, coming from every angle, made it a struggle to stay up right.  

A side note: The 2017 Iron Butt Rally is in progess. A group of long distance motorcycle riders are scurrying across the USA in one of the biggest scavenger hunts ever.  This is day 5 of the 11 day event. In the image below, you can see that today they are mostly gathered in the Sotheast.   WATCH FOR MOTORCYCLES!

Below is our route...