Black Hills

There are two passes that go thru the Big Horn Mountains and I didn't trust the motorhome going on either because they both looked like they had some steep grades to them,  I just wanted to play conservative with heating up the transmission as I had read about people having 'issues' so I went around Probably some of the finest scenery of the trip.   Maybe another time.  Probably a good idea I didn't go thru the Big Horn Mts. because quite a fire was raging near one of the passes I would have used and I probably would have encountered smoke.

Yellow is Cody and route followed, Orange circle is fire area

Got to Sturgis, South Dakota and the guy that runs the park gave me tons of local knowledge to work with.

The first and most important was where to get the best food around

and no, he wasn't talking about the kind you drink.......although....

 

The park ,by the way is literally next door to the Black Hills National Cemetery. 

 I didn't realize we had so many National Cemeteries.  In this case, two, Ft Meade and Black Hills are within walking distance of each other.

Sturgis at top, Custer Park and Rushmore at center

 

I finally got out on the motorcycle for a tour and headed for Custer State Park.

On the way is Keystone, full of cool ambiance in the down town (re-created) area.

 

I didn't get to Mt. Rushmore only from a distance, but had been before and none of the faces have changed.....don't look a day older!

 There are many opportunities to frame the Monument......

                         

 The most famous is thru the tunnel openings, but my try didn't do so well

 This part of the trip is focused on the left circle, the right circle is the Bad Lands coming next.

From the last time I was here I didn't remember the scenery and the great roads taking you thru spectacular rock and forest.

And definitely did not remember the 'Eye of the Needle'.

I was just in time for a really great shot.

 This is how you get to the Needle.

 So now I'm headed for the BAD LANDS!