Day 5 / Mon August 31st / Keystone to 1080 Southfork Rd. Cody, WY 82414 / 7hr / 388 miles / see MT RUSHMORE The morning started bitter cold. Sometime during the night, it had rained and then the temperature dropped into the 20’s the wing was covered with a sheet of ice. It was a good morning to crank it and let it warm up while the heated grips and seat thawed the ice. It’s nice to have toys…. The other two bikes had none. Mike had only brought regular ridding gloves. It was around 20 miles or so to Mt. Rushmore and his hands where already near frozen and numb.
Mt. Rushmore is more than I expected. I have always seen photos and such of it. First, we pulled into a nice parking garage that was mostly empty. It was cold and we were there right after sunrise. As you take the walkway into the visitor area there are buildings with info center, shop, snack shop, and restrooms. All of which where closed due to COVID-19. That blooming bug has affected us a lot during this trip. The walkway from that area to the monument is lined with all the flags of the states and territories. At the end of the walkway, you’re standing over an amphitheater that I never knew existed. Above it is the huge monument that pictures don’t even come close. The work to make that had to be astonishing. Here is a couple of pics.
As we were leaving Mt. Rushmore, I convinced Mike to put on Susan’s thicker gloves that was in the side of the wing. He was worried she would get mad. I told him if nothing else it would just give her a good excuse to buy a new pair. Like she needs an excuse…. They where tight but he did manage to force his hands in. We hit the road over to see Crazy Horse Monument. With Keystone and these monuments being in the Black Hills National Forest, the roads where a big improvement from all the flat straights we had been ridding for days. A very welcome and enjoyable change.
Construction on the Crazy Horse Monument started in 1948 and has never been completed. Very interesting how it came about and the government has yet to finish the job they agreed too. It too is massive. If they ever complete it in my lifetime, I’d like to see it again. Sounds like a future ride one day.
At one of our fuel stops Mike went in the store looking for bigger gloves. He came out with a really colorful cute set of Mittens to go over the gloves. Only thing they had. You know Josh and I had fun with this and he was going to be called Mittens for the remainder of the trip. I don’t think he ever let us get a pic of him with them on…. Dang it….
As we left the Black Hills National Forest the temps warmed and sunshine. We were traveling on narrow 2 lane roads most of the way heading to Bighorn National Forest. At one point as we crossed the Thunder Basin area and Josh had me on point again. I had the music a bit louder that my GPS. Checking the mirror, I seen they were stopped at the intersection I had just passed…. Opps… Had to make a U-turn and go back. I was relived of duty for taking point when turns where involved... LOL
I think we were in Buffalo Wy. On a fuel stop before entering Bighorn NF, Josh had planned to take the northern Hwy 14 up and over the mountains. Weather changed planes. We found out that snow in that area had the road closed. So, we took the southern lower route though a pass on Hwy 16. Still great views. I would have loved to take both roads. Now we can add snow to the list of weather events that effected our trip.
On to our Airbnb for the night. It was on a farm outside Cody and the owners who lived there were very friendly and rode a Harley. They had offed us 3lbs of fresh ground beef from their stock that we could cook up for supper. We decided to take the easy way and ride into town for grub.
Day 6 we will head into Yellowstone…..
Chuck
