August 7th : The small Motel we secured for the night was clean and we were thankful. A number of places were sold out due to the Sturgis Rally. The price we paid for this humble little motel with a scant toast/bagel/donut/frozen waffle breakfast washed down with Sunny D, was more than some of the nicer places we stayed. Funny how that whole supply and demand market strategy works!
Sturgis, I learned from Brian is a yearly motorcycle rally in Sturgis, SD (Harley-Davidson sponsored event). We followed, were surrounded by and were followed by motorcyles/riders along our journey through the state of South Dakota. We actually continued on with them through Wyoming as well. Many, most likely on their way home from the event.
We spent the morning checking out Wall Drug (have you dug Wall Drug?) where the boys played in a splash park and we took some silly touristy photos. The main street of Wall was lined with bikes and biker folk. Wall Drug seemed more amazing when I was younger...now it just seemed a little silly. Yet, nonetheless a destination point on the American Roadtrip Map of fame. Next stop - Mount Rushmore! The day was wonderfully sunny and the place was packed. Beyond the beautiful ponderosa pine and the patriotic feeling from gazing at the mountain sized sculptures of presidents past - this was serious people watching! The exhibits here are cool, the park rangers very helpful and the boys both earned their Jr. Ranger Badges. Brian spied an Alpine Slide in a small town near Mt. Rushmore and while I was guarding the car with Ocean sleeping, Brian took August on a rather spendy and speedy fun trip down a steep hill. If it weren't cost prohibitive I think they would've spent a good portion of the day doing that. But alas, the road beckons us - onward.
We witnessed some amazing landscapes and billowing clouds in the South Dakota and Wyoming skies. The land is beautiful and lonely all at the same time. Long, long lines of railroad track and endless freight cars or coal cars. We watched cumulus clouds build and tower, then display marvelous works of lightening. As we approached Cheyenne, late in the evening we saw one bolt of cloud to ground lightening strike and then an explosion on the horizon. That was amazing and frightening. We had another late pizza dinner, this time - you won't believe it... Little Caesars! In the morning we have some adventures we are looking forward to.
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