In the zone

After a week of riding I've found the rhythm of the road. That is when you've finally discovered where  all your gear is packed, a gas station appears just when you want one, a likely cafe is alongside the road when you are hungry, there's no traffic, the weather is perfect, the scenery is interesting, and the wind always seems to be at your back (which is often the case when riding from west to east).

After yesterday's extra 115 miles due to full motels, I slept in and got a late start. The first stop was the Little Big Horn National Monument, site of Custer's Last Stand. This is a surprisingly popular site and there were tour buses in the parking lot, and many people watching the video presentation in the theater, on tours with rangers, and examining the artifacts in the visitor's center. I'm actually not that interested the Battle of Little Big Horn, but apparently many people are, perhaps because there have been several TV specials about it. In any case the visitor's center is well-designed, the exhibits are interesting, and the paths around the battlefield area are well documented.

US 212 runs gently southeast through rolling hills, hay fields, and rocky buttes. There wasn't a single curve that required rolling off the throttle, but it was a relaxing and pleasant ride, helped by the very reasonable 70mph Montana speed limit and few cars. Montana seems to have a surfeit of casinos. There were only a few towns along the road, but each one had at least two casinos - even if there was no gas station. The morning was quite hazy from the forest fires in Washington and Canada, but the haze dissipated the further east I went. US 212 goes through a little corner of Wyoming and then into South Dakota. At Belle Fourche I turned south on US 85 through Spearfish and rode through Spearfish Canyon, a very pretty drive along the Spearfish River through the Black Hills National Forest. The speed limit was only 35mph, so I kept the speed down a bit and enjoyed the scenery. I rode through Lead and then Deadwood, and there were more cars and motorcycles on the road. Deadwood looks the same as it did 10 years ago when I drove through there with Andrew, and I didn't stop. US 385 goes south through the forest and there was a fair amount of traffic - it was Saturday and  this is a popular tourist  area - but it moved mostly at the limit and there were places to pass. I turned east on SD 44 and stopped just outside Rapid City to check the GPS for a motel. It seems that there's a big music festival in town and many motels were full, but I found a slightly seedy place that is fine. It is called the Time Inn Motel, and next door is the Time Out Lounge and Casino.

Tomorrow I'll visit Badlands National Park, and ride across South Dakota.