Instead of taking the truck route bypass around Lead and Deadwood I followed business 85. Lead has an old downtown that looked interesting, and in Deadwood I went by the Chubby Chipmunk Chocolate Company and I was happy to see that the antique/collectible/junk store next door was still in business - Andrew (about 13 at the time) and I stopped there on our way to San Francisco after picking up dad’s Maxima in Cleveland. Downtown Deadwood has of course grown, but it wasn’t busy early in the morning and I took US 14A through the north end of Sturgis to the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame, which is on the south side. I’d been to Sturgis once before, but just stopped at the south end and didn’t go into town, so this time I got to see the whole town, which was larger than I thought it would be - getting ready for the big Sturgis Rally in a couple of weeks.
I paid my admission (discount for veterans) chatted a bit with the lady at the counter since there weren’t many people there yet, and went in. It isn’t large, only 60 or so motorcycles, but there is an eclectic mix, and a lot of artwork on the walls, which I hadn’t expected. Much of it is by David Ulm, who paints realistic and somewhat kitschy pictures of comely young ladies in period attire aboard vintage bikes in humorous scenes.
The door to the Ladies Room.
There are many custom bikes, which I normally don’t care for, but I have to admire the work and imagination that goes into them.
It isn’t all big Harleys. Here’s a Velocette Thruxton, an Allstate (Cushman, rebadged by Sears) scooter, a Vincent, and a Honda that you would meet the nicest people on back in 1967.
There were a few very old bikes, such as this Cleveland and an Ace.
The Belgian FN had four cylinders and shaft drive back in 1910.
The museum isn’t perfect. The signage could use a larger font so us old folks wouldn’t have to keep putting on our glasses, and some of the text had errors, but by and large it is a great place - just the right size and a variety of exhibits that encompass the whole motorcycle world. I spent a little less than two hours there, but I had another museum to visit in Sturgis. Just outside of town is the Sturgis Car Museum, which I’d never heard of until I picked up a flyer for it at the Sundowner while I was eating breakfast. It is outside of town near I-90, and I hadn’t realized that it’s main purpose is the SAAB Heritage Museum, and since my first car was a three-cylinder, two-stroke, 1959 SAAB, I was very excited to see so many SAABs under one roof.
They weren’t busy at the time and I got a personal tour from one of the docents, who quickly realized that my main interest was in the early SAABs and not the later, more conventional, and refined models. I spent an hour there but look forward to returning to Sturgis again to revisit both museums.
I got on I-90 and followed the GPS through Rapid City onto SD 44 which goes through the Badlands. The worsening haze made the already surrealistic landscape ghostly. I stopped in Interior looking for lunch, and discovered that the Wagon Wheel Bar and Grill was open - several years ago I’d stopped there for breakfast and it was closed.
I stayed on 44 through the Rosebud Reservation (Lakota) and then through rolling hills, grassland, ranches, and hay fields, which gave way to corn the farther east I went. The strong wind from the south cleared most of the haze, and I stopped for the day at a Super 8 in Winner, SD, did a laundry, and had dinner (grilled chicken salad even though the special was chicken fried steak) at the Huckleberry Restaurant nearby. (310 miles)
Tuesday, July 18, 2023: Last night I checked weather.gov for Winner and discovered that there was a severe weather warning for thundershowers and possible large hail, so with the manager’s permission I moved the bike under the large overhang in front of the office. In the morning I discovered that although it had rained there was no hail, not that I would have heard anything over the noisy air conditioner in the room. Breakfast was described as “light” - waffles, cereal, packaged sweet rolls, and toast. I had a couple of pieces of toast and a cup of (very bad) coffee just to get me going, and rolled out of the parking lot at 8:45 under a cloudy and overcast sky and 65 degrees. I was dressed for possible rain, but the sky gradually cleared throughout the day and the temperature was mostly between 75-80 degrees - good riding weather. After 60 miles I stopped at the Tee Pee Diner in Bonesteel, SD for a real breakfast.
As you can see the sky was already clearing and yes I ate all of that -plus the coffee was good. After breakfast I continued on US 18, which was in good shape and went through rolling country with hay and corn fields, little traffic, and few towns. Later a woman at the South Dakota visitor center described the area as river hills. Before entering the Yankton Reservation I stopped at an overlook of the Fort Randall Dam and the Missouri River.
In Wagner I picked up SD 50, which took me through part of Yankton, which looks like a growing city and is right on the river. I stopped in Vermillion for gas, the stopped at the SD Visitors’ Center at I-29 to shed my jacket liner, open my vents, and switch to lighter gloves. In the parking lot I talked with a guy who admired the bike and said that he has a Suzuki 380 back in the 70s. When I asked the lady at the Visitors Center about IA 3 through the state she described it as a farm to market hilly road, which it was. I could have gone 20 miles south to US 20, but that is a four lane divided road all the way to Waterloo (my destination for the day) and I thought it was too much like an Interstate. As it turns out 3 is an interesting road through farm and cattle land, but there is a small town every 5-10 miles, and a fair amount of local traffic and farm trucks hauling the farm products and a 55 mph limit. I rode through Le Mars, where I did not stop for ice cream - apparently there is a large ice cream factory there and people come from all over to eat ice cream. I did stop in Cherokee to mail some T-shirts home and have a coffee, scone, and fruit bowl at a coffee shop downtown - nice little town. I decided that I’d be arriving in Waterloo after dark if I stayed on 3, so I angled southeast on 7 to Storm Lake and shortly thereafter connected to US 20 east, which a strange road. It is a limited access and has exits like an Interstate, but there are also side roads that cross it. The few towns are located five miles or so from the road, and to get gas you exit and drive for four or five miles. There was minimal traffic and not even many trucks. I stopped in Fort Dodge for gas, and eventually followed the GPS to my motel for the night, a Comfort Inn in Waterloo, Iowa. Waterloo is a sizable town and the motel is in a area with a few others, a Harbor Freight across the street, and a couple of malls nearby. There are several fast food places close to the motel, but I walked a half mile or so to a Longhorn’s Steakhouse, where they had no NA beer but I stuffed myself anyway.
It was a long day, but tomorrow morning I’ll visit the National Motorcycle Museum, the ostensible purpose of this trip. I’ll also create part three of the Anamosa journey, as this one is growing too large. (450 miles)
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