I left the AirBNB in Wall at around 7:30, aiming for Sturgis Motorsports while Tori and Dorothy left at around the same time for Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Other than a distracted driver in Rapid City and high crosswinds across the plains, it was a boring highway slog for about an hour. I arrived in Sturgis while the shop was still moving an impressive number of bikes out into their lot.
They got me booked in for service and were kind enough to let me stash my riding gear in the staff area while they worked on the bike. I wandered into town on foot to replace my helmet cam and waterproof gloves, both of which finally kicked the bucket in the heavy rains the previous day. I had a pretty decent cup of locally roasted coffee and banana bread for breakfast, before wrapping up my wait by window shopping Sturgis Motorsport’s impressive inventory.
The shop finished up the bike a bit early and Tori and I arranged a meetup at the Blue Bell Lodge in the Black Hills for Lunch. After a highway bomb to Rapid City, it was actually a really nice ride on some of the same tight, twisty mountain roads that I’d added to my route for the first day of the trip. I tried to record, but the helmet camera had officially died a death and none of the footage was usable.
After lunch Tori and Dorothy headed to Wind Caves while I headed back to Wall to finish prepping myself and the bike. I added a bit of sightseeing to my ride back to Wall and hit up the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, but I didn’t see much: just one dead squirrel, two bison, and a few pronghorn from a distance. Tori and Dorothy beat my score by a wide margin and saw some massive bison herds on their way through.
After getting back I cleaned and lubed the chain, loaded up as much luggage as I could, got pre-load set, and configured my new helmet camera before checking the weather and route conditions ahead. It’s still unclear if some of the mountain passes on the Idaho Backcountry Discover Route are going to be clear of snow, but the weather looks good for the next week and I think I’m as prepared as I can be.
