A monumentous day

Started the day off in Hulett, and visited Devils Tower. Very cool place. I will upload the rest of the pictures once I get to a place with a better network connection. But the tower and visitor's center is very nice. Be careful on the roads, though. There are prairie dogs everywhere!



Staying on 2 lane roads, I headed southeast to Sundance, where I stopped for gas, and then continued on my way to Mt. Rushmore, with a small detour at the Crazy Horse monument that's still very much a work in progress. I didn't want to wait a couple of hours for the bus tour to the top of it, so this is the best shot I got of it.



Then on to Mt. Rushmore itself, which was very cool.







North out of there, with a coffee stop in Rapid City. I90 East to Wall. Yes, I saw all the wacky Wall Drug signs. Rode through the downtown of Wall, all 2 blocks of it, then got more gas and headed south into the Badlands.

I rode the "Badlands Loop." Wow. What an amazing place to go through. Words won't do it justice, the pictures will do all the talking for me. If you are anywhere near this area, you must see this place. There are lots of gravel roads that peel off the paved loop, which I could spend days exploring, were I on my KLR. The guide materials say the best times here are early morning or late afternoon, with the sun casting interesting shadows on the craggy landscape. I was there from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, and it was stunning.

Completed the loop and got back on I90, and headed east with a quickness. I was hoping to make it to Sioux Falls by nightfall, but it didn't happen. No regrets, I enjoyed spending the time today seeing what I did, and not rushing past it. The sun went down, so I asked the trusty GPS where the nearest hotel was, and I stopped in Murdo, SD. Had a tasty buffalo steak dinner, and now am kicking back in the hotel room.

From here to Chicago there isn't much of anything to see, so I'm going to interstate it the rest of the way there.