Day 5 - July 18

Today was our first real sightseeing day on the trip. However, we still did have a bit of a way to go to get to our first destination - the Badlands National Park.

The morning started off with some cloudy, threatening skies, but it wound up being a truly fantastic weather day. It never did get as warm as the last couple of days, so that made for some nicer riding too.

In order to reach the Badlands, we wound hitting a road that was a

little "sketchy" at best - it wound up being an unmaintained road, so we wound going 13 miles along his hard packed gravel road. It was fun to watch the cows and horses all staring at us as we took our iron horses on this road. Who says Harleys can't off-road??? :-)

The Badlands was an awesome experience too. Great scenery along the way, and lots of wildlife - rams, buffalo, prairie dogs were all over the place.

We wound up going into the town of Wall for lunch and a tour of that famous establishment - what a place!

From there, we looped back into the Badlands for another tour and then on to Rapid City for a visit to the local Harley shop, where they are preparing - big time! - for the 77th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

After that, it was a quick jaunt on Hwy 16 down to the neat little town of Keystone and a stay at the Rushmore View Inn, with dinner at the Grizzly Creek Bar & Grill.

Tomorrow, we have a full day of sightseeing!