Weather forecast for the Dickinson area was for snow accumulations of over 2 inches with freezing temperatures. We don't mind the cold, but snowy and icy roads do not mix with a motorcycle. With that in mind, we cancelled the Dickinson reservation and altered the plan to head to Miles City, MT where there was no snow forecast.
We have traveled this area multiple times and somehow have missed North Dakota each time. Determined to check ND off the list, we opted to head north and catch the corner of ND before turning west for Miles City. We believed we would beat the snow and be just fine.
After a hearty breakfast, we donned our heated gear and headed north. First on our agenda was to once again tour Custer State Park located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was chilly but a pleasant ride up to Custer.
Custer is filled with wildlife - especially buffalo. Herds of them wander through the park and for some reason like to gather around the roads. You know when they are in the area from the buffalo pies left in the road.
We gave them plenty of room since we had no desire to be charged by a 2000 pound monster.
For the most part they were totally oblivious to our presence.
Hard to see but this is a thriving prairie dog town. Cool to watch them scamper about and listen as they warned each other of possible danger.
We skipped Mount Rushmore having visited on previous trips. The Crazy Horse Memorial is in the area and decided it wasn't worth the entrance fee. You can just make out the face of Crazy Horse from the photo. Eventually the plan is to have a full sculpture of horse and rider.
The day had been going just fine to this point but that would soon change.
The GPS routed us onto the interstate just east of Rapid City, ND and the winds started to pick up. As we zipped through Sturgis, we were fighting a pretty steady crosswind which also seemed to make the temperatures start to drop even more.
Once we turned north and headed for Belle Fourche, SD we were fighting a constant crosswind from the west or our left. Weather reports showed gusts of 40 plus and we believed it as we were dancing around the road.
Belle Fourche, SD is the geographic center of the United States. The actual location is about 12 miles east in a private pasture, but is marked by proxy in a park in Belle Fourche.
Leaving Belle Fourche, we were headed due north towards Bowman, ND. We continued to have constant crosswinds from the west and a sprinkling of rain added to the mix.
When we hit the North Dakota/South Dakota line, the winds changed direction so that now we had crosswinds from the east.
We made it! North Dakota has been checked off the list.
A stop in Bowman, ND for a quick snack and warmup was necessary before tackling the last leg into Miles City, MT. We now had a 130 mile run due west.
This leg had to be some of the most brutal motorcycle riding I've ever experienced. Winds were now gusting to 50mph which would blow you from one side of the lane to the other without warning and seemingly attempt to rip your head off. Temperatures have dropped to 34 degrees with constant rain. Our heated gear and gloves were turned up to the maximum - our right side was freezing from the wind and rain while the left side cooked.
We stopped in a rest area about midway to Miles City and simply sat still on the bike in the rain to allow our frozen right side to warm up before finishing our trek.
As we pulled into Miles City, we found a place to eat and enjoyed some still warm air. After checking into our hotel, we were quickly asleep. While it had not been a high mileage day - it certainly had been a high stress one.
Tomorrow we finish the ride into Great Falls, Montana.
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