DAY 2
Monday June 8, 2009
Devils Tower, Wyoming to Deadwood, South Dakota
Miles: About 100
Maybe it was only 100 miles, but it felt like a ton more.
After a night of rain in the tent, we woke to early AM low clouds that gave way to a partly cloudy sky, and a forecast for more rain. We took a few hours trying to dry stuff off in the little bits of sun. The tent was wet outside, and a little inside. The rainfly was wet inside and out, the sleeping pads were soaked. Everything that wasn’t soaked was moist.
PopTarts and coffee for breakfast.
We packed up and rode over to the Visitor’s Center, and did the 1.5 mile walk around the base of Devils Tower. I think we almost forgot how awful a night it had been. Devils Tower is spectacular and beautiful. The forest all around it is green with new spring growth, and the rain made everything smell fantastic.
We lingered there a bit, trying to relax, and neither or us excited about getting back on the bikes. There were some Harley baggers in the parking lot, as well as a few Wings and big BMWs. No other bikes in the campground though, so possibly these guys had figured out something that I hadn’t.
Can you say you've put your tongue on Devils Tower? I can.
We rolled out of there just before noon. Holy crap, the road out of Devils Tower was fantastic. Wide open sweepers, and I had it all to myself. Stopped in Sundance for lunch and to get stared at by the locals at a hole-in-the-wall diner.
The original plan was a scenic mountain jaunt into Deadwood, SD, then passing through to Roubaix Lake and Forest Service Campground about 20 miles southeast. However, I was cold. Our gear was damp and it was just plain cold out. We nixed the scenery and got on the Interstate. Brr. I was frozen. It was everything I could do to just keep riding and not get off at every offramp to try and warm up. I couldn’t get warm, so there was no point in stopping. It was cloudy again by now, so no sun to warm me up.
We headed up into the hills towards Deadwood, and yep, it got colder. We stopped for gas in Lead. We had two options. One, continue on to our campground 20 miles further up, where it was certain to be very cold and possibly very wet, or two, get a hotel. Hubby was cool with the hotel suggestion so we turned around. With luck I noticed the tiny sign for the Holiday Inn Express in Deadwood, and checked our frozen asses into the hotel.
Pussies.
A really long hot shower later, and we went for a walk around the town. We visited Deadwood Harley-Davidson and marveled at their amazing lack of gear. We ate dinner at a free but shitty buffet, and passed out dead at an embarrassingly early hour.
Reply With Quote