A late April Jaunt to SW South Dakota

[bigjohnsd]

Late April is one of the best times to ride in the Black Hills.
Tourists haven't arrived, roads have mostly been cleared of sand.
Today was no exception, may have been my least unencumbered ride of most of my favorite roads ever.
I only stopped twice, once in Rapid City at Harbor Freight - their "Icon" brand sockets are 10% of what "Snap-on" costs and have proven equal to anything I can put them through. I wanted a new set of 3/8" drive Metric 6 point short sockets. What were they out of? Yup.

I headed South West from Rapid City staying off the highways and taking my favorite back roads.
After Keystone I decided to take Iron Mountain Road - usually clogged with tourists and all going the 25 mph speed limit or less. Today I came upon two cars and both pulled over immediately to let me past, probably the best run down Iron Mountain Road I've ever had.

I was headed to Edgemont SD to check out a Bar/Cafe but it wasn't open so lunch was delayed an hour until I got to Newcastle WY for a hamburger at Wayback Burgers. This franchise place is locally owned and staffed by some great kids. They make a decent Burger and the real potato fries are outstanding. $9 for a Burger/Fries/Drink and they are cooked to order. Next time Josh comes I'm going to buy him one of these nine patty Cholesterol Specials!


I settled for one of these today -
They call this "The Impossible Melt" and it is supposed to be made with some kind of "Plant" Burger but if you ask, like I did, they will make it with the real thing 100% Wyoming Angus Beef - A quarter-pound Burger with Swiss Cheese, Sauteed Onions and Spicy Garlic Aioli Sauce on an inverted buttered bun. It was damn good at 2:00 after my 8:00 am breakfast.

[danh600]

That little video is cool. I was surprised to see a couple of long straight sections in a few of those roads.

Looks like you went through some very diverse terrain.

[bigjohnsd]

That little video is cool. I was surprised to see a couple of long straight sections in a few of those roads.

Looks like you went through some very diverse terrain.

As you drop off of the Black Hills to the South (At about 0:52 sec into the video) it becomes High Prairie/High Desert.
At the 1:00 mark, I doubled back to try riding up "Old Highway 85" a dirt track that leads almost to Newcastle. After nine miles I had to bail out to the West and back onto US-85 "New". Old 85 kept getting more and more rutted where ranchers/oil service workers had driven through last week when it was sloppy wet. The ruts got so bad I didn't want to drop Freya and not be able to get her back up on my own for some reason. I might have gotten through ok but as I was by myself I let discretion overcome my sense of adventure.

[Panman]

Smart move on back tracking John! Looks like a great route some of which I have rode, love to get back there again in the spring or fall.

[SkooterG]

Excellent! Where was my invite you bastard?

[bigjohnsd]

Excellent! Where was my invite you bastard?

Open Invitation Squid! We don't discriminate against Sub Sailors here.

[gixxerjasen]

I wonder if it's possible to overlay a compass on that map video? With the rotating map it seems like you just keep getting further and further from home and then suddenly there you are back where you started. Gets kind of disorienting if you don't know the area. Still, I enjoy them. You got the food porn in, but we need more photos on these little trips.

[wheatonFJR]

I wonder if it's possible to overlay a compass on that map video? With the rotating map it seems like you just keep getting further and further from home and then suddenly there you are back where you started. Gets kind of disorienting if you don't know the area. Still, I enjoy them. You got the food porn in, but we need more photos on these little trips.

I, too, like the north orientation...either the map north up, or a north arrow that rotates with the map. Otherwise, it's more wowsy video than actual information sharing to me. I love the 3D relief map aspect. It's awesome. It just would be ten times more informative to me and enjoyable if it started zoomed out with significant cities shown, then zoomed into the ride area.

This has nothing to do with John's awesome ride, which it is....

[bigjohnsd]

I wonder if it's possible to overlay a compass on that map video? With the rotating map it seems like you just keep getting further and further from home and then suddenly there you are back where you started. Gets kind of disorienting if you don't know the area. Still, I enjoy them. You got the food porn in, but we need more photos on these little trips.

I'm working on more pictures.

The little Olympus Point and Shoot Camera I have is 10 years+ old and it is very hard to use while riding, and the buttons are so small and so close together it is hard to operate with gloves on. When it is cold - below 40F the battery must die as it won't work.

I've been looking at weatherproof point and shoot cameras and I think I've settled on the Nikon COOLPIX W300; It has good reviews, looks easy to operate with gloves on, I can hang it around my neck. I'd have it already but I had to spend more than the cost of the camera on the damn heated grips on the BMW which depleted my "discretionary funds" budget for the month.

Open to any inputs from camera owners.

[gixxerjasen]

Aww man, even pics from your phone would work. I have a hard time finding places to stop when I go. I look at narrow side pieces of the road and think "Nah, not safe" and then there's someone like Cav parked there taking photos.

[bigjohnsd]

Aww man, even pics from your phone would work. I have a hard time finding places to stop when I go. I look at narrow side pieces of the road and think "Nah, not safe" and then there's someone like Cav parked there taking photos.

I want to be like Tyler and take pix on the fly with one hand.

I have had numerous recommendations for a Fuji XP-140. I ordered one this evening.

[SkooterG]

Aww man, even pics from your phone would work. I have a hard time finding places to stop when I go. I look at narrow side pieces of the road and think "Nah, not safe" and then there's someone like Cav parked there taking photos.

I want to be like Tyler and take pix on the fly with one hand.

I have had numerous recommendations for a Fuji XP-140. I ordered one this evening.

Yep. I used to take a metric shitload more photos back in the day when I had a small Olympus point and shoot strapped around my neck. Handy, and ready to go.

[gixxerjasen]

I want to be like Tyler and take pix on the fly with one hand.

Yea, but that's also like Redfish, and who want's to be like him?