Hot Springs, SD to Whitehall, MT: 602.7 miles
I woke up reasonably well rested and started to get ready to head out. The hotel refrigerator was overenthusiastic and froze my apple and Rainier cherries - making them both subpar at best. This was followed by a cup of the absolute worst hotel coffee I have ever had. I'm not sure if that was due to the coffee, the maker or the water. Probably all three. I didn't let it get me down and was once again out the door before it was probably light enough to wear sunglasses. It was also cold enough that I wore a thermal liner under my jacket. I wasn't sure this was needed at first, but it definitely was as temperatures got down below 50F for a while.
The upside of getting up so early is that I had the entire Black Hills all to myself.
No trundling motorhomes. No cars. No other motorcycles. No minivans filled with screaming kids. No trucks. Just me. It was a magical morning for sure.
I did have somewhere to be. So once through the Black Hills, I jumped on I-90 where I remained for most of the rest of the day. Still, I-90 is quite scenic as far as interstates go and it is sparsely travelled outside the bigger city areas. I poked along at a speed that I was happy with. Lots of people roared past me, but the fatigue from running all-out outweighed speed when I wasn't on a time table.
I got to see several animals throughout the day, starting with buffalo right near the road in the Black Hills (again, no moose jam trying to get pictures of them). Once into Wyoming I saw a few pronghorn, including a very impressive buck right near the road. An hour or two later I was thinking that it would be bad if a deer jumped out in front of me when I was fooling with the camera. Not two miles later there were a couple mule deer does right on the side of the road. Lesson learned (probably not).
Temperatures were marvelous throughout most of the time on the interstate, ranging from the 50's into the 80's. It didn't get real hot until the last couple hours when, somehow, the interstate routed around a very significant thunderstorm. I got gas to check the radar to see if rain gear was needed. I was stupid and didn't wear it - which also ended up being the right decision since I had maybe 12 drops of rain total.
While I have heard some people call it monotonous, I love driving through Wyoming and Montana. It is definitely pretty, but I noticed how much the energy sector dominates as from the interstate, it was hard to see any view that didn't have some kind of energy infrastructure in it. Having hunted in Wyoming a few times, I also know that away from the busy areas, this changes quickly. And before we say coal is dead, the amount of coal in the train cars does not seem different from when I was through here the first time so many years ago.
I got to the AirBNB midafternoon. It was an underground house which was kind of neat. The house itself was absolutely fantastic. It was far bigger than one person needed, and I once again felt some pangs of guilt about SO being home. The dog continues to do well though.
At first glance it is just a nice western home. The owner had a fact sheet about the house and it was made by her father with energy efficiency in mind.
At the side of the house, it being mostly underground can be seen.
Inside is absolutely wonderful as well.
I partially unpacked and headed to the grocery store since there was a storm headed toward the area. I bought a bunch of food and was getting ready to leave when the tornado sirens sounded. My first thought was not, "I need to seek shelter." but, "I need to get back to the house." The wind was bonkers, but somehow the rain missed the area other than a very brief shower. I'll take it.
As the evening wound down, I planned for the next day. It will be nice to have a day to see some things instead of riding all day. The AirBNB house sits in a rural area and the silence was deafening - in a good way after noisy hotel rooms and riding a motorcycle for three days straight.
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