From this point on I’ll refer to the love of my life as 4iedWife, I’m sure she’ll get a kick out of that. I took some time off the last week of July and since I was planning a road trip as the honeymoon, we thought it would be a good idea to let her experience two-wheeled adventuring just to be sure it would be okay to spend an entire week on the bike for the honeymoon. So we planned a quick little trip up to the Black Hills. My last trip to the Black Hills was fun but wet, having been rained on the whole day. So this time I was hoping for some good weather.

One thing I don’t care for are long stretches of straight road. Heading out from Colorado means that there would be some pretty straight roads on our way through Wyoming. Fortunately the Baehr intercom and an iPod were on board to help entertain when there was nothing to do but hold the throttle open and count centerline stripes.

With the four legged kids happily kenneled it was time to move out. The bike was packed and off we went!

I’m not a big fan of super slab travel. Yes it’s fast, but it’s not really very fun. So I prefer to take the roads less traveled. In this case we started the trip with a run up to Estes Park on the Peak to Peak highway, over the Continental Divide via Rocky Mountain National Park, and then down into Grand Lake for a lunch break. This is a ride I’ve done several times before, so why stop in Grand Lake? For the world’s finest onion rings of course! Ah, tasty, battered, deep fried, oniony goodness! If you’re ever in the area, stop by EG’s Garden Grill for some of these heavenly delights.

Then we zoomed on to the Wyoming border, and somewhere along the way our mount ticked over 50K miles. Naturally this was cause for a little roadside celebration.

Our route initially traced the same path as my previous trip up to the Black Hills area. We traveled through Medicine Bow National Forest, opting to spend the first night of our trip at one of the campgrounds along the way. The Wyoming State acrobatic mosquito squad gave us a private performance as we setup camp, but otherwise it was a very good day of riding. None of the roads were sleepers, but that would change in the morning.

A good nights sleep and then it was time to head out. The days journey had us crossing Wyoming. There’s some nice places in Wyoming, but the day saw mostly long stretches of straight roads. Oddly enough the day was quite cool temperature wise. We even had to stop and add some layers to the gear. We spent the day crossing the grassy plains, eventually stopping in Sundance for the night.

The next day was going to be a busy one. Devil’s Tower, Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse were all on the agenda. The day got off to a rough start. I’ve put over fifty thousand miles on my bike traveling around the western US, and I had never felt unwelcomed anywhere…till we popped in to the Aro Restaurant for breakfast. Oh they were kind enough to seat us at a table, and then they ignored us. It’s not like they were busy, there were only four groups in the whole place, including us.

When it became obvious that we were not welcome, we shook the dust off our boots and left. We were still hungry though, so we went back to the cafe where we had dinner the night before: Higbee’s Cafe. The service was prompt, the food was good and the staff friendly. If you’re ever in Sundance I highly recommend you pass Aro by and stop at Higbee’s instead.

With full bellies and better spirits we sped off to the first destination of the day; Devil’s Tower. The weather was perfect without a hint of rain. This part of Wyoming is actually quite beautiful and I highly recommend a visit. The park is a tourist trap, but we got there early and had a stroll around the base of the tower while it was still cool. We weren’t there very long, but buy the time we left the park was pretty busy. The parking lots had filled to capacity and my anti-social gene was kicking in. Time to move on!

The next stop of the day was Mount Rushmore. Again it was nice to see it with the rain this time. Although as we left a thunderstorm did kick up. We even had a little pea sized hail to deal with, but nothing too bad. The up side is that it made 4iedWife apprciate all the gear I made her wear.

It was still raining a bit as we pulled into the Crazy Horse monument, but there’s quite a bit to see at the visitors center. It’s amazing what they are doing, and all privately funded too. I have a lot of respect for people who make something happen without begging for money from the government. It’s an impressive feat of engineering, even if it’s not done yet. Fortunately, by the time we had finished going through the visitors center the clouds had parted and the setting sun came out for a bit as we made our way to Hot Springs South Dakota for the night.

The next day was a travel day. We were heading back to Denver by way of Nebraska, which is not a bad state, but one of those states with long, straight roads. Since we had quite a bit a ground to cover before the day was over, we didn’t take much time to smell the roses. That is, until we reached Sidney Nebraska. It was time to stop for some gas and as I slowed down the bike felt funny. When I turned off the highway it was really squirmy. A quick stop and inspection of the tires showed a flat rear. It was disappointing since I had less than 2000 miles on the tire, but not a show stopper by any means.

Fortunately there was a closed service station, which afforded us some shade from the sun. 4iedWife settled down with a book while I took to mending the tire. I had invested in a Stop&Go Pocket Tire Plug kit a while back. It made the repair a snap. All I had to do was ream the hole out a bit, put the plug in, and then air the tire up (facilitated by a Cycle Pump). We were in Sidney for about two hours, but only 30 minutes of that was spent on the tire. The rest of the time was spent eating lunch.

The tire held up just fine for the rest of the trip, and we made it home quite safely. 4iedWife seemed to enjoy the trip, at least enough that we did take the bike on the honeymoon. However, that’s a tale for another time!