Yesterday was such a bright, sunny day in the mid-80's in North Dakota. Jody and I were in t-shirts and contemplating wearing shorts when we went hiking. How much difference can overnight make? Well, in North Dakota it turns out a lot can change. This morning when we rolled out of bed, the temperature had dropped to a cool 54 degrees. It was still drizzling a little, but the weather forecast called for possible showers and a temperature in the low 70's. Not a bad day, but not the day we ended up having. As we hit the short stretch of I-94W, the rain picked up a little along with the wind. We just slowed down a little to be safe and made it to the infamous road of nothingness US-85S. Heading south this time back to the beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
     For the next 60 miles to Bowman, ND the rain would pickup and let off, but the temperature never changed from the 54 degrees . What did change was the wind, it got much worse. I looked at the weather reports when we got to Bowman, and the wind was a sustained 20+ mph with gusts to 30+ mph and higher. The coffee in Bowman did a lot to thaw us out as we started down the next 115 mile stretch of US-85S to Belle Fourche, SD. At least the rain finally stopped, but the wind only seemed to get even worse. We just soldiered on, knowing there wasn't anywhere to stop along the way if we wanted to. Fortunately, we knew we weren't missing any scenery, as there wasn't any to see as we learned yesterday. But by noon the sun was peeking out, the temperature had risen to a balmy 63 degrees, and now that we had reached the mountains, they were protecting us from the winds.
     After more coffee in Belle Fourche, we decided that it was too early to check-in, so why not stop at the Crazy Horse Memorial, just 18 miles from the hotel.   So we headed back down US-385S to Crazy Horse. It was still cold, but without the wind and rain, it was still a great ride through the mountains . We did make one stop along the way at the Pactola Dam and Reservoir. It was beautiful to see, and we took a few pictures. There was one other car in the parking lot, and the driver noticed our Florida tags and asked where we were from. Turns out they are from New Smyrna Beach - what a small world!
     While heading along US-385S, we started to notice a smell that was not typical of a scenic mountain road. It was really more like what you expected as you passed a cattle ranch. Looking down on the roadway, there was a narrow brown liquid strip running the entire length of the roadway, a couple of feet from the edge of the road. We theorized that a cattle truck must have passed this way, and recently judging by the fact that the brown strip was still wet. We then dubbed US-385 as the "Fecal Trail" and for us it will always be known by that name. After several miles, the trail marking went away and the smell subsided. We did eventually catch up with what we believe to be the offender, but it was empty, and by then it was no longer marking the trail .
     Now the Crazy Horse Memorial is more than just a big head carved on the mountain. It's really a whole complex of buildings with a theater showing a film about the sculptor and the history of the memorial, a Native American museum, gift shop, restaurant, and culture center where Lakota tribe members gave us a demonstration of Native American dance. It was very interesting, and great fun, so it was quickly 4:30 and time to head to the hotel.
     SD-244E runs between the Crazy Horse Memorial and Mt Rushmore, and our hotel is only a couple of miles from Mt Rushmore in Keystone. The ride along SD-244 was awesome, and even though we drove past Mt Rushmore on the way to the hotel, we didn't have time to stop. Jody got to see Mt Rushmore from the bike, but I missed it as I was otherwise occupied navigating the twists and turns of SD-244.
     Tonight we were tired from a strenuous day so it was just pizza from the local Big Time Pizza next door. Excellent pizza! Who new you could get great pizza in South Dakota. We are here for a few days, so we will try to get over to Mt Rushmore tomorrow. We have a busy couple of days, as we would also like to see Jewel Cave National Monument, Wind Cave National Park, and Custer State Park. But at least we get to sleep in later tomorrow.

299.9 miles today
4395.5 miles total

2.213 gallons today
106.553 gallons total