The sun broke through this morning and it turned out to be a beautiful day. It became even better when we arrived at Wind Cave National Park. Just as we walked in, the ranger asked if we were planning on taking a tour as one was just leaving. We paid for the tickets, quick pit stop and we were off to the cave. The group was small and Ranger Betsy was great! Wind Cave is significantly different than Jewel Cave even though they are nearby. We walked in near the original entrance and went down a bunch of stairs. The cave was huge with mostly high ceilings. It was kept darker than most other caves which enhanced the experience. We got a lot of great pictures. Wind Cave has a different kind of formation called boxwork that is seldom found in other caves. Wind Cave got it's name because it is a barometric cave. Ranger Betsy demonstrated with piece of yellow ribbon. If you hold the ribbon in front of the opening of the original entrance, the cave will either exhale (blow out) if the outside air pressure is low, or inhale (suck in) if the outside air pressure is high. The cave opening was blowing out the day it was discovered, so that wind was blowing out of a hole in the ground - hence the name Wind Cave.
     By the time the tour was finished, the sun had really come out and it was in the 70's again . From Wind Cave, we headed to Custer State Park. There is a Wildlife Loop Road that runs around the park which was a great ride on the motorcycle. There were buffalo grazing everywhere. There were even some donkeys that came up to one of the cars as we went by. The roads around here are some of the best for motorcycle riding I have ever ridden. Lots of time spent in 3rd and 4th gear, with turns so sharp, speeds drop to 10-15 mph, followed by straightaways that let you get up beyond 60 mph. Remember, this is 2-up on a loaded Goldwing, on a sport bike you could go much faster.
     The final leg of the loop was back on US-16a and is called Iron Mountain Road. It boasts that it is 17 miles long, with 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 3 tunnels, 2 splits, and 4 presidents. We made the run, and it looked great, unfortunately we picked the time when it was being resurfaced. So only about 5 miles had a good road surface, the remaining 12 miles were mostly that crosshatched grooved pattern you get when the machine mills away the road surface . It was a little bumpy and scary, so we didn't get to go as fast as we wanted, and we actually had a couple of times when we had to stop for several minutes until the flagman let us pass. They said it would be finished by June 27 in time for the next Sturgis event. Regardless it was still cool to ride with some of the switchbacks as slow as 10 mph. I had never seen a pigtail bridge before, but it is something like a spiral staircase roadway where the road is in such a tight loop as it goes down that the curved bridges cross over the same roadway below. It's kind of like taking a 720 degree turn.
     Coming out out Iron Mountain Road we had to stop at the Iron Mountain Road Store and buy the T-shirt commemorating our accomplishment. A quick stop at Grapes and Grind for a large iced coffee and we were ready to tackle Mount Rushmore. It was a bright, sunny day and the four presidents were clearly visible. A marked improvement over yesterday. We viewed the sight, got our passports stamped, watched the movie, visited the museum, and listened to a very interesting talk by a park ranger about how the monument was constructed . It was really interesting both for the artistic portion, and the technology involved. We walked the 625 step Presidential Walk to the base of the monument only to find the quick shortcut back to the Visitors Center closed for repair. So we had to retrace our path of 625 steps back the way we came, though in fairness, it was mostly downhill on the way back.
     As we returned to the hotel after a very productive day, we sat down for a moment to figure out where to eat dinner. Jody wanted to head over to Custer as she wanted to take pictures of some interesting buffalo sidewalk sculptures we had seen there. The Tripadvisor #1 choice for dinner in Custer was a placed called Black Hills Burger & Bun Co. right on Main St in Custer. I had also wanted an opportunity to ride the 11 mile SD-244 between Keystone and Custer on a bright sunny day to enjoy the ups and downs, twists and turns at a reasonable speed. The ride was all I'd hoped for both over to Custer and back to Keystone. I checked on the GPs, and the final descent from Mt Rushmore to Keystone is a 10% grade and the road drops almost 1000 ft in less than 2 miles. It's great!
     Tomorrow, we bid farewell to the Black Hills of South Dakota as we head south and west for the next couple of days as we head to the base of the Grand Tetons. We can hardly wait!

141.7 miles today
4614.6 miles total

5.265 gallons today
117.304 gallons total