South Dakota Trip Part 2 and rainy drive home

Sept 3 - 5
We had a few things to finish up on our last day in South Dakota. Our trip was a great success with getting our drivers licenses and our residency. We spent time in Custer State Park, seen the wildlife, Mount Rushmore and driven the Needles Highway. No it was time to tackle the Mickelson Trail. I had seen the trail when I was in South Dakota attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 2012 and wanted to ride the trail with Glenda on a return trip.....so we drove down to Hill City and rented two bikes and headed out. Hill City is at a low level in the terrain which means either direction we would go, it would be uphill. So we headed for the Oreville rest area. It was 5 miles away and all uphill. Unfortunately the bike I rented was a little too small for me so I had some difficulty at first but after adjusting the seat a couple of times I got into a rhythm.

 

 

The bikes were of good quality so the riding was smooth but having not ridden for sometime and putting on a few pounds I tired out fairly quickly. However I did not give up on making it to the Oreville rest area. The scenery was terrific and the Black Hills are beautiful.

 

We continued to uphill trek and finally made it to our turn around point. Oreville Rest Area.

Oreville is near the mid point of the Mickelson Trail. It was established as a railroad stop in 1890. The great thing about an all uphill trek to Oreville was the all downhill ride back to Hill City and the bike rental place. It took us less than half the time back down as it did going up. Once we got back we headed over to Mount Rushmore for one more look. On the way back to Box Elder we stopped at the Naked Winery for some gifts for family and friends. No, it isn't what you think but they do have some good wine. We got back to our room after a light dinner and prepared for our trip home the next day.

The next day we checked out and checked our mail before getting on the road. I found a Starbucks and away we went. We made it to Sioux City, IA for the night and stayed at a Stoney Creek Inn. There was a Famous Dave's next door so we had a good BBQ dinner. We got an early start the next day and ran into some heavy downpours going through IA.

It was on and off rain most of the way home. We finally made it home and relaxed the rest of the evening. Now it was time to prepare for our move to Indiana on Monday. We had a reservation at the Granger KOA and planned to spend some time with the grandkids. After that it was time for the RV Dreams Rally at the Elkhart Fairgrounds in Goshen. So far many things have happened since retiring and we are still getting settled in to the process. It is taking some time with going between family and the rally. Looking forward to getting down to AZ in November.