I mentioned before that we have been through the South Dakota area several times.  We seem to always take the same route. I-90 is the fastest way to get anywhere in South Dakota if you’re going east or west.  There are some side loops through the Badlands and of course the required stop at Wall Drugs.  Today, we decided to bypass all of that and take SD-73 off of I-90.  What a surprise.

The road was great and deserted.  It also led us through a miniature version of the Badlands with the 45 MPH speed limit or the crowds.  Jana took some good pictures from the back seat (at 70 MPH) which I’ve included.

Other than that we spent the day just making miles in the cool weather.  Not Oregon cool but South Dakota / Nebraska cool (about 72 all day long).  On an earlier trip through this area, the temps were over 100 every day.  Today’s temps were a lot more enjoyable.

The bike had no further issues other than killing about 11 million bugs which I need to go clean off.  The windshield is getting hard to see through.  The wind across Nebraska is constant.  Today is was blowing south to north which means we spent most of the day in a pretty strong cross wind.  The gas mileage went down from our normal 42 to about 38.  We kept a close eye on the gauge as gas opportunities are still limited.  That will change as we head east into more populated states.

Tonight we are at a motel in O’Neill, Nebraska.  It claim to fame is that it’s the “Irish capital of Nebraska”.  So far I’ve not seen one leprechaun.  The locals seem to speak more Spanish than Irish.  That may be a leprechaun trick to disguise themselves.

We’re now about 800 miles from home with a plan to go half the distance tomorrow.  The temptation will be there to suck it up and drive the rest of the way on Saturday.  We’ll see what the weather gods  have to say.

The deserted route we took through South Dakota and Nebraska.

I called this one Chicken Rock because the outcropping on top looked to me like a chicken on the nest. Maybe I’ve had too much sun.