Today was a day to complete some tasks. The first task was to get back to our rental house in Spearfish, South Dakota after hanging out in North Dakota for a couple of days.

We accomplished that task in 2 hours and 6 minutes by riding the 127 miles back to our temporary ranch. We got an early start so we could make it back before the day really started to cook. Breakfast was served by Bowman Lodge. It was the usual hotel continental breakfast of powdered eggs and other quick prep items.

I walked around to my bike and noticed that there was a large animal watching me cram stuff in the saddlebags. Maybe because he could related to having saddlebags.

He kept turning around and showing his not-so-good side whenever I pointed the camera at him. When I come to this part of the United States I get a feeling of tranquility. That’s why I keep coming back out west. I tried to capture a little bit of that in the pictures below. These were taken through the window of my hotel room. I should have been a cowboy – that song has already been written.

This tranquility vanished pretty quickly at the sound of 4 Harleys firing up and hitting the road. It was a straight shot south back to Spearfish. There were a lot of trucks on this road and it was a retrace-in-reverse of how we got to North Dakota. We did manage to see several antelope along the way. Once again I’m counting on some of them being in the video but I need my home computer to deal with those big files.

The day continued to heat up and by early afternoon the temperature was approaching 100 degrees. We had promised Mike that tonight was Italian dinner night. I just couldn’t bring myself to get back on the bike to ride to the restaurant even if it was only a couple of miles. Mason volunteered to retrieve the food for all of us. I really appreciate all the things that Mason brings to our group.

I was at the sink in the kitchen, refilling my water bottle when I noticed a visitor in our back yard. I’m pretty sure she was here to tell us goodbye and wishing us safe travels. Why else would a deer be in the middle of a residential area?

After consuming a lot of pasta, it was time to finish laundry so that all my clothes could get packed away, ready for launch tomorrow morning. Sturgis and Spearfish will be overrun soon with about a half million motorcyclists. Time for me to leave.

Heading for home from this trip brings mixed emotions for me. As always, I’ll be glad to be home drinking my own coffee, sitting on my own deck, and loving my family. I also get the blah’s, kind of sad because a trip that we planned for a year is nearing its completion. I’ll be ok once we hit the road, I’ll have lots to focus on but right now, in the quiet time of the day, I feel a little sad. The rambling will continue at least until I hit my driveway. Thanks for coming along on this adventure.