Riding Through The Badlands. Wow.

I had heard of the Badlands, but I was not prepared for just how awe-inspiring they are. Wow.

I have leanrt that awesome is an over-used word in the US.  The Badlands ARE awesome!

I had to ride north to get to the Badlands. I crossed the border into South Dakota and started to head east towards Interior, but I had made a mistake. I had forgotten to fill up with fuel and on checking how far the next gas station was, it was about a 50:50 chance that I would make it before running out of fuel, even with the spare gallon I carry in one of my saddlebags. I had to backtrack and this cost me about an additional 50 miles today. The extra miles were not a problem but I was not pleased with myself for making such a stupid mistake.

I did however hit the 7000 miles ridden stage so as has become accustomed, I stopped at exactly the 7000 mile point and took a picture. I had to be quick though as I was on a fast road with many trucks travelling at high speed. I have been lucky so far in that I have been able to stop exactly at each 1000 miles point to take a photo, but my luck may not last – if it is not safe to stop, I won’t do so. Here is my 7000 mile photo....

I took the Long Way Round (that sounds familiar!) to get to today’s destination. This was so I could stop and look at the site of a famous Red Indian massacre where Chief Big Foot and his men were killed. I had heard the graveyard where he is buried was very moving. It wasn’t....

It was run down and very scruffy. I know that graveyards should be sombre places and that when in one, I should be very respectful, but I couldn’t help but laugh at some of the names of the people buried there. I apologise to anyone that I may upset with this, but take a look at these names....

I rode with a group of 4 riders as we approached the Badlands....

I had heard the Badlands were something special. I had no idea they were as stunning as they are. I stopped and fixed my cameras to my bike and made a short video of the impressive eastern section....



I did stop and take a few still photos as well. Here are a few of those....

From all of the riding I have been doing recently, my bike is in need of a wash....

After I rode through the Badlands, I went to the drugstore in Wall. Wall Drug is a huge shop and it sells just about everything. It is a bit to touristy for me and I didn’t buy anything in there, but it is worth going and seeing if you are in the area....

As I have been getting nearer to Sturgis, there are more and more bikes on the road. Here are some parked outside Wall Drug....

Jackie had booked somewhere for me to stay the night, at a ranch. As I approached it, I saw I needed to ride up this hill, on a gravel road. I am getting more used to gravel roads now, so this didn’t concern me (too) much!....

The ranch is called the “Circle View Ranch” and this is the view from the deck in the back....

While I was making the video of the Badlands, I saw this out of the bedroom window....

I went and took a look. There were three Burros on the elevated deck. A Burro is similar to a donkey and they were very friendly....

I think I will go horse riding today. I haven’t been on a horse for about 40 years!

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Beautiful Nebraska

Some people have told me that Nebraska is boring. I don't agree!

Sure, there are not many cities or towns in Nebraska, but if you only measure a state by how much there is to do, then you are missing out on a great deal. I found Nebraska to be beautiful, but in its own way. It is partly it’s remoteness that makes it beautiful. Sadly, us humans are not very good at making things look good. Nature on the other hand does a fantastic job and I would much rather look at rolling hills, trees, and animals than the abandoned cars and buildings that so many of the worlds towns and cities leave behind.

Nebraska is huge and its size makes you feel very small indeed. Riding this morning with the warm air and with the sun on my back was terrific and in the first 78 miles of riding, I saw just 2 cars, 1 RV and 1 tractor. Fantastic!

I have included a few photos in this post of places and things that I saw just today, on a 200 miles ride across just the northwest corner of Nebraska. I am certainly glad that I chose to ride through this state.

I rode early, so shadows were long as I started my ride....

A large part of Nebraska is made of sand hills. There are not many trees to block the view. I have included the road in these pictures so you can get a sense of scale....

This building was near Ellsworth, just as I turned north onto state Highway 27. There are glimpses of the areas western past here and there in Nebraska....

I stunning lake in the early morning sunshine....

Cattle on the plains....

An irrigation boom watering the crops on a very hot day....

The Niobrara River in northern Nebraska....

My bike taking a rest from the blazing sun....

I felt something hitting my legs as I rode and realised I was riding through a swarm(?) of grasshoppers. Here is one that expired on my boot as I rode....

They made a bit of a mess of my bike....

A wind-powered well. These are scattered across the grasslands and pump water from underground into large circular troughs so the cattle have water to drink at all times....

Who knew Nebraska had buttes like this? This is just south of Crawford....

Horses keeping cool....

I arrived at my hotel for the night – the Best Western in Chadron. My plan of finding hotels or motels as I arrive in a town has to be abandoned for a few days as I get nearer to Sturgis. Almost everywhere is full, so I asked my wife Jackie to find me somewhere to sleep for the next few days and it seems she has done a great job. As I checked in I was told that bikes were allowed to park in the hotels courtyard as they would be safer there, plus the hotel had set up a bike washing area with a hose and old hotel towels to wash / dry your bike with. I managed to get rid of all of those grasshoppers from my bike in about 30 minutes.

Here is the best motorbike parking place in town – the hotels courtyard!....

The bikers took over the courtyard for an evening of drinking, eating and singing of old folk songs....

Okay, this bit about the folk songs isn’t really true, but we all had a great time!

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Premeditated Meeting

Lincoln is 280 miles from Wichita in Kansas.

A long way to ride a 200cc scooter.

Especially without a tachometer.

But that is exactly what Jim, who writes the blog “Premeditated Scootin'” did on Thursday to come and have a premeditated meeting with me in Lincoln. Wow – he rode 280 miles on his scooter. We met in the afternoon and sat chatting for a while before (what else!) going for a ride on our bikes together.

I didn’t know Lincoln at all and Jim had been there just once before, so we hatched a plan of what to see and we set off. Here is Jim on his trusty steed....

The plan failed straight away as our visit to the Speed Museum was thwarted as it was closed. They only do tours and only at 2pm. Plan number 2 saw us riding to the Nebraska State Capitol Building which is inscribed by an honourable motto “Political Society Exists For The Sake Of Noble Living”. Well, I wonder how many of my readers might believe that applies today? Certainly not back in the UK! The building however was magnificent....

There is of course a statue of President Lincoln nearby, after whom I assume the city is named....

Opposite the Capitol building was a small church, that I thought looked German or Austrian in its style. Jim and I ventured inside to see if we could find out more about its origins, but that didn’t assist, so we decided it would be best to Google it later. I didn’t used to like the verb “to Google” but it is growing on me as you hear it more and more....

We parked the bikes near the Nebraska University and took a walk around the campus. This water feature looked cool and inviting, but it wasn’t – the water was warm....

The campus had a good feeling....

This is a stunning fraternity building. Jim told me a fraternity building is like a house that a small number of students live in and that these are normally more expensive than regular dorms and that such houses are meant to encourage an environment where students make friends for life. My only previous experience of fraternity houses was from watching the movie “Animal House” (one of my favourites!). The fraternity houses in Lincoln were right next to the main university buildings. I would have enjoyed living in this building....

Here is another....

I liked this shadow which was being made from a parking meter. It reminded me of a certain Mr M. Mouse!....

We ate in a restaurant that specialises in noodles. Part way through the meal we remembered that Bobscoot likes taking pictures of food, so we took these pictures just for him....

Jim posed amongst some street art...

We rode to Holmes Park and our bikes got to know each other....

I noticed something odd on Jim’s bike....

The logo makes it seem this could be a small Harley-Davidson!....

We then rode across the city to Pioneers Park that Jim could remember from his previous visit. Here is one of the statues in one of the entrances. There were buffalo in the park, but too far away to see well....

What we did see was two spectacular cars being photographed by their owners. I joined in....

The light coloured car is a Chevy Impala. Nice!

We then saw something odd. A plane flew over....

If you look closely you might recognise the plane....

It seemed to be on some sort of training flight as it repeatedly circled and did a “touch and go” landing at the airport, or at least many “fly arounds”. I captured one of its approaches on my P&S camera....



It looks like the end of the road for our bikes....

After we returned to the hotel we parked the bikes and went for a beer in a huge bar where we were the only customers! I had a really great time meeting and spending time with Jim. He is really good company and I am really grateful he spent a lot of time riding all that way to meet me. Jim, you are a real star and I hope you got back safely.

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The next both Jim and I had long rides ahead of us, so we grabbed a quick breakfast, took a few photos and said our goodbyes. Here is Jim with his bike packed up, ready to go....

My ride for the day took me across Nebraska from Lincoln to Hyannis, which is 317 miles of mainly straight roads, or two roads to be more accurate. I did smile as I was on my gps / sat nav the instruction to turn left in 211 miles!

I had heard that Nebraska is not the most interesting state and I can see why people say this, but it is not as bad as people make out – ok, there are not many towns along the road, but I was surprised by the beauty of the ride – I certainly didn’t expect the sand hills that make the landscape interesting and it was good to see grass and cattle instead of corn! I am certainly glad that I chose to ride through Nebraska.

I crossed the Platte River soon into my ride....

I saw a great many trains travelling east alongside the road as I went to the west. These trains ran about every 15 minutes and were carrying coal. I found out later that the coal is mined in Wyoming but I am not sure where. What I do know is these trains are vast – there were some stationary trains and I was able to measure their length with my trip counter. Most were 1.4 miles long and one was 1.7 miles. I cannot begin to imagine what all of this coal is used for. I played a silly game with the train drivers as I rode along. I tried to get them to blow their train whistles (horns?) by waving at them – most obliged which in my own silly way, I was quite pleased with! In the bar that evening I asked some locals about the trains and was told that at peak, there is a train every 7 minutes! Wow.

However, the train whistles became something of a curse, as I tried to sleep in the hotel in Hyannis. As the trains went passed the hotel they blew those whistles as a warning to anyone on the nearby railroad crossing that they were approaching. This happened about every 15 minutes all night and I am typing this at 4.30 in the morning because I cannot sleep due to the trains! 15 minutes is just enough to fall asleep to then be woken again by the next train.

Watch this and you will see what I mean....It was filmed at 4.30 in the morning, so it is meant to be a little dark....



For some reason, when I told Jackie my wife about the trains this morning, she couldn’t stop laughing! Now there’s sympathy for you!

This is a typical scene on the road through Nebraska. Very straight with the sand hills to the side....

I passed another milestone as I crossed another time zone. I am now on Mountain Time!

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