As we were fitting the bags onto our bike, we got engaged in conversation with our "neighbours" in the motel. Paul and Lee were travelling with their wives in a car. They were amazed that we could fit everything we needed for six months travel into our motorbike cases. When we said we were heading to Gillette and then into the Black Hills of Dakota they said to be sure and go by the Devil's Tower, a National Monument that featured in the film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind".
It was clear and cold as we left the motel. The thermometer on the bike told us it was 53 degrees but it felt more like 43. We rode out of Worland and through a strange landscape of shallow but steep gorges below rounded hills.
The road led first to the lttle town of Ten Sleep, where we stopped for coffee and breakfast.
As we left Ten Sleep the road led into a canyon and climbed up one side, doubling back on itself over and over again. We soon found the snow. The trees on the next hill were not a new species of pine. The branches had just been covered with a fine dusting of snow. It was laying 8 inches deep everywhere on the ground. The scenes were like something Australians only ever see on Christmas cards. Also remember we had just left Australia for the Northern Hemisphere in the hope of escaping our winter. We've never seen this much snow in our home town.
When we got to the top of the pass, the temperature was 30 degrees F (-1 degree Centigrade) and a gale force wind was driving the powdery snow across the top. We stopped for a photograph, but first had to put a new set of batteries in the camera. This meant taking off our gloves... Brrr!
"Hurry up and take the photo Chris."
On the back of the pass there was less snow and wind. We slowly warmed up thanks to heated grips and heated seats.
In Buffalo, we stopped at the first diner and each had a hearty bowl of soup. Here we met two other bikers, and had a conversation much the same as with other bikers we have met. They had come across the pass on Harleys and did not have the creature comforts of our BMW. They must have REALLY felt the cold. Two ladies (teachers) also approached us and chatted briefly, and they also said we should see Devil's Tower.
From Buffalo the 67 mile ride to Gillette took us on Interstate 90. This has a speed limit of 75 mph, and most of the traffic was doing 80 to 85. Riding I-90 was as satisfying as drinking a small weak decaf latte on skinny milk. We got there in the early afternoon and decided we should push on further towards Mount Rushmore, heading south and east to the town of Custer.
When in Gillette we stopped at another diner. Paul, who saw us ride up, asked us about the bike as soon as we walked in the door. He and his wife Dee were so enthusiastic to talk about BMWs and our journey, and tell us about the Black Hills of Dakota, and all the sights and roads to ride, that their lunches went cold.
The Devil's Tower is a huge solidified volcano core that rises 1250 feet above the surrounding landscape. It is (like so much else we have seen) spectacularly beautiful. We stopped at the scenic overlook about 6 miles away, and who should we me meet there? Paul and Lee and their wives!
We made good use of our National Park Pass again. As we rode up to the Visitors Centre, the road led through a grassy field that had been taken over by a large community of prairie dogs. These are small nervous creatures that stick their heads up out of holes in the ground. A few keep yapping incessantly to signal danger is near but will disappear if you come too close. At this stage another one, a little further away, will take over. When you go they playfully roll and tumble over each other.
The close-up view of the Tower from the Visitors Centre was even more dramatic than what we saw from a distance, especially when the sun at last came out from behind the clouds to illuminate it.
We eventually arrived in Spearfish, our destination for the night, at 6:30 pm after another long, windy day covering 284 miles.
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