Tuesday 23, 1997
Well, if this is Tuesday then this must be America. I think we all were looking forward to getting back into America and getting on with the trip. It felt like we had just completed a section of the journey and now the plains beckoned us and who were we to refuse. Unfortunately, it rained a lot and the campsite we were heading for ended up eleven miles up a road that more resembled a construction site. The whole eleven miles was just dirt turning to mud and rocks, I guess they hadn't laid the tar yet, and with the rain we would have been a lot better off with dirt bikes instead. We found a different campsite from the one we were heading to first but it was just some RUVs camped out in the bushes so we decided to press on and find the one we were heading for. It was really slow going and it was dark when we eventually found the place. We pitched the tents in the dark and in heavy rain, which was also great weather for mosquitoes, and crashed. There was nothing to do and nowhere to go, I felt like being sedated until morning. Still, it's all part of the adventure, isn't it?
Wednesday 24th
We got out of that shit heap and drove back down that really crappy road. We left without paying for the campsite, but when you really think about it they should have paid us to stay there. We had breakfast in Little Marais and that was when we noticed a biker ride by without a helmet. Turns out that this state has no helmet law. Dave and Harry take advantage of this but I'm still suffering from post crash shock so I chicken out big time. We head for a town called Ely and stop in a campsite that's beside a lake and in an Indian reservation. It's a nice site with few people around so we relaxed and just enjoyed it.
Thursday 25th
I got kicked out the shower when Harry came knocking on the door shouting something about a storm. I got out and understood immediately what the panic was about. We were still packing up and rolling in real fast was a thunderstorm. Right above us was blue sky but on the other side of the lake there was a huge dirty black cloud rolling fast over the treetops. Lighting bolts were zapping anything that moved. Dave being Dave was already packed since he was up earlier, so he shot off to find a diner. Harry and I moved fast to finish packing and managed to get our rain gear on just as the rain started. We left and found Dave at the first diner where we relaxed, got some coffee, then tucked into the usual huge breakfast.
There's a dam nearby that starts with the letters gosh, so the restaurant was proud to give us a gosh dam breakfast, served by a gosh dam waitress at the gosh dam restaurant. A bit corny, but it's America, so get used to it.
We set off only to be dogged by thunderstorms to our left. We were heading west but we knew at some point we would have to head south into the storms. We met a guy at a gas station who told us that there was a bike rally at Fargo that day so we continued west and got there in the late afternoon. It turned out that the bike rally was a Goldwing rally and every bike we saw was either pink, fluffy or both. Sometimes they had some teddy bears strapped to the back. Weird! I don't know why, it just has to be a Goldwing thing I guess. We stopped anyway, we traveled far enough, and wandered around talking to people. They were mostly older people, maybe even retired, and they were all totally into our trip. One guy even gave Dave 20 bucks after he put up a really weak protest.
Next was Whapeton. As soon as we switched the engines off a bore from an RV jumped us and stayed around far too long. But, he was generous when he left by leaving a large cup filled with Jack Daniels. Dave and I left Harry to his postcards and headed into town. We picked one of the three bars in town, and found a Country and Western band playing and guys hanging around wearing jeans, checked shirts and cowboy hats. Mmmm. I felt just a little bit out of place and since the best beer available was a toss up between Miller, Coors, or Bud we decided to leave and just cruise the streets. Well, make that street. We went from one end of town to the other then back burning off cars at the lights. A bit childish, but it was fun.
Friday 26th
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We set off from Whapeton with no real set road plan. Just the idea of heading southwest. The roads in South Dakota tend to be real straight and either head in a North/South or East/West direction. Heading Southwest is just a matter of driving south and then turning right. Drive some more and then turn left. Keep that up and sometime later you're somewhere else just as interesting as Whapeton.
For the best part of the morning we just pissed about on the roads. You'd think that if you were on an endless straight road with absolutely no other traffic you might be tempted to go real fast, but no, for some reason we didn't. We ambled along at a sedate 60 just pissing about. Harry got real laid back and decided to ride side saddle or cross legged while reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Very Zen. Dave did some interesting flower arranging to the front end of his bike. I don't know why, it was one of those spur of the moment things. Me, well I just enjoyed all this shit. The plains are really quite beautiful, immense and open, but I think a couple of days riding through this would be enough. After this I would want something different. Like an occasional hill.
We eventually stopped in a small town called Miller. The three of us went out and picked the liveliest of the three or four bars in town. It was dead. Some guy mentioned a bar one mile out of town that would be better so we decided to walk there. When we got there the people couldn't believe we walked. They though we were nuts. Mind you, so did I since the one mile turned out to be more like three. We raised a lot of interest in this bar. The barmaid was asking us questions and we had to show our passports to prove that we were really from Scotland. She then said that some of the guys didn't believe us so they got her to ask us. They couldn't ask us themselves?
Saturday 27th
The idea was to hit the Badlands and get a good campsite. We stopped in Pierre and Dave set off on his own on some sort of dirt track that would take him on a southern route through the Badlands. Me and Harry stayed for a couple of hours to get a washing done and develop some film. We took Highway 14 west and shot for Wall and then double back on the loop road. We couldn't see anything of the Badlands until we almost tripped over it. The first sight was amazing. It took me so much by surprise. We found ourselves on the top of a cliff overlooking all these rock peaks and the plains stretching out to the horizon. We had to drive through a whole 20 miles of this to get to the campsite. It took us hours after stopping at every corner to look and of course take some photos.
We met another biker, John, from New Jersey, who was traveling in the same general direction. So, as usual, we got some beers and drank them all. John was pretty much OK, big guy, big muscles and a big attitude to go with it. He took a dislike to Harry for whatever reason, calling him a loud New Yorker. Nice, how to make friends in one easy lesson.
Sunday 28th
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Today was one of the best days of my life and I'm not just saying that, it was. We were all going to do our own thing so Dave went of hiking, Harry stayed at the campsite cleaning his bike while John and I went off touring the Badlands. We split up about an hour later so I took off back into the loop road and picked a spot and sat there for a couple of hours. The view was of the plains straight ahead for as far as the eye could see. To either side and below were the Badlands themselves; the sharp jagged peaks and all the multicoloured rocks and hills. I felt so at peace and all the crap over the last couple of years just disappeared. I felt like I could go back to Scotland and start all over again and maybe this time get it right. I wrote a letter to Moira since I felt in the right frame of mind. I wondered if I'd see her in Mexico. Then I wondered if I’d actually get to Mexico, it seemed so far away at that point.
Anyway, after all that peace, relaxation and communing with oneself, I went back to camp for food and beer. We even got two women to join us for the evening so the night turned out well. When it got dark I was able to see the Milky Way for the first time ever, I even saw a satellite fly by. This was all accompanied by a thunderstorm in the distance. It’s all just totally different from home.
Monday 29th
We set off for the Black Hills with John coming along. It was a fast pace so it didn't take long to get there. We hit the National Park area after stopping to see Mount Rushmore. I don’t know, you see it so many times in postcards etc that when you see it for real all you can say is “Yep, that’s Mount Rushmore that is.” and then leave. I still took some photos though.
When we get into the park I had a great time in the roads. My confidence came back so I was starting to take corners the way you’re supposed to. We came across long horned sheep and buffalo on the way to the campsite. More photos.
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I spent the afternoon taking it easy, a long shower, listening to music and writing this diary. That night we built the best fire yet. We kept it going all night. Oh yeah, John did a spot of meditating and got pissed when Harry stared. They really didn't get along.
Tuesday 30th
Got up late this morning. Well by normal standards I got up early so what I should say is that I got up later than Dave. Both Dave and John were gone so Harry and I took it easy then broke camp and headed in to Keystone for breakfast. The road in is called something like the Iron Bridge Road and it must have been designed with bikes in mind. It's all twists and curves and it has narrow tunnels that emerge onto bridges that suddenly loop back to go back under the bridge. Sometimes it seemed that you were driving down a corkscrew, on an endless corner. Absolute fucking wonderful. You can't help but take it as fast as you can.
After breakfast Harry set off to Rapid City to fix his bike. Dave and I toured the Black Hills heading for Spearfish. The weather wasn't great but riding around the Black Hills was great fun. We went through one valley just outside Spearfish that came right out of the movies. Huge cliffs on either side. Pity it was raining, I had my rain gear on and all I could see most of the time was the road in front. Harry turned up at the campsite later on but did John appear. Nope, he must have taken the opportunity to piss off on his own.