Good evening dear reader,
I am currently sat on a very hard bench, watching a storm approach, the forecast for tomorrow and certainly Friday for this area is not good.
Anyway, I arrived at the house a little early but that was OK, then the bike was secure in the garage and I was shown to my room. A big soft bed and the use of my own bathroom. We had a very pleasant evening , we had supper and then chatted for a while about our trips and stuff and we both knew so many of the same people. I retired at a sensible time and just loved getting into a warm and soft bed with proper pillows.
In the morning after a good nights sleep and cup of tea and a banana for breakfast and it was time to bid farewell to my host, and I would like to thank her for the hospitality, it really is a lovely house. I made my way out of Rapid City and cruised through Sturgis (not a lot happening there). So I made my way onto the 212 to Billings via Alzada and Broadus. By now I had passed from South Dakota, clipping the corner of Wyoming and then into Montana. More very bleak views on both sides until I reached the Custer National Forest, where it started to get more interesting with rolling hills and trees. Just to make it more interesting they had dug up about 3 miles of the road and had not yet put any tarmac down, so that counts of my bit of off roading for today, good job it was dry!!!
At the end of the 212 was the Little Bighorn Battlefield Memorial, I was impressive but the heat was so oppressive that I hid the the visitor centre and then snapped a few photos and left. In the photo you can see some the grave stones and on the left of the picture is the actual battlefield. Too hot to hand around. Back on the road for the final leg to Billings, The route took me for 315 miles and 6 hours but it could not be helped as there is just nowhere to go.
I arrived at the camp site and pitched the tent and had a very hot and welcome shower, before settling in to sort out emails and plan the route for the next couple of days. My thinking at present is to head down and through Yellowstone Park and then camp over somewhere, then head further South through Teton Park and start heading West for another short day and a stop. Then on day three ride into Mountain Home Idaho to stop before heading back North through the state of Idaho and towards Oregon / Washington of where ever.. Yet to be decided….
