Day 11 – Riding the Black Hills

Today we plan on sightseeing the Black Hills.  We started the day off with a ride over to Custer and the site of the Crazy Horse Monument.  The face is completed and they are currently working on the face of the horse. 

 

I took a couple of pictures of what the finished monument will look like.  If you look closely at one of the pictures you will see the face of the monument in the background.  The man who started it died a couple of years ago.  His wife and 7 of his 10 children are continuing his work.  I want to return when it is completed. 

 

We left the park and rode RT 87 through Custer State Park it was full of twistiest and 1 lane tunnels.  Bonnie took a couple of pictures while riding.  If you look real hard at the last tunnel picture you will see Mount Rushmore through the opening.  We traveled about 75 miles though these wonder back country roads.  We then went into Keystone for lunch at the .  The food was good but the service sucked… It made such an impression on me that I can not remember the name. 

 

We then took a quick ride over to Rapid City to the Civic Center where Harley Owners Group was set up to get my HOG Sturgis Rally Pin.  On the way back we stopped by Mount Rushmore to take a picture.  I purchased a National Park Pass before leaving on the trip, but it was no accepted there.  The park is free but the parking lot and structure is owned and operated by private individuals.  They were charging a car $5.00 to park regardless of the number of passengers and charging motorcycles $5.00 per person to park.  It would of cost me $10.00 to park.  So we left and took the picture a little farther away.  They were ripping off motorcycles. 

 

We made it back to the campground in time for dinner.  At the big tent they were serving BBQ Chicken and Ribs.  Shortly after dinner it began to rain.  Tomorrow we start our trek back to Phoenix.

Click here for today’s pictures