CnC: Trek to Mato Tipila

Leaving Ranchester, we immediately joined I-90 and so we slabbed it for a while. This run wasn't so bad as the country in this part of Wyoming is quite pretty. Rolling hills bordered by snow-speckled mountains.

Through this green countryside our twin ribbons of almost flawless bitumen curved, rising and falling with the hills. We flew along at around 80 mph and so covered quite a bit of territory in a short time.

We re-fuelled at Gillette and shortly after, turned off onto a simple two-lane. It was still good road and before too long we were at the turn-off to Devils Tower (the modern name). People may remember this large rock outcrop being used in the Spielberg film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It is really a volcanic intrusion that most likely did not make it to the ancient surface and cooled underground to a hard core which has remained long after the surrounding surface was worn away over millions of years. Either that or some giant bear was trying to catch some kids. You pick.

We watched four climbers making an ascent of the large columns. Looked like hard work. Much more enchanting in the park was Prarie Dog Town, about 10 acres of grassland honeycombed with their holes. They are another one of USA's cute animals.

Eventually I managed to drag Charleen away and we turned south and east into a new state for us, South Dakota. We made our way to the town of Custer and then on to the KOA near Mt Rushmore. There we caught up with Jack and Linda who had arrived about ten minutes ahead of us. They were about to try to set up camp on the side of a rocky hill, once again KOA treats campers miserably in favour of the RV mob. I'm having a bit of trouble with a cold at the moment and so camping in these cool climates is not to my liking. It didn't take too much convincing to get Jack and Linda to follow us back to Custer to a well-priced motel we had noticed.

Turns out it is run by an old rider who sports many Sturgis badges on his bracers. We were made very welcome and given full use of hose, bucket, special detergent and rags to clean up the bikes. Protein Removal, he called it. BRed was certainly in need of it so a wash session ensued until they both gleamed.

Then it was in to town for a feed and return to room before it got too cool. Heater on, box of tissues by my side and I'm alright for the night.

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