US Cross Country - Day4 Badlands National Park, South Dakota

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Distance: 525 miles Time: 9 hrs

I had a > 500 miles day planned; hence started at around 9:30 am. I fell in love with Minnesota. It's beautiful. Agriculture seems to be big here. Lot of fields. I stopped for a country breakfast and could actually taste the freshness in the vegetables. No kidding; veggies are really fresh here. I didn't stop for lunch today since I had a long way to go. Along with Minnesota, I fell in love with I 90 W. You can see miles and miles ahead of you with nobody on the road. I hit some crazy speeds as it was very safe. Nobody, not even cops, on the road :) I did not see a single cop in Minnesota. Covered ground pretty fast which gave me time for some extra stops as it was pretty tiring concentrating at high speeds. Saw Suzlon wind mills in Minnesota. They should put these in South Dakota instead as the wind is even more crazy in SD.

Entered South Dakota around 2 pm. I still had 280 miles to go to Badlands National Park, my destination. One should always stop at visitor centers. They have free maps and people actually take the effort to explain you major attractions, scenic routes etc. The lady was kind enough to give me a detailed route of how to see Mt. Rushmore and have a good experience in South Dakota. I collected the maps and kept moving. The ride from Sioux Falls to Badlands is simply gorgeous. Especially the Missouri river. It's huge. I loved my riding day the most on this trip so far. Saw so many motorcyclits waving all the time. Heaven! I actually realised how much I love motorcycle riding. If you haven't tried it, please do so. It's just out of this world.

Reached Badlands National Park at around 5:30 pm Mountain Time.

I wasn't aware of sign boards indicating time changes until I saw one. Bought the "America the Beautiful" annual pass to National Parks. Stopped at some scenic overlooks. For those who are wondering what Badlands is, here is an extract from the National Geographic book.
They call it The Wall. It extends for a hundred miles through the dry plains of SD -- a hige natural barrier riding the landscape, sculptured into fantastic pinnacles and tortuous gullies by the forces of water.


The erosion rates are extremely high here -- more than an inch per year.

The lodge restaurant closed at 6:30 pm. I had to take care of my laundry and do the usual stuff of unloading. Another item added to the list was cleaning the bike and jacket. Due to lot of insect casualties on my jacket and bike, lot of bees were being attracted. I had to control this problem; hence put some time in cleaning. I met a lot of people and spent some time talking to them. Since I missed dinner, I decided to go to a bar in a town called Interior, SD. I learnt that the town has 60 - 70 people. Just had a couple of beers and came back to the room. Opening my backup "Bhel" packet as I write the blog. It's 10:45 pm and m off.