After 2 days of the back roads it was time to burn some miles on the
interstate. I jump on I 90 in Eastern South Dakota, with the intentions on
making Sturgis at the end of day three. Thankfully, other than the interior
lights, there were no more car issues that day.
Bike week at Sturgis meant no rooms. At the first try (In Wall, SD) I was
told that there was nothing within 200 miles, other than a suite that
normally went for $100 a night that was fetching $270 that week. That was
much to rich for my taste, so it was on to Watsh, SD. The town of Watsh
consisted of a unmanned gas station (true "self service"), a tavern and the
Red Wood Inn. The clerk apologized for charging $40 a night ("It's bike
week, after all") and I could see why. The air conditioner did not work,
the TV got 2 channels and some particularly rough looking bikers were fixing
supper on the grill in the parking lot, but hey, for 40 bucks, during bike
week, what do you expect? :)
A large part of the planning for this trip involved routing myself through
the Grand Tetons. I have twice before driven Alt. US Rt. 19, west of Rapid
City, SD through to Yellowstone, and was really looking forward to it in a
sports car. The problem this trip was that the car did not like the idea
one bit. By driving slowly and stopping every time the car even began to
get hot I was able to make it to the top of the first pass (7,200 ft.). I
was carrying additional carb jetting just for this possibility, but that did
not seem as big of a problem as the slow pace and the traffic (It was bike
week, after all :)). At the top of the first pass, I stopped (for the third
time, to let it cool down) and checked the map. Although I had made it to
the top, there were two 9,000 ft and one 10,000 ft passes yet in front of me
and there was yet a lot more of this trip than just climbing the Grand
Tetons. It was only about a 50 mile backtrack at this point to the
interstate, so the decision was made that life is full of compromises and
that the Tetons would have to wait for another time. ("Discretion is the
better part of valor) :)
A late lunch at a tavern at the bottom of the hill (The Mountain Tavern)
confirmed that it was not at all uncommon for folks to try and fail to climb
that particular bump.
The remainder of day three was uneventful and boring as I spent the next
several hours watching I90 unfold to the north and west. The motels were
booked as far away as Billings and I ended up in Bozeman (late) before I
could find a room (and even there it was subject to the "bike week pricing"
It's amazing that event is so big!). I finally found the electrical short
after much searching and replacing that fuse.
(continued - are we bored yet :))
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