The First Leg: Colorado to the Dakotas

The old bridge to Ft. Laramie.

     After riding the grand roads of Rocky Mountain NP, we headed north to parks in Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas.  Fort Laramie, Wyoming, was a treasure; we pretty much had the place to ourselves making in easier to picture the place as it might have been when this was a critical post in the development of the west.  Everything from Indian wars to a Pony Express stop were represented here.  Trappers, traders, soldiers,and Indians: every sort passed through here.
     Our journey took us to Agate Fossil Beds and Scott's Bluff, Neb.  The treat at Agate was the display of critter skeletons, unique in that these were mammals rather than the reptiles of Jurassic Park fame.  Want to feel the solitary spirit of the old west?  Check out any of these NP sites.  Our sense was that these, and indeed all of the parks we visited, made us proud of our history and convinced that expenditures on these parks was tax money well  spent.
     Another feature of all these parks was the

 

The bar at Ft. Laramie: no hardstuff

 commitment and dedication of the park rangers and
volunteer staff.  The gentleman in the Ft. Laramie bar, for instance, was a retired engineer and his wife, a former teacher, worked in the visitor center.  They were interesting and knowledgeable with a wealth of personal stories.  Some sites are museum oriented while others provide the opportunity to ride through spactacular areas.  The buttes, trees, streams, and gultches are nothing like anything we see east of the Mississippi.  Every day was really a different adventure.

     

Agate Fossil Beds skeletons

The area around Scott's Bluff  felt authentic. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Riders on the rise at Little Bighorn. Our experience on the back of the bike made the ride over the battlefield ridge feel as if we were mounted too.

Custer and others where they died

 

Robin and The Sundance Kid

The Devil's tower

The big Badlands NP

Sunset in the Badlands

Where you learn to share the road. 

 

    
Before we rode up to Devil's Tower or over to Little Bighorn, we swung into S. Dakota and scored multiple parks including the big and popular stops at Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands.  This was our third visit to the South Dakota attractions but familiarity takes nothing away from the dramatic impact of the natural wonders.  Mt. Rushmore, on the other hand, gets a little old.  Admission is free but parking is something like $10.   or Just an example of how the Disney principle is applied at the popular big draw sites; even the seniors with passes had to pay to park their cars.  We came to look forward to the smaller parks or the spots off the main trails.  The Badlands remains our favorite park in this part of the country.  Light angles, elevation changes, and subtle color changes makes every turn of the road a real delight.  All this from the bike is especially remarkable.  Sights, smells, and even sounds are so much more evident from the rig.  Robin thinks of the back of the bike as her portable porch.  Though her views are restricted when she is in the sidecar, she still has the sensations you get in a small sports car.  I used to have MGs, a B and a Midget; the Midget was about the same size as "Robin's Nest".  When we slow down in the parks on on back roads, she likes to get out of the Nest and tour on the rear of the bike.  It's nice that she has the option.  When we encountered a large herd of buffalo in N. Dakota's Teddy Roosevelt NP, however, neither spot gave her much comfort.