What a long trip its been!

Finally! I'm just outside of Yellowstone. I've been doing quite a bit of riding and trying to enjoy myself.

Monday was a long day I left Indianapolis around 10 and headed west. Well, I forgot that Iowa existed... And by the way its huge! So anyway I headed out through Indiana and into Illinois. I have never seen so much corn in my life. They also grow plenty on sunflowers out there and what appears to be soy. It was great to see hundreds of windmills turning. Haven't seen them anywhere else as of yet. On the Eastern side of Illinois I stopped for lunch at the Blueport Junction. It was a Nice place just off the highway, the food was home-style and I had the special. It was meatloaf. Then it was off to Omaha, Nebraska. The ride was long, straight and flat. Iowa, wow don't even remember it, Sooooo loonnngggg. I did stop to see a real danish windmill on the way though. Finally got to Omaha at about 9pm only to drive around for 2 hours looking for 2 campgrounds that the GPS said were there. Turned out there not! Finally ended up at a super 8 for the night.

Tuesday, Got up and got to the Ducati dealer early for my oil change (more on that later). Spent 2 or so hours there. It was an nice shop in the middle of an industrial park. The prices were decent and the people made you feel at home. Then it was off to South Dakota For a long ride. In fact I spent most of the day leaning left to counter the wind. I finally stopped at about 100 miles outside of Rapid City for my last gas stop. It was a small place that had an old western town set up behind it. It looked closed so I was just going to be on my way, but a couple (Calvin and Ruby) pulled in on a BMW motorcycle just after me and asked if I'd like to walk through the town with them. Turns out that They were from Virginia and were on their trip back home from Yellowstone. There trip out was a month prior when the rear drive on the BMW crapped out. They ended up having to send it to a dealer 400 miles outside of Yellowstone. So they flew home and were finally on their return trip. We walked through the town, which was set up just as it would have been in the old west. All of the buildings were originals from South Dakota. They were all brought to this spot in assembled form and are all what they used to be (ie. The post office is a post office.), except for the saloon, which was originally a really large bank. We had a great time they gave me a lot of tips as far as what to see on my travels. Then we parted ways and it was off to the KOA in Rapid City for the night.

Today, what a great day. Headed out towards Mt. Rushmore around 11am. Stopped for gas only to notice oil leaking on the ground at a fairly good rate. I thought the trip was all over. I rolled the bike across the street to a small tire place, borrowed a rag and wiped down the bottom of the motor. Turned the bike back on and let it sit until it started leaking again. It was the oil filter Ducati Omaha didn't torque it properly, I borrowed a pair of large channel locks from the shop and tightened it the best I could. It worked, I was back on my way. I rode the Needles Highway around Rushmore and took a bunch of pictures. Then it was off to Crazy Horse. On the way there I saw a sign for helicopter rides. So I jumped in and got an aerial view of crazy horse. It was great! Stopped for lunch at a small place in Custer, SD, had the buffalo brisket, then it was off to Wyoming. Rode on some of the sweetest roads ever. The way out of Rapid City was beautiful and then 14 up and over the mountains in Wyoming was amazing. These are some of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. If your even thinking of making a trip like this, its worth it. Just seeing theses few places has already made the trip well worth it to me. Now I'm at the KOA in Cody,WY for the night. Yellowstone tomorrow, hoping to enter at the northeast corner go down around to Old Faithful then exit out the west towards Washington. Kim just got to her brothers in Washington so it'll be nice to see them soon.

Cant get Pics to post from here so I'll try again tomorrow.