Day 2 - August 1, 2010
I know it’s been a long time, but figured I should finish these before this motorcycle season.
I woke up in an unfamiliar hotel room in a different state on the first of August, and the fact that I was on a trip that would span more than a month and have me visit every state capital on the continent before i got home hadn’t sunk in yet. I’d been in South Dakota once before, near the beginning of my grandfather’s - dad’s side - long descent into alzheimer’s and eventual dementia. That was a quick trip just across the border, nearly directly west of the Twin Cities, just long enough to pick him and my grandmother up with my dad. This was my first time in the state, as it would be for most states for the explicit purpose of being on vacation, if you’d call it that.
Breakfast and I weren’t as frequent of companions as I’d like on the trip, but we’d manage to hook up enough to have some great memories. August first would turn out to be one of the days we just couldn’t agree on.
The capital I was headed to first was North Dakota, a state that I’d spent the better part of 4 years in while I was an enlistee in the Air Force, but hadn’t been back to since early February of 2002. I talk bad about North Dakota, but the truth is I didn’t mind it too much, working the flight line during an overnight shift in the middle of winter is probably the closest you can come to what I’d envision Hell to be, were I cut from that cloth. My reticence for North Dakota really stems from me and some of the poor decisions I made while there. There was a girl that I never conveyed my true feelings towards, and then never said goodbye to, if you ever read this, I’m sorry Becky. Most of all, there’s a sense of disappointment that I didn’t keep my weight in control and didn’t advance in the Air Force like I wanted - I like to think my phenomenal memory would have helped me test well for each rank. Alas, my weight is still an issue, maybe that will be the next great journey?
I left Webster and headed west, because that’s what Gypsy was telling me to do, it was going to be quite a while before I questioned her logic. Riding motorcycle along backroads and two-lane highways you’ve never been on really is one of the joys of life, even if you don’t ride normally, I’d recommend everyone hop on the back of somebody’s bike or into their sidecar - with the rider’s permission of course - and experience it. A goodly portion of South Dakota and North Dakota is as flat as flat can be, “The Tourist’s Dictionary of the American Midwest” specifically defines flat as eastern to mid North Dakota. From the flight tower on Grand Forks Air Force Base it’s rumored that you can see the first fence posts of Montana.
Once I hit Herreid, South Dakota I headed north towards Bismarck, North Dakota and the first realization what I was doing. It didn’t hit me when I crossed the border to North Dakota, nor when I hit the city limits of Bismarck, it didn’t even it sink in when I pulled up and put the bike on its kickstand. No, it finally sank in when I took my picture with the Capitol building in the background and uploaded it for people to see. At that moment, the die was cast, barring death or a catastrophic accident I’d have to finish it, because I’d officially started it.
I stopped for lunch at a place that was apparently featured on a food show for their Knoephla soup, it was a good soup, but I’d had better, if you’re in town, try it, it’s unique. After hitting the Capitol and lunch I decided to head back south towards Pierre, along surprisingly the exact same route I’d just came north on, I didn’t want that to happen too many times on my trip, I specifically wanted to ride roads I hadn’t been on before. I hadn’t noticed any signs on the way up, but apparently Strasburg, North Dakota is the boyhood home of Lawrence Welk, all I can say about that is the roads had some smooth stylings.
Once I hit Herreid, SD for the second time that day, I headed south to Pierre, South Dakota. Upon reaching the Capitol, I took my picture and realized I didn’t have a signal, I was trying to use Foursquare and check into each Capitol as I posted it on Tumblr. I had the photo and checking into Foursquare wasn’t really that important, so I figured I’d wait till I had signal and then upload the photo, that was the plan until I saw a restaurant with a free wifi sign, I checked into Foursquare and uploaded the photo. It was about dinner time and I was still a little hungry given my missing breakfast, so I decided it was time for food and uploading to the web. After an unremarkable meal I continued towards Cheyenne, Wyoming.
I left town, heading towards Sturgis, South Dakota. Something I should note about the Honda Shadow Sabres, they don’t have gas gauges, they have a gas tank with a small amount dedicated to reserve, figuring out how much gas you actually have is guesswork. Generally in my 5 or so years of riding I’d always try to fill up right around 100 miles since last fill-up (SLF), I knew I had a bit of a cushion, but I was going on familiarity. When I saw a “next gas 65 miles” sign I noticed that I was already 40 miles SLF, which would put me just over my comfortable zone, but I wasn’t sure how far behind me the town was and if it would really make a difference, so I forged on. It’s funny how things you read and hear affect you when you’re on the road and start to experience a little bit of what you read about, my bike has is carbureted, not fuel injected, which in layman’s terms means that at altitude, where there is less oxygen, it runs a little rough as there is more fuel than air to burn it. I’d also heard that this lowers the mileage. Given I was now in some hilly territory, and had been going up hill for a while, I started to worry and asked Gypsy to take me to the closest gas station, this is where I learned that Gypsy only knows “as the bird flies” distances prior to displaying the route, and not “this is how far you’re actually going to drive idiot” distances. I followed her directions and ended up going slightly farther than I would have were I to have just stayed the original course, ah lessons, how fun you are. I ended up spending the night just off interstate 90 where my highway was crossing in Kadoka, South Dakota.