Sturgis, 2015, Day 3

Day 2 started with a little exercise…seriously.  I woke up at 6am and couldn’t go back to sleep so I went walking and did a little workout in the exercise room before showering and hitting the road.  I opted to skip the Harley dealership in Grand Island for a change because I wanted to get on the road.

My route was to take me west on Nebraska State Hwy 2 and then at some point turn north to hit I-90.  Hwy 2 was interesting…mostly a two lane highway that ran through miles and miles of farm land.  When it came time to turn north, I opted to stay on Hwy 2.  About 200 miles further west in the little town of Alliance, NE, I turned north onto Hwy 385, which took me into South Dakota.  This highway was also a two lane road most of the way into Rapid City.

One of the interesting things along Hwy 2, besides all the small towns I kept going through, was the large number of marshy, swamp areas alongside the road.  I would never have expected that.  The other interesting thing I saw was a sign announcing I was entering the Nebraska National Forest.  As you can tell from the picture, it’s not much of a forest.

Once on Hwy 385, I drove through the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands…now this made sense based on the scenery…and several historic sites, like Wounded Knee.  I was about 70 miles south of my final destination for the day and did not know how far off the road the site was…might be something I look into on the return trip, IF I go back the same way.

While driving west on Hwy 2…it felt like I drove the entire length of the state…I didn’t see many motorcycles or RV’s pulling trailers like I anticipated.  However, once I arrived in Alliance and turned north the numbers increased dramatically…at least I knew I was on the correct highway.

Rapid City, along with every hotel and RV campsite I saw, was filled with motorcycles of all types and RV’s of all types.  Even though we’re still 25 or so miles away from Sturgis, this area is a great jumping off location for touring the area.  I guessed correctly when I chose Rapid City.

Tomorrow I plan to ride the Devil’s Tower Loop and check out Downtown Sturgis, if everything goes as planned.