Pigtails are so cute! Or Squiggle Hell

Day 11: Hanna Campground, Cheyenne Junction, South Dakota
Distance today: 26,564.0 km
Cumulative distance: ?
Maximum speed: 118 kph
Moving average: unknown
Temperature range: 21.4 - 31.9 C

OK, I am reasonably sure we didn't go that far today. However, it seems the squiggles of the Black
Hills were too much for my poor Garmin GPS unit. The GPS unit measures distance, velocity, altitude and direction based on data from satellites. The calculation is not particularly complex, can be done with three satellites but for reasonable accuracy, four is better and often, it uses seven or eight and it gets down to about three metres accuracy. However, today, not only were we riding squiggles but we were also riding pigtails. On numerous occasions, we would be riding one direction and we could see the face of the road sign from the opposite direction! Plus, the pigtails. Pigtails are where the road is making a 90 degree turn but requires 270 degrees to do it. In other words, we would be veering right but we would have to go under an over pass, sharp left, steep uphill and then over the overpass to complete the turn. There were three of these today but hundreds of switchbacks. For us, it was squiggle Heaven. For the Garmin, it was squiggle Hell. I think I will send screen shots of today's ride and distance traveled to get Garmin's comments. But by my estimation, we went 277 km.

The Rushmore loop.

Pigtails

When we arrived in Custer this morning, our first order of business was to get gas. We met a guy from Alaska at the gas station; he had been doing like us, riding around, doing squiggles but had stayed on an extra day to repeat several rides, one in particular, the aforementioned pigtails. He said it was like riding The Tail of the Dragon, a very famous squiggle-fest in North Carolina. My buddy Daryl from Toronto rides down there every year. To get his jollies and scrape his pegs. What The Tail of the Dragon does have that I did not see here is a collection of motorcycle parts from bikes (and riders) who didn't make a turn. However, I see in the local paper that every year, riders are killed or seriously injured in the Black Hills during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, usually in head-on collisions.

While having breakfast, I tried to program our route into the Garmin so that we would hit every high density squiggle road in the Black Hills however, the Garmin just couldn't do it. I might be able to do it with the Garmin software on my computer at home but at the breakfast table, it couldn't take it. I should have known right then and there is was going to be squiggle Hell. I ended up having to resort to the old fashioned method: I made a list of turning instructions and placed them in the window of my map case on my tank bag. For the uninitiated, the tank bag is the motorcycler's "purse" which, in some fashion, is strapped to the gas tank just behind the handle bars. The tank bag is where I keep my computer, phone, about two dozen cables, plug-ins, converters, camera tripod, flashlight, ball cap, pens, note pad, Nan's iPad, passports, lip balm, almonds, unread newspapers, lighter, battery charger, FM radio, spare batteries for the Spot tracker, twist-ties for the cables, and several pairs of ear plugs. In the good old days, we used to actually stick a map in the map case - a clear window in the top of the tank bag - and that was how we followed a planned route. Hard to believe, I know.

Custer, our temporary home, is a bike haven. All the advertising is oriented to motorcyclers and primarily, Harley riders. Though there are four wheeled vehicles, the predominance seems to be motorcycles, even though motorcycle season is rapidly coming to a close. With the Sturgis Rally over, traffic slows down and kitschy merchandise is starting to be offered at blow-out prices that can't be beat. Still, Custer does have some good stuff to see. There are several buffalo sculptures around town, and a few are quite interesting.

Not buffalo, kitschy merchandise.

I am not sure this was meant for us.

A REAL buffalo. He looks almost domesticated. We could have pet him as he walked by the bike.

 It is hard to describe just how twisted the roads are in the Black Hills. We discussed at length today whether there was any practical reason for these roads or if they were created purely for the riding/driving pleasure of being on them. Clearly, there was the odd driver that did not know that they were supposed to be fun roads to drive based on how slow they were going but most people were out there having way too much fun. Certainly we were, or at least, I was.  Some roads seemed to lead somewhere while others just seemed to complete some circular route; we loved being on them but I can't imagine anybody taking them to actually get to a destination. One road had a sign that said "no trucks". This is the first time in our motorcycle career where Nan wondered if I was taking the corners a little on the fast side.

Cathedral spires

THAT'S a sharp corner!

More tunnel travel

Looks like a contradiction. It's not. The same curve, from different perspectives!

This is a 270 degree turn. (Ignore that little road off to the left)

Looking back to the way we had just come.

Approaching the turn

C,C, Gideon Tunnel

As we went through the tunnel...

We could see there was something more on the other side!

I don't think it is a coincidence that the trees "just grew" this way!

And, as a continuation from yesterday's discussion, this place is for all motorcyclers but it is mainly Harleys here. 90% of the bikes are Harley's and if they are not motorcycles, they are the three-wheeled variety, called "trikes", of which there were a surprising number. Plus, there is a substantial number of people who appear to be much older than us riding motorcycles, judging by the number of times we thought we saw Santa, Kenny Rogers and Rip van Winkle. Lots of people riding two-up like us, single up, and women riders. But there is an unmistakable culture here, and it is all Harley-related.

Stars from Comanche Park

Mount Rushmore

One of several tunnels on the day's ride

The following pictures are from Deadwood, which is quite a picturesque old town. The town was the centre of gold mining activity in the late 1800's with famous residents like Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok, who was killed in a poker game while holding a pair of aces and eights, thereafter known as the "deadman's hand".

The town was also a centre of prostitution until 1980

Nan doing the chores, at Hanna campsite