Road Trip to Wedding Part III: The Badlands to Cody

So we woke up in Wall and hit up the Drug Store before we got back on the road. Why is this place so famous? Read the history here.

Bikes everywhere.

Inside Wall Drug

Good morning, sir.

We did some souvenir shopping (hot sauce for Jess).

We ate breakfast across the street  and there were flies everywhere too. I  found that the coffee is not strong at all out here and there's a lot of what I assume are J-1 visa workers due to their non-American accents.

After about an hour and a half drive we made it to Mt. Rushmore. This was my first time here and Roy's second time. He came here with his dad when he was 12.

Proof we were there.

The day was gorgeous. It was pretty neato.

I love seeing animals and these mountain goats came out of nowhere and strolled along minding their own business while everyone took photos of them.

This was the scale model for the finished piece. Unfortunately it was never fully completed but it is still magnificent nonetheless.

We arrived in Sturgis after a one hour drive from Mt. Rushmore. I think we got there around 1 or 2 pm. The sun was beating down and it was definitely warm.

I've heard about Sturgis but never in my life would I have guessed that I would actually go there during bike week!  I'm not that into bikes but it was still interesting to see all the creativity that goes into making each bike stand out. 

The extra huge front wheel was a big trend.

Roy took a bunch of photos but I'll save those for my biker blog (ha).

We followed some bikes to Devils Tower in Wyoming about an hour and a half from Sturgis.

We got to the gate but decided to just hang out out there.

We grabbed some burgers and ate them in this cute little picnic area. Our view from the picnic table.

Having a zoom lens is nice.

From Devils Tower we hit the road and headed to our home for the night in Cody, WY. It was a solid five hour drive, but it felt like six or seven. Things were going great and then we hit the Bighorn.

The road was fairly straight and level until you get to Bighorn. The road started winding like crazy and the elevation was quickly rising. If you look closely in the photo there's a tractor trailer coming up the mountain.

To give you an idea, here's what the road looks like on Google Maps.

The views were gorgeous though. Pine trees everywhere and photos really couldn't capture how beautiful it was. We started to see a lot of these animals. I think they are pronghorns.

Maybe they are elk? They seemed too small to be but they were pretty far away.

A deer?

Maybe a female elk.

Bighorn was really cool but we were getting a little weary of driving through it. We started winding down the mountain and the weather looked gloomy. It did drizzle a little bit. We finally got back on flatter land and made it to Cody by around 11 pm. What a day!

NEXT: Part IV: Yeller-stone!

Road Trip to Wedding Part II: The Road to Wall

On Sunday morning we left Milwaukee and headed west. We made reservations for lodging in Wall, SD so we were going to get there even if it was 789 miles away or about 11 hours on the road. I'm glad we traversed this part of the country toward the beginning of the trip because it was pretty boring and I think our excitement for what laid ahead made this mundane part easier. Listening to stand up comedy on Pandora Radio helped too.

Wisconsin - the land of cheese...

...and corn.

Selfie and pit stop in Sparta, WI. We saw PA tags on the bikes behind us. They were headed to the Sturgis motorcycle rally. I couldn't imagine riding a motorcycle that far and long.

Picked up some beer for our cooler.

Four hours later we crossed the Mississippi River into Minnesota.

The Land of Lakes state was land of more corn. The road stayed straight pretty much all the way to Wall.

We also saw about a million hay rolls.

We missed the Minnesota sign going in but we got it on the way out. Hello, South Dakota!

You see these concrete teepees at every rest stop in South Dakota.

A sign that we were getting close!

After about nine hours into our trip we stopped in Mitchell, SD to visit the Corn Palace. Wasn't sure what to expect when we got there but it was worth the stop I think. We picked up some microwave popcorn packs for the wedding gift bags. 

Back on the road again and approaching the Missouri River.

Approaching a curve in the road!

We stopped to eat at 9 PM in Kadoka but realized it was actually 8 PM because we crossed over into the mountain time zone.  We had only 40 minutes left to go! Hallelujah! We got to our hotel after dark and luckily we made reservations the night before because they were booked full. It wasn't the fanciest of hotels but it sufficed. The next day would be a lot more exciting in terms of things to see.

NEXT: Part III: The Badlands to Cody