Gribblenation

After a great day at Rocky Mountain National Park, it was time to go in a new direction - North - and into the Black Hills of South Dakota. Route: I-25, US 85, US 18, SD 89, US 385, SD 87, US 385, SD 244, US 385, US 16 With it being offseason in the Black Hills, we ended up staying the night in Rapid City.  It made travel a lot easier. Photo Set on Flickr: Wyoming Road Trip - Day 5 The night before, a cold front came through Cheyenne.  The wind gusts shook the old windows of the rental.  And in the morning, the drive north on US 85 was full of grey flannel skies with complimentary chilling drizzle.  I was surprised that there was more traffic than I expected on US 85 between I-25 and US 26 in Torrington.  Once beyond Torrington and Lingle, any vehicles on US 85 became nearly non-existent; and the weather improved.  A progression of improving skies along US 85 in Eastern Wyoming. At Mule Creek Junction, it was a right turn onto US 18 and into South Dakota....

Following spending the night in Belle Fourche my destination was in North Dakota in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  From US Route 212 in Belle Fourche it was a solid 174 miles north to Interstate I-95 on a desolate stretch of US Route 85. This blog entry serves as Part 11 of the 2016 Mountain Trip series, Part 10 can be found here: 2016 Summer Mountain Trip Part 10; Devil's Tower National Monument US Route 85 north of Belle Fourche in South Dakota traverses through rural Butte County and Harding County.  Between Belle Fourche and the North Dakota State Line there isn't much to capture the interest.  The site of interest I did find was the ghost town of Redig in southern Harding County.  Oddly Redig is something I've never been able to find much information on as it rarely ever appears on historical maps.  The community has an abandoned service station that appears to have been last in use in the mid-20th century.  There was no apparent signs of ...

Following a full day in the Black Hills and Badlands National Park I headed back west I-90/US 15 to spend the night in Rapid City.  The following morning I headed west to Sturgis to take US Route 14A through the Black Hills. This blog entry serves as Part 9 of the 2016 Summer Mountain Trip, part 8 can be found here: 2016 Summer Mountain Trip Part 8; Badlands National Park and former US 16A on SD 240 Before starting US 14A proper I stopped off in Sturgis to view parts of the City.  Prior to I-90 being constructed US 14 was routed through Sturgis westward to US 85 on the outskirts of Deadwood.  US 14 would have traveled through Sturgis on; Junction Avenue, Main Street, dipped over the rails on 8th Street, and continued on Sherman Street under I-90 to Moose Drive.  This view below would have been on westbound US 14 on Main Street. Strugis obviously is mostly known for the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally which began in 1938.  Sturgis was founded as a rai...