North Platte, Nebraska to Interior, South Dakota
September 05, 2023
Today’s Miles = 286

I am a Train Nerd

Today starts off with visits to Union Pacific Railroad’s Golden Spike Tower & Visitor Center and Cody Park both located in North Platte, Nebraska to satisfy my train nerd needs.   

The Golden Spike Tower is situated along side of Bailey Yard, the world’s largest railroad classification yard owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad.  For a train nerd, such as myself, it is a nice museum with some interesting information, displays, and even some model railroad equipment.  Also, the views of Bailey Yard were very impressive. 

Cody Park in North Platte, Nebraska has an outstanding collection of railroad rolling stock and two historic Union Pacific locomotives, a beautify 4-6-6-4 Challenger steam locomotive painted in the “Greyhound” livery and an EMD DDA40X diesel-electric locomotive on display.  Both locomotives and rolling stock have been kept up and were in very good condition.  There is also a small museum in a depo replica on site. 

I did not have time to go into the depot but did take my time looking over the locomotives, rail cars, and caboose.  I was very impressed that they allowed access to the cabs of both locomotives, very nice to be able to enter the cab and examine everything.

Rolling North to South Dakota

From Cody Park in North Platte, Nebraska, I rolled north on Nebraska Highway 97, west on Nebraska Highway 92, and then north on Nebraska Highway 61, all the way to South Dakota.  The weather today was much cooler than on Day 4 and very windy.  Last night’s storms spawn by the cold front brought today’s cooler weather.  After riding about 52 miles from Cody Park, I stopped to switch my mesh jacket for a leather one because I was getting cold.   I spent the previous two days cooking.

This is the rest stop that I made some friends with the locals 😊

Scenery wise here in western Nebraska there was not much going on and almost no traffic.  I enjoyed the area’s remoteness and emptiness.    The straight and long roadway disappearing into the horizon with treeless fields bordering on each side made for a strong feeling of Zen and peace.  I wouldn’t want to ride in this area frequently, but it was nice and relaxing today even with the wind howling across the plains.

South Dakota

South Dakota quickly eliminated my state of Zen.  From the Yesway gas station in Martin, South Dakota to the Badlands Hotel & Campground in Interior, South Dakota is only 52 miles via Google’s preferred and fastest route from Martin.

 This gem of a route picked by Google takes you over the Old SD Hwy 73 and onto Hisle Road, a heavily used gravel road for about 50 miles.  When I arrived to Hisle Road and saw that it was gravel, I was not sure I was going the right way, thinking I was going to be taking Old Hwy 73 the whole.  Old Highway 73 is short and drops into US Highway 18 to the New SD Highway 73.

Hisle Road

Hisle Road is a gravel road that is about 36 miles long and because of what I observed, frequent use, it was heavily waterboarded with deep ruts.  Dexter bottomed out slamming the frame a few times.

Dexter has Issues

  Not knowing at the time, my rear suspension on Dexter either was just about shot at this point or already gone.  I discovered later in this trip on Day 9, heading back to Georgia, that my rear suspension was pretty much shot on Interstate 39 in Illinois where I bottomed out a few times. 

Another issue discovered was that my handlebars were a bit too loose, not crazy loose, but loose enough that on hard bumps and depending how much downward force was put onto the handlebars, they would rotate downward.  This happened today and I simply lifted them back up.  I was contemplating running Dexter by Sturgis Harley Davidson on Day 6 or 7 to have them tighten up the bars as I did not have the tools on hand to remove the fairing and tighten the bars.

Ultimately, neither issue was addressed during the trip.  On Day 6, I found the bars weren’t loose enough to delay the trip.   If they got worse during the trip, there were other Harley Dealerships on the route that I could have the issue addressed.  The suspension was not on my mind at the time.

Taking the Long Way Round

3.7 miles into the gravel on Hisle Road, I decided to abort this route.  My primary concern was the washboard ruts and the beating that Dexter was taking.  My thought was if I continued, I would have a motorcycle left in one piece to finish this trip.  My other concern was, what do I do if halfway or more the road conditions deteriorate even further.

  I have stated many times that Dexter is not designed for off pavement use.  Big concerns other than the heavy washboard ruts are getting a rock wedged into the drive belt where it would tear the belt and may lead to belt failure, requiring a tow.  Also, Dexter by itself is a very heavy motorcycle, just under 1,000 pounds.  Including my weight and gear, the total was at least 1,400 pounds.   Some of the gravel was very thick in spots too requiring that I twist the throttle a good amount in 2^nd gear to get through it.  This type of road is one of the big reasons I was planning that the next motorcycle would be an adventure motorcycle which is much better equipped to handle these kinds of conditions. 

So, I decided to backtrack Martin to U.S. Highway 18 East to South Dakota Highway 73 (the new and paved highway) north to South Dakota Highway 44 to Interior, South Dakota to my reserved camp site.

Interior, South Dakota – Bad Lands Hotel & Campground

Arriving before sunset, I had plenty of time to purchase a few odds and ends (Coke Zero and water) at the campground general store and setup camp.  Not much in Interior, South Dakota itself, a very small town (population 65) with one gas station with one pump selling 87 octane gasoline (which I fueled up with the following morning). 

The campsite itself was nice and well maintained.  I settled in for the night heating up my packed Mountain House meals and washing it down with Coke Zero. 

Summary

No terror today, but there were some concerns.   Overall, a good riding day with trains, cows, motorcycles, wind, and gravel 😊.  I want to do it again lol.