Total Miles for day 7 was only about 42 miles, mostly consisting of a loop departing from Grizzly Bear Campground near Keystone, SD to Mount Rushmore and then through Custer State Park on South Dakota Highway 87, to Keystone (to get some supplies), and then back to camp.
Total Miles for day 6 was 253 miles starting at the Badlands Hotel & Campground in Interior, South Dakota. The highlight of today’s ride was rolling through the Badlands National Park offering up some stunning and rugged scenery. The day concludes near Keystone, South Dakota where I camp for two nights in the Black Hills at the Grizzly Creek Primitive Campground.
USA Midwest 2023 Day 4 starts in Onawa, Iowa as I roll through town and north to Whiting, Iowa. From Whiting, I cross the Missouri river and south on US Highway 75 to Omaha, Nebraska and then end the day in North Platte, Nebraska, 368 miles for the day.
Today I rolled from Quincy, Illinois to Galesburg, Illinois to visit the Galesburg Railroad Museum. In addition to motorcycling, I have a strong interest in model railroading and railroads more broadly. Model railroading is my main hobby, though it sometimes gets less attention than motorcycles and other aspects of life. The limiting factor, as with most of us, is limited resources in time and money 😊
After visiting the Galesburg Railroad Museum I rolled west on US Highway 34 across the Mississippi River into Iowa skirting south of Des Moines then angled northwest on numerous back roads (a couple of which were loose gravel unpaved roads) to Onawa, Iowa where I stopped for the day, arriving well after sunset.
On Day 2 of USA Midwest 2023, I depart Tower Rock campground and ride north near Saint Loust (east side of Mississippi river) and end the day in Qunicy, Illinois.
I start from home in Douglasville, Georgia and roll northward via backroads through Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and then take a ferry across the Ohio River into Illinois where I camped for the night at Tower Rock Campground near Cave-In-Rock, IL.
Today is one week until my USA Midwest 2023 trip begins. It has been three years since I have done a long distance trip. I did a regional trip from Atlanta (Douglasville, GA) to Charlotte of 685 miles and a regional from Atlanta (Douglasville, GA) to Myrtle Beach of 793 miles in 2021. I did not do any riding in 2022 at all due to working a second job that I quit in December 2022 (one year part time warehouse work) – have to pay for my toys (and never-ending home projects) somehow.
Today is 1 August 2023, one month until kickstand up on my next long distance motorcycle trip (long distance for my standard, some of you folks rack 6,000 miles in seemingly a weekend lol). USA Midwest 2023 Trip Overview Blog Post
I have been in the process of getting the final bits of preparation in order, having Dexter serviced (still a couple of odds and ends to tend to), going through and inspecting my gear, and acquiring new gear. I really should blog some of my preparation, especially concerning gear, yeah, I should really probably do that…..maybe I will, I am a bit lazy at this whole blogging thing :). My wife wants me to do a video or two discussing my gear….I guess I will have to try now if my wife commands it ….but not today. Today is just another blog post (sorry honey) :).