At 1430 this afternoon the place we were in was hit by severe wind, lightning and torrential rain.  Not a surprise since the weather channel had been forecasting this for a couple of days.

However; since we are protected by the bubble, we were safely in our rooms at 1400.....

Left our motel in Kadoka at 0530.  Plan was to try and beat most of the storms.  We wore our rain gear as we expected to get rained on pretty hard.  In the Badlands by 0630.  Beautiful place and the perfect time to be there, as we had the roads to ourselves.  Couple of hours of great riding (only a little rain), and then it was off to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse.  Rushmore was cool, Crazy Horse was unbelieveable. Spent more than an hour there.  Impossible to describe.  Google it and then buy a plane ticket and come for a visit.  Truly inspirational.

Then we went to ride the Needles.  You know the riding will be tough when the sign says 5 mph on a curve.  Of course there are the down hills, where you can see the road cut back on itself.  Despite the butt tightening, the ride was beautiful.  Three one lane passages thru rock, not really a tunnel, pictures don't do them justice.  Survived that and then a race against Mother Nature to beat the storm.  Pizza and beer tonight.  It is now 2020 and past our bed time. Sleeping in tomorrow.  0730 ish departure.  Off to Sturgis, Deadwood, Sundance, Devil's Tower and Gilette.  Miss home, but wouldn't trade this for anything.