Friday, June 13: Bighorn, Deadwood, and Sturgis

After making it through most of the trip without incident, we had our first and only scrape-up with the kayaks as we left our motel in Billings. Kurt drove under an entranceway that had the clearance noted on the entrance but not the exit. Luckily, the kayaks sustained minimal damage and none of it too serious–a cable connecting the rudder was snapped and the brand stickers were peeled off.

Our first big stop was at the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn. We walked through the rolling hills to see the site of Custer’s Last Stand and the memorials dotting the green plains.

Indian Monument

Custer’s honorary gravesite

Back on the road, we grabbed lunch at Taco John’s and reentered South Dakota. We drove through Deadwood, which seemed to be mostly made of beautiful views and casinos. We stopped in Sturgis and visited the Indian Motorcycle shop to do some Father’s Day shopping.

Sturgis

Kurt at the Knuckle Saloon

After getting ice cream bars (because that’s how hard we roll in Sturgis) we hit the road to get through more miles. Our two long stops had put us schedule to arrive late that night in Sioux Falls, so I called their Holiday Inn to reserve a room for us. We hit one more travel snag when a third J-bracket on our roof rack snapped, unable to withstand the barrage of wind on the South Dakota plains. Kurt used the straps we bought at the REI in Bozeman to get the kayaks secured.

only one bracket survived the trip unbroken

The sky began to darken, and we still had a lot of miles before Sioux Falls. We made one final stop at a biker bar in Kennebec for dinner, and then pushed on. As we drove, we had a great view of the “honey moon,” a rare lunar occurrence. It was pretty special to witness, especially on a Friday the 13th, and on our actual honeymoon.

honey moon on our honeymoon, South Dakota

We finally arrived at the Sioux Falls Holiday Inn just before midnight, ready to check in and pass out. After getting our key and room number, we were delighted to discover that we had an enormous suite on the concierge floor that was easily twice as big as our condo back home. We didn’t get much time to enjoy it before we fell fast asleep after a long, busy day.

States visited: Montana, South Dakota