Woke up to find it pouring with rain. By the time we had had breakfast and packed it was staring to ease and when we packed the car it had almost stopped. Left Watford City just after ten and got on highway 85 and headed south. Listened to Bryan Adams on Tracks of my Years on Radio 2. Definitely worth a listen. Stopped at a gas station in Bowman to get some drinks and a snack. We got a salted caramel Twix and a cookie dough Twix and shared them. We both agreed the salted caramel one was the winner by some distance.
 |
| The entrance to Bowman |
Carried on heading south on the 85 and crossed the border into South Dakota. The whole morning was on the same road and it was only single lane but there was so little traffic I put it in cruise control for hours and it was so straight it took hardly any steering.
 |
| Straight |
 |
| Flat |
Another couple of hours past and we arrived in Belle Fourche.
Parked up and went in the visitor centre. There was a Tri State museum too. Had a mooch about. Saw some old western things. Bought a magnet. We then went outside to see this.
 |
| The middle |
 |
| Middle of the middle |
When planning this journey last night I noticed that Belle Fourche was the geographical centre of the USA, so we stopped by to go and stand on it. We then sat in the car to eat a packed lunch and I read a leaflet we picked up in the visitor centre. Turns out this was just the monument, the actual centre was a few miles north but even that may not be the actual centre by up to ten miles. Hawaii is included but not its actual position. I don't really know as I got bored reading about how they try and work it out. The thing is this isn't the actual centre.
We'd started to see a lot of bikers on the journey today and this just got more and more as the day went on. The reason being is we were approaching Sturgis which holds a massive bike festival. We found this out on our first trip here in 2010 when we passed this way. Turns out the festival is currently on and as we joined the I90 west we passed through it. Let's just say there were about a million bikers in Sturgis itself and the surrounding towns. The number began to dwindle as we got further away. We discussed how we have now been in the Black Hills of Dakota on three trips, 2010 when we went to Mount Rushmore, 2017 when we went to Deadwood and now passing through this time.
Eventually we arrived in Wall our destination, only to find it full of bikers too. Checked in to the Hansen Inn and Cabins. Like a motel except people own the rooms and let them out, a bit like the hotel in New York.
Went for a walk about in the town. Went to Wall Drug which is a big store, apparently quite famous. It was just full of tat. The whole place seemed full of tat. Very much like Sedona we visited in 2015 except without the psychics. Luckily we are only here for the night before setting off again tomorrow. Went to a grocery store and picked up some things and headed back to the room. Watched Happy Gilmore 2 whilst eating tea. It wasn't as bad as you think.
States visited - 10
