Day 23- July 14

Day 23: July 14th 34,140 on the not quite so accurate odometer

As we spend our usual hour loading the bikes to get back on the road, I notice that oil appears to be seeping through the valve covers on my Bandit. Could be the gas leaking through the carbs is thinning the oil a bit. It doesn’t appear to be serious yet, but it is a cause for concern. I’ll be needing to change the oil soon anyway, plans are to do that on both bikes when we get to Ohio.
Before heading back on the road, we make a few stops in Custer. First stop is a rock shop. There are some items of interest, but nothing we just have to have. Next stop is the library to do a little more research on the area we once thought might be home, but mostly just to get caught up on e-mail.
Then it is off to continue the journey. We take a break at the famous Wall Drug. It is a well advertised shameless tourist trap, but a good one at that. I get my free ice water and donut. We spend a couple of enjoyable hours here, mostly just window shopping. The air conditioning is also most welcome as the desert heat has returned.
Next on the itinerary is Badlands National Park. It kind of reminds me of the Painted Desert. We arrive too late to watch the big pig dig, but the visitors center is open and it’s a pretty good one. The roads through the park are also pretty good, if a bit too warm for comfort.
We have to leave out the missile silo national site as it isn’t finished yet and is spread out over a few locations not necessarily on our way. The visitor center for that is on the way, but it was closed when we got there.
Time to stop the site seeing and rack up some miles. A little late for that I guess, and we don’t come close to my hoped for goal of making it to Minnesota. I was pretty sure we were going to end up short of that goal anyway, so I’m not terribly disappointed. We stop for the night at a hotel on the Missouri river. Unfortunately we arrive just AFTER a very picturesque sunset. Ceci is a little bit upset that we miss the picture opportunity. Most of the roads today were straight and flat, just back to the grind.
The vibrations through the bars on the Bandit feel like they’re getting worse. Ceci is loving her cramp buster, but mine doesn’t seem to be doing anything for me. I make a conscious effort to try and keep my hands more relaxed, but it doesn’t matter. My right one especially was numb for most of the ride.
I also discover that I did a poor job of securing my luggage this morning. The saddlebags settled in far enough that the rear tire wore a hole through one. Crap. Chase Harper has a lifetime warranty I think, but I doubt they’ll cover this damage that is clearly a result of my negligence. (As it turns out, they do have a lifetime warranty and it does cover owner stupidity. Just pay the postage and they’ll fix the bags. Great company and an advantage of buying American) I’ll have to make do with a duct tape repair. Like all good rednecks, duct tape and WD-40 was required gear we had to carry with us.
We have Pizza Hut deliver 2 pizzas for dinner and we gorge ourselves on that. We save the cinnastix and breadsticks for breakfast the next morning.
By my odometer, we manage to cover only 258 saddlebag shredding, nerve damaging, butt breaking miles.