Friday, August 10, 2018, Move to Spearfish, SD

We said goodbye to dry and dusty Medora, ND and drove to Spearfish, SD. I was absolutely shocked to find it was 206.4 miles (89,631.5 total). Maybe it will sink in someday just how vast these "little" square midwest states are. Our route was directly south on highway 85 which was beautifully smooth pavement while we were in North Dakota, but it was pretty rough once we crossed the state line. I always wonder why there seem to be no standards in the paving industry.

Joani captured a last glimpse of the North Dakota badlands, Roosevelt National Park as we left. 

A few miles later and for the remainder of our trip we saw flat grasslands or fields of crops. I think the fields of sunflowers in the Dakotas were a first for us.

We arrived at Spearfish City Campground and immediately noticed it was filled with bikers and tents. Tents everywhere! I didn't want to take any pictures thinking I might offend someone, but believe me there were a lot of motorcycles. I would guess 90 percent of them were Harley Davidsons and they were just part of the crowd that could not get into Sturgis for the annual "Bike Week". I heard estimates of 500,000+ folks ride to the area each year. Bike week was winding down so we expected the crowd to clear out in the next few days and the very nice campground was the perfect starting point for us to explore Spearfish Canyon in the coming week.