Woke at 5am to get a early start to get to Buffalo Wyoming through the Black Hills National Forest. Woke up to a large bison just on the other side of the camp. With a herd not too far off. All packed and ready to go by 6am. I take off and just over a hill is a herd of bison on both sides of the road and on the road (sadly didn't get pictures :( ). As I approached, the bison rushed to one side of the road, scaring the crap out of me. It was definitely an interesting experience.
So back along the 12mile dirt road, to the badlands loop, do the loop once more and exit, head out towards Rapid City, South Dakota. around 10:30am I get to Rapid which is just outside the Black Hills I stop for a bite to eat and a top up on my gas. I go in and pay for the gas and come out and my bike wont start. so I walk it to an empty part of the station and bump start it. I figured my GPS killed my battery. So I continued on through to the Black Hills.
Made a pit stop to take a look at Mount Rushmore to see "the faces" and then went back to HWY 16 alternate which is the main road through the Black Hills also known as "Iron Mountain Road" with 3 Corkscrews, 3 one-way tunnels (which sound amazing!) and endless curves. Only bad thing about this road is there are too many cars that drive dead slow. I do the road once and my GPS says I will make it to Buffalo at 2pm, so I decided to loop back around and do Iron Mountain again.
This time not as many cars, was just having a blast going through and I get to the top then the cars start, just when the switchbacks come. I slowly do the switch backs following cars, get past the last one and my bike has no power just making noise. I pull over and the bike dies and won't start again. I was on a down grade so I rode the hill and tried to bump it again. Full throttle and all it's doing is making a low groan as soon as I let the throttle off the bike shuts off. Rode the down grade until I hit a flat point and then it goes up again. I am stranded, a dead bike, hills on both sides of me, and no cell phone signal. This was at 12:30pm. Took my seat off to see if the battery connection was good and no problems there so there's not much I can do. Sat there with my seat off, helmet on the corner of the road hoping someone will stop and offer some help. 200+ cars and bikes go by with no one stopping to even see if everything is ok, what is with people these days? no courtesy anymore? around 1:30pm a guy on an Triumph adventure bike gives me a thumbs up to see if Im good and I show thumbs down, he continues on and about 15min later he comes back. Offers to take me up the hill to get cell signal and then the sheriff drives by and we wave him down. He stops and asks whats going one and I tell him. He gets dispatch to contact 'AAA' to get a tow truck. The tow truck gets here at 3pm, loads the bike and takes me to Black Hills Powersports in Rapid City. The mechanic takes a look at my bike and does a couple tests and figures out it is the Stator and I need a new one. Ok cool, swap the stator and I'll be on my way, but no, this is a Saturday, they close at 5 and are on Sundays, and don't have a stator in stock. The earliest they can get a stator is to over night ship it on Monday and have it ready by Tuesday. Guess I am stuck until Tuesday, with no bike.
The clerk Heather gives me a ride to find a hotel to stay for 3 nights. Go to 4 hotels and they are all super expensive, so we go to the Motel 6 and it is the cheapest.
Day 8, 9 &10: Rapid City Stroll
So, for 2 days I walk around Rapid City (which there isn't much to do other than walk around stores). I walked more in those 2 days than I have in about 2 years.
Tuesday morning one of the service guys picks me up at 11am and brings me to BHPS. Finally at 3pm my bike is running and ready to go. I pack it up and take off to Buffalo. I go back through Iron Mountain Road, had a blast and continued on. Got to Snake Campground around 6pm. set up camp and called it a night.
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