Heather dropped me off at my friend Wick’s house around 9a.  Chris met up with us there and drove us to get the Suburban we rented for the week. We left around 10a and drove straight to Aurora, IL so Wick could stay and visit with his family member overnight. It took about 5 hours to get there and just the normal traffic between Gary, IN and Chicago.   I stayed at the Hilton near the outlets in Warrenville, IL. Tomorrow we head to South Dakota.

Saturday 8/6

I left the hotel around 5:15 and arrived at Wick’s relative’s house around 5:30a. We grabbed some quick breakfast at McD and gassed up. We anticipated about a 12 hour drive and gaining an hour would get us into the Badlands National Park around 5p MT.  We pressed the speed limit a bit and actually arrived at 3:30p MT. 

During the ride out, we decided to stop at Badlands and Mt. Rushmore since Wick had never been to these places. However trying to find a hotel in the area was impossible.  I thought for a minute and yep…. Sturgis Rally Week is this week just a short drive from us.  It was at that moment we both said “We’re going to Sturgis!”. Wick was able to use his hotel points and we found a nice place in Lead, SD, about 10 minutes from Sturgis.

We arrived into the Badlands National Park and got off  at the 240 loop and drove the 31 mile loop through the Badlands Park.  On the way out, the 240 loop ends into Wall, SD, so we visited the famous Wall Drug Store with the $.05 coffee.  I also needed something to wear to Sturgis, so we went to the Harley store there and I got a Harley Davidson shirt and Sturgis durag. We then continued over to Mt. Rushmore.