[bri1042]

Originally Posted by KevinGS

So, I've made it to South Dakota...but not yet to Mount Rushmore, or the Badlands or the Black Hills yet. Had to work today, so I should be able to travel there tomorrow, and I'll probably just stay for the weekend. And I just found out that it's Sturgis weekend. So it's bound to be quite a weekend. Never been, but I guess I'm going now.

Never made it to the car show in Pittsburgh, but I tried. The weather was just too stormy, so I left, arrived in St Louis a day early, and saw my goddaughters.

The driving & scenic fun is just beginning, because when I drove through Omaha, Nebraska, that will be the last decent-sized city that I'll see for a while....until I get to Vancouver. So far, here are the 10 states I have driven through since leaving last Thursday (it hasn't even been a week yet!): Left Maryland, through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, now in southeastern South Dakota.

I once drove through South Dakota at night and totally missed it. I didn't see the State line sign, kept wondering when I would get to SD (this was pre-smart phone days and car navigation days), and all of a sudden I found Minnesota.

[GaoKS]

So sick! Keep the pics coming and safe travels.

[KevinGS]

Originally Posted by bri1042

I once drove through South Dakota at night and totally missed it. I didn't see the State line sign, kept wondering when I would get to SD (this was pre-smart phone days and car navigation days), and all of a sudden I found Minnesota.

LOL

I arrived in SD at night as well, from Sioux City, Iowa (which is at the confluence of Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota, so it's a tristate city, who knew??)...and immediately I saw a deer, standing right near the side of the road, just watching me, as if he was waiting for me to get close before darting out. I freaked out and passed him at like 10 mph. It was so dark, and sooo flat...you could see for miles, even at night. The dark sky looked massive. But I drove like 60 mph the whole time, so afraid of another deer encounter (luckily I was only like 30 miles from my next destination). For this reason, I rather do most of my state-hopping driving during the day.

[KevinGS]

Loess Scenic Byways - Riding through the Iowa Prairies

[Tano22]

can you run down some of the supplies you took with you? It's an interesting challenge to provision an M4 for a cross-country trip.

[COBMW144]

Might be a detour for you, but if you are in Colorado I'd recommend Estes Park continuing up to Rocky Mountain National Park via Highway 34. RMNP still requires reservations but I think if you're up there after 3 pm it's not required.

[KevinGS]

...and yet I feel like I've already seen so much in 7 days. What an adventure.

Weather

I have arrived in Rapid City, South Dakota, the city seat for Mt Rushmore and the Black Hills. First, it feels like fall here in SD. Mid 70s high, 50s at night. In August. It's so refreshing. In MD, in August, you can count on a string of hot & humid days in the 90s.

A BMW Grasshopper Mess

I drove from the eastern side of South Dakota, through some reservations on some fairly desolate roads (mostly large farm plots, 1000+ acres), for a few hours. During that time, I became the suicide plot for a lot of yellow grasshoppers. They seemed to like to hop onto the cement and hang out. And with so few cars passing, clumps of them can make it onto the tarmac. So when I finally came through doing like 70 mph, they either got run over, or some of them tried to jump up and over the car. Most didn't make it.

So, ultimately, the front end of my car paid the price. Even when I finally made it to the highway, there were still grasshoppers on the highway, but far fewer because more cars passed periodically. But still some of them were alive and met their fate as I drove through, as you could see them or hear them meet their fate.

It was a total mess. See the pix.

So, about 3 hours outside of Rapid City on I90, I finally pulled into a little town (and they're ALL little towns) to see if I could find a car wash. My poor car desperately needed one, and it was warmer in central SD, with temps in the low 90s...so they were baking onto my car. Talked to the locals. And they said, "Nope, no car washes heading west in your direction until you get to Rapid City." For like 250 miles in one direction, not a car wash to speak of.

And I didn't want to use any of my precious microfibers to clean off this mess, I'd have to just throw them out. So I suffered through and soldiered on, through the messiest windshield I had ever had...and certainly the dirtiest, buggiest my car had ever been. It rained when I got to Rapid City, so it wasn't even worth cleaning them that night, as much as I wanted to...so I waited until the morning to clean my car.

The front windshield, both side windows and the entire front of the car...plus down the sides of the car, nothing but grasshopper bug guts. And it stunk so bad.

But I took like forever, to spray my car, multiple times, and soooo many grasshopper body parts came out of my car. And it still smelled so bad. After like 15 minutes of spraying, I realized that the radiator and lower air intakes still had a layer of dead grasshoppers. And the bees started swarming the front end of my car, because they could smell food. So I had to get back in my car, pull BACK into the wash bay, and spray more...to get the dead hoppers off the radiator and out of the intake, and it still stunk sooo bad.

I had to put on a glove I keep in the car to pull them out of the lower intake area, and I had to reach behind the intake with a rag to dig out more. I got most, but I know there's still hopper body parts in there. But it's like 95% cleaned out. I went to downtown Rapid City an hour later, parked, walked around...and when I came back to the car, there were like 4 birds flying in and out of lower intake area. Usually I'd be frustrated to see birds near my car, but not this time...because I quickly realized they were flying in their to grab the remaining grasshopper body parts for their dinner. So I watched and just took pix, glad they were helping to finish the job. Mother Nature coming full circle.

[KevinGS]

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[KevinGS]

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[KevinGS]

Mother Nature To The Rescue After a 90-minute wash, the birds arrived to finish taking out some remaining hopper parts. And no more bees. Whew!

[KevinGS]

Originally Posted by Tano22

can you run down some of the supplies you took with you? It's an interesting challenge to provision an M4 for a cross-country trip.

All I brought was a tire pump, a tire patch kit, and my code reader. And A LOT of cleaning products.

I have one large suitcase, and I overpacked. Really, all you need is like 10 days' worth of clothes, and then you can wash at a laundry. And I'm mostly staying in Airbnb's along the way, and many of them let you use their washer and dryer as part of the package. I've already done a load of laundry at my last Airbnb, and had a separate load cleaning some of my car rags/towels, and I hadn't been gone a week yet.

And I have a backpack with my work laptop, wallet, and other odds and ends. And a foldable chair. It all fits in the G82 trunk, and I don't even need to fold down the seats. I have nothing in the backseat. The G82 is a wonderful grand tourer, and quite efficient on the open road.

Originally Posted by COBMW144

Might be a detour for you, but if you are in Colorado I'd recommend Estes Park continuing up to Rocky Mountain National Park via Highway 34. RMNP still requires reservations but I think if you're up there after 3 pm it's not required.

I won't be able to explore Colorado on this trip. Once I get to Seattle, I'll have to beeline back home, though I still plan to go through Idaho and through Salt Lake City. So, hopefully there will be a West Coast Trip Part II, when I can spend time in Colorado, Utah, and Nevada (Grand Canyon), and I'd likely make it into Cali too.

[KevinGS]

I'm already having a blast. And have met all kinds of people. I was in Deadwood and then Sturgis this evening, though that biker event seems overrated. Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and some amazing twisty roads through the Black Hills are on tap for this weekend.

Just look at this 18-mile stretch: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Welc...!1e1?entry=ttu

[KevinGS]

Sioux City, Iowa

[KevinGS]

In the Badlands with the Buffalo and rattlesnakes (and yes, I saw a rattler...and scooted out of there quickly)

[KevinGS]

Love this mural at the local VFW

[KevinGS]

.........

[KevinGS]

Buffalos and a BMW in Custer, SD

[junki]

Remind me to never drive or walk through South Dakota.

[KevinGS]

Originally Posted by junki

Remind me to never drive or walk through South Dakota.

Indeed, it was bad...at least not during the spring and summer.

I think it has something to do with the crops that they farm. Almost zero grasshoppers in the eastern and western parts of the state where there's hills and mountains. Only in the middle in the flat part of the state.

Strange.

But it was also disgusting. It stunk soooo bad...dead grasshoppers sure do stink.

[Tano22]

Wow. Thankfully you didn't suffer any overheating issues. They were literally caked on there to the point where they probably blocked airflow.

Did you clean out the brake ducts as well? If you turn the wheel all the way to one side or the other you'll expose the brake duct. by default they are closed off to some degree but there's obviously still some airflow back there. i imagine a ton of grasshoppers might clog that venting to the point where it might negatively impact your brake temps.

[KevinGS]

Originally Posted by Tano22

Wow. Thankfully you didn't suffer any overheating issues. They were literally caked on there to the point where they probably blocked airflow.

Did you clean out the brake ducts as well? If you turn the wheel all the way to one side or the other you'll expose the brake duct. by default they are closed off to some degree but there's obviously still some airflow back there. i imagine a ton of grasshoppers might clog that venting to the point where it might negatively impact your brake temps.

Thanks, Tano, I'll check tomorrow. I'm sure there is still some dead ones in the duct, and in my bumper crevices. No way I got all of them out with just water.

The good news is that the next state over, Wyoming, is simply gorgeous. Pictures don't do this state justice. So vast, so unfettered, and so many different terrains, sometimes within the same mountain range. I see why people come here to simply get away from it all. I look forward to seeing Montana too, before I head into Canada. It's probably even more barren and seemingly untouched.

[KevinGS]

Wyoming is one beautiful state