It’s when you see the 80-mph speed limit sign on I-90 heading west outside of Sioux Falls that you really start to feel the American freedom rushing in. Stretching into the shimmering distance before and around you on all sides is the unpeopled, rugged, vast, and unmistakably western expanse of South Dakota. Once you cross the great Missouri River that Lewis & Clark dragged themselves up back in 1805, you are heading steadily upward mile by mile to the “energy capital of the nation” in Gillette, Wyoming, at 4,500 feet above sea level (the mean elevation of Wyoming is about 6,700 feet). You’ll pass the Badlands, Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, and Deadwood on your way, not to mention Sturgis, where the world-famous motorcycle rally takes place annually every August (the 82nd rally runs August 5-14 this year) … to continue reading please click here.
