Iron Mountain Road

So, we have driven from our home to Iowa so many times that I think our Odyssey Adventure Vehicle would put Homer to sleep. Now, anything will put Homer Simpson to sleep, but I’m talking the real Homer who had a real Odyssey. I mean his is cool, but did it have V-Tec? I don’t think so. This is definitely a win for us. We got to see really cool tunnels…..

When this road warns you about driving an RV up here…. Yeah, you want to take that serious! There are a ton of twists, turns, and tight squeezes. Your RV will probably end up on an unintended diet. Yes, you will get better mileage towing it home, but the downside is that you will also probably get very wet when it rains!

So, how did we end up here? Well, our plan blew up. I mean, really blew up. Like I almost threw a childish tantrum, blew up. Yes, that would have been very awkward with me kicking and screaming while driving. It would have been really awkward when people noticed that it was not one of the kids throwing the tantrum in a minivan. You see, I wanted to go to the Murdo car museum. They have the General Lee? I mean, come on! Who does not want to see the General Lee? If you do not, then I will not even invite you to view the comment. I think a lot of people missed the nature of the Dukes of Hazzard. They have way more cars than just the General Lee. Partly, I am mocking the sign because I think they peppered I-90 with signs from Sioux Falls to Murdo with billboard advertising the General Lee. It just says, “We have the General Lee.” In all honesty, it made me initially not take them too seriously until I looked them up online! I was like, “You guys are selling yourselves short!”

So, my plan was to go to the Pioneer Auto Show. Now, I did watch The Dukes of Hazzard as a kid. Now, I like seeing movie cars because it is fun to find the microphones in the car, to see how they might be mounted, and the different production gear. No matter how cheesy a show might be, there is still an art to it. You have to mount the gear, use the gear, but then hide the gear off-camera. I like seeing how they did it and taking notes. Supposedly, they have a star car, so it would have been cool to see how they set it up for production. As you can tell, my tension was building up, and I wanted to see the car show! I was excited to go.

…But then… we called! They have summer hours and winter hours. We were in the winter hours, and so the place closed early. I pouted a bit…. Yes, I did. No kicking and screaming, but a bit of a private pout. I think even Homer would have sympathy because I could not outthink my opponent. Then I suggested to Mrs. Paulie’s Pick (she doesn’t like the name either, and it was awkward when we exchanged vows at our wedding. However, we still married after a few decades) to open Chat GPT. The angelic hosts were singing, the heavenly lights shone down upon us, and we searched, “Top 5 Motorcycle Roads near Sturgis, SD.” We read through them and chose….. Well, you already know because of the title. We chose “Iron Mountain Road.” We had the wrong tool for the job, but the minivan did okay…. well, it didn’t, but I have to keep writing. It just lacks that…. what’s the word…. um…. Oh yeah, FUN FACTOR, COOL Factor, or FREEDOM FACTOR. Nevertheless, I was glad we took this road.

We dodged a couple of deer…. watch out for those things, man! They will TAKE you out! Not on a fun date or anything…. more like stranded on the side of the road with that green stuff leaking out of the front of your car. You know the sign of a very bad day! Not much of an adventure to say the least!

However, as you go around the curves, eventually you will see…..

This is a picture taken from a distance, across a field, and with complaining kids in the car. I got out of the car, walked down the field a bit, and snapped this picture. I think if we go back we will budget some time to walk. I also plan to come back with a better tool for the job. It would be cool if it was the two wheeled variety, and not because a car missed a tunnel!

Well, we continued down the road, and then we found a parking area.

Look to the right… a little more… a little more…. and you see…

(Might be an understatement, but the exposure is turned up to see the faces clearly. I will crop it and do something with the pic. I just have not figured out what….)

The picture below is closer to what we saw. It was nice, and I also plan to come back here at night. It would be cool to put the camera on a tripod and leave the shutter open when they light up the mountain. We did not have the time to stick around, and so we went back to Sturgis.

I also want to come back here to check out the rock formations. The black hills have some real beauty, and great roads. I can see why the motorcycle rally started there and continues to return. It is too bad that Sturgis has a bad rap because of the rally. This is a great town, and I love exploring this place when we come through it.

It was getting late, so we completed the loop and returned to Rapid City. I think in the future I would like to do the loop both ways, just to see if the views are different. If you want to read more about the road, check out the webpage. Yes, this road is certainly a Paulie’s Pick! Have you ridden it during the rally? Have you driven something fun on it? Leave a comment and tell us about it!

Thank you again for reading! Until we meet again, may the Lord’s blessing and peace be upon you.