Everyone got up early and showered because it was the big road trip to Devils Tower National Monument in Northeast Wyoming. Devils Tower is approximately 100 miles northwest of Rapid City. We stopped in Rapid City at Colonial House for breakfast to have a world-famous caramel roll before heading up I-90 through Sturgis, Spearfish and into Wyoming. At least that was the plan until we had a tire blow out just past Rapid City on I-90. This set us back about 3.5 hours by the time everything was done. My brother-in-law came from Rapid to help with a jack because the one provided with the car wasn’t high enough to put on the spare. Then, there was one tire store open in Sturgis and it took until almost 1pm to get the tire replaced before we could continue our adventure to Devils Tower, Wyoming. It could have been worse, and we were still able to see a lot, including a walk down Main Street Sturgis, where all the 2022 Rally t-shirts were on sale. I'm always amazed at how quickly this town of 6,700 can clean up from the rally of hundreds of thousands in just a few days.
We had lunch in Hulett, WY at the Ponderosa Café and then continued on to Devils Tower – it was a beautiful day again without a cloud in the sky. We walked around the base of the tower and saw 3 climbers and got to listen to the wind whispering through the ponderosa pine trees. By the time we left and made our way to Sundance and Beulah, the Vore Buffalo Jump site was closed for the day, but we took a quick peek.
Once we were back in South Dakota there was still enough daylight to drive down Spearfish Canyon, one of the most spectacular places on the planet, and made the dog leg over to Roughlock Falls, another favorite. We drove back to the cabin via Rochford and Mystic and saw lots of deer in meadows and people along the Mickelson Trail. Despite the unanticipated beginning, it ended up being another full day.