THE HEAT IS ON IN SOUTH DAKOTA’S BADLANDS

Around 650 MINIs traversed the state of South Dakota from east to west with a 363-mile drive on day 10 of MINI TAKES THE STATES 2016.

Driving in high temperatures described by The Weather Channel on TV as ‘dangerous’, the extreme summer weather was matched by some stark and dramatic scenery as the 4,400-mile cross-country rally passed through the 244,000 acre Badlands National Park. Motorers witnessed spectacular landscapes, mixed grass prairie, native wildlife, deep canyons and towering spires of fossil soils on a 30-mile drive through the Park.

Over 1,300 motorers had departed earlier in the day from the Convention Centre in Sioux Falls and were soon heading west to the city of Sturgis, home of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, one of the largest of its kind in the world, due to take place two weeks after MTTS had passed through.

Before arriving in Sturgis, the rally paused for a stop at 1880 Town, a collection of 30 buildings from the Old West that was once used as a movie set and which is now a museum of Western heritage.

MINI enthusiasts then gathered at the Knuckle Saloon in Sturgis later in the evening for some much needed ‘R & R’ ahead of an early morning visit to Mount Rushmore the next day followed by another 330+ mile drive to Cheyenne, WY.