Viffermike’s North Dakota-and-back Byway blast

On May 15-23, I took my SG 2025 G87 M2 on a nine-day, 4,300-mile road trip from Dallas north through Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota to North Dakota – one of just two states I hadn’t previously visited – and back through eastern Montana, central and eastern Wyoming, eastern Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, and the Llano and Rock escarpments of Texas.

I targeted a number of Scenic Byways and other notable roads along the route, starting with Kansas’ Flint Hills, Nebraska’s Sandhills Journey, and part of South Dakota’s Peter Norbeck (as well as scenic drives in Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt national parks) to New Mexico’s Turquoise Trail and Sandia Crest, a 12-mile climb to the top of the 10,679-foot peak above Albuquerque. Due to unusually late cold weather and snowfall, I was unable to drive a few targeted roads, such as the Beartooth/Chief Joseph byways on the eastern edge of the Yellowstone plateau and U.S. 14 through the northern Bighorns, as well as the Pikes Peak climb outside of Colorado Springs.

My M2, which has Yoko summer tires and had just had its break-in service the week before the trip, performed nearly flawlessly, with only a few minor scares/niggles. Among them: a suspected pebble against a brake pad in the Black Hills (reversing/braking cleared it out), a semi-emergency, early-morning PSI adjustment in North Dakota (temp: 38F; wind chill: low teens F; rain: constant; this kind of situation is why I carry my own air compressor), and tumbleweed branches sucked into the open intercooler maw in New Mexico (note: I do not run aftermarket intercooler/side intake grills, though I do have a Meyer Fabrication oil cooler guard fitted.). I also mistakenly ran up over a shallow median turning left out of a fuel station; fortunately it was a low and did not scrape my car’s front end (even with a Lightweight Performance lip installed), though the undercarriage did bottom out once as I hopped over at 3-5mph (have not checked for damage, but the car performs fine).

I routinely cruised at 80-90mph – even maintained high-70s speeds in the cold rain in ND/eastern Montana on Interstate 94 – and frequently topped 110 while passing on two-lane roads. Twisties-wise, the Peter Norbeck and Sandia Crest stretches were highlights; I did the former early enough in the morning when traffic was light, and the latter pacing a couple of sportbikes going up.

A couple of G87 functionality notes:
– Hate, hate, HATE the stock wheels; too difficult to clean, even with ceramic coating applied. Will be swapping to simpler, lighter, stronger (but still black) forged wheels soon.
– Averaged about 26.5 mpg, with stiff head/crosswinds during most of the north- and west-bound legs.
– Installing an exhaust valve controller (mine’s the MAD unit) was a godsend to minimize highway drone but maximize sound when needed. My Homelink mirror buttons, set up to trigger 100 percent-open and OEM flap modes (the third button activates my condo building’s gate) made it stupid simple to switch at will.
– Passing in the M2 is soooo easy and quick – far safer than in most other, less capable vehicles.
– Understeer in twisties is a thing, thanks to the OEM staggered-wheel setup. For safety on unfamiliar roads, I never went above ‘Sport’ settings or turned DSC off, though. I’m considering going with a square 19×10 setup with the new wheels to both reduce understeer and increase sidewall height on the rears, but don’t want to change handling dynamics too drastically (example: I’ll likely add 5-7mm of offset, but not 12-15mm like many do; I don’t want to modify wheel wells and over-constrain my available tire choices.)

Some pics; hope y’all enjoy ’em:

Panorama along the Flint Hills Scenic Byway, Kansas

At the Geographic Center of the Continental U.S. near Lebanon, Kansas

Short panorama along the Sandhills Journey Scenic Byway, Nebraska

At Scotts Bluff National Monument, near Gering, Nebraska

Narrow Tunnels along SD 87 – the Needles Highway, part of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway in the Black Hills

At Badlands National Park, South Dakota

At Devil’s Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Entering North Dakota via U.S. 85

Near the (then closed) east entrance to the Beartooth Scenic Byway, outside Red Lodge, Montana

View of the Tensleep Creek valley, then the Ponder River Pass (elevation: 9,666 feet; temp: 31F), on eastbound U.S. 16 through the southern Bighorns, Wyoming

At Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado (this shot represents a posthumously fulfilled dare from my late dad)

At Old Taos, New Mexico

At the top of 10,679-foot Sandia Crest, New Mexico

Finally … intercooler bug ingestion at a Sinclair fuel station, Scottsbluff, NE (a selection of gas-station pics will be posted in the related thread in the General Topics subforum)