People Watching...

Day ????

We've been away so long, I forget what day it is.

We spent most of the day in Sturgis again, getting a feel what its like on a busy day. Lots of bikes with 4 rows of parking all the way down Main St but no traffic jams going in like we see at Laconia. Up there it can take over an hour to get to Weirs Beach if you get in the wrong line of traffic.

We just sat and watched all the different people and bikes going by. One of the people who wandered by was my cousin Rocky. Of the thousands of people what are the chances that we'd see him again. Its amazing what you can see. We also checked out a few of the hotspots and listened to some music. Towards afternoon, some T-storms came through which slowed down the action a bit. The storms were nowhere near what we saw the other day though.

We took the back way home from Sturgis, down through Vanocker Canyon and through Nemo. The canyon ride was great, nice and twisty and great views. We got home in the daylight for a change and got some laundry done-starting to get things ready for the trip home. Had a late dinner at Wild Bills Saloon just up the road- they have awesome burgers!

Good-bye Sandy!

Day 11; Just hanging around

Today we said good bye to Sandy as she had to return to the Berkshires to go back to work. We will miss her! After she packed her bags with everything Scott could fit, they left for the airport in Rapid City. Tom and I then headed for Rockford, a small town west of Deadwood; population 25. By the map, there was only one blacktop road heading in so we headed west on west out of Deadwood on 85, I think. It was 14 miles in and on the way I was thinking, wow, this is really out of the way, what could possibly be going on here? Well, there was a lot going on.
The center of the town was at the intersection of two roads. There was a general store, which was full of artsy stuff and owned by two women from Minnesota; they called it the Rockford Mall. A saloon, which was started back in the mid 1800's and looked every bit as old. It had tons of old baseball hats stuck to the ceiling. I guess people come and donate their hats to the collection. Tom tried to get me to add my Hill hat to the collection (I don't think he likes it), but I didn't . And, Rockford had a firehouse with more bays then Windsor so Tom was really impressed.
We sat on the porch of the Saloon for quite a while and watched all sorts of interesting things and characters. We met folks from Minnesota who kept us entertained and watched guys doing wheelies and other guys driving down the street while standing on their seats. Just crazy stuff.
We then met Scott in Deadwood after he saw Sandy onto the plane. Deadwood was much busier then the last time we were here. Again, we sat and just watched the people and looked at the cool bikes.
We watched a moron on a gold wing park his bike so close to another bike that there was no way the other bike could get out. The other bike had a license plate with "Rednec" on it so we thought this should be interesting. Then, this other guy pulls in on the other side of the Gold wing and was way to close to him. What a bunch of idiots. We all sat on the bench and had a good laugh with two other guys.
We met up with Tom's cousins in the Saloon No. 10 shortly thereafter. Rocky and two other friends drove out from CT with the bikes in tow (straight thru in 36 hours!) and Donato and his wife flew into Rapid City. It was nice to see everyone. They had spent a very busy day seeing Mt. Rushmore, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse, the Iron Road and Needles. They must have been flying to see all that. It sounds like they have a very aggressive schedule planned for their week. I hope it works out for them especially since Donato's wife told me she can't spend more than one hour at a stretch on the bike! Hmm... it mite get ugly.

Out and About...

Day 10: Black Hills tour

Today we made the rounds of all the Black Hills highlights. We started out in Rapid City at the Harley attractions. Hog pins, stunt riders, free jerky and a display of all the 08 bikes. There are lots of changes going on with bigger motors, 6 speed trans, ABS-pretty impressive changes.

We then went to the Fiirehouse Brewery for lunch. It's a cool restaurant set up in a 1909 Rapid City Firehouse. As we were finishing up, a party of three came in and sat down at the table across from us. They looked kind of familiar and after a minute we realized it was Willie G, his wife and maybe his grandson. For the non bikers, thats Willie G. Davidson, as in Harley-Davidson. Willie G. is the grandson of William A Davidson, one of the original founders of Harley Davidson. It was an unbelievable coincidence, pretty cool. We got a quick picture so we wouldn't bother him and checked out his bike on the way out- A Screaming Eagle Ultra Classic Electra Glide.

From Rapid City we rode all the scenic drives - Needles Highway, Custer State Park and Iron Mountain Road. We rode 18 miles of the Parks Wildlife Loop. It was HOT and all we saw was a few scraggly antelope and prairie dogs. Pretty disappointing. Just a couple miles from the end the buffalo appeared. It was great. They were running along the road creating a massive traffic jam with bikes and cars stopping to gawk at them. They went barreling right across the road as if we weren't even there. A bit farther down they gathered in a big clearing and there had to be 300- 400 hundred of them. Hard to imagine they used to travel in herds numbering in the thousands. I think everyone was impressed by the sight of them.

Needles and Iron Mountain are small, VERY twisty roads thru the mountains with cool narrow tunnels and corkscrew bridges. Three of the tunnels on Iron Mountain frame Mt. Rushmore off in the distance as you drive through them. Some pretty impressive planning and engineering.

We ended up at Mt. Rushmore, a sight everyone should see in their lifetime. It's a very patriotic place and makes you feel good about living in this country. While waiting around we talked with some older couples out on vacation, one of them had lived in Williamstown, MA at one time. It was funny getting their impressions of the Rally. They pretty much showed up with no idea that they would be in the middle of 400,000 bikers. "Oh all the traffic and noise!" We stayed for the closing programs and lighting ceremony. Again, something everyone should see.

In all it was a pretty busy day.

Here's a question for the foresters that are reading. We are wondering why they stack up the slash in a recently thinned stand like a t-pee. There are many of these piles and they are very close together. There's a picture in the photo album to see what they look like. What would be the reason, any ideas? Thanks.

Hotter than the Devil!

Day 9 Devils Tower
Today we ventured farther away from camp and traveled to Devils Tower in Wyoming. We went up Route 385 to Deadwood and then headed south on 85 thru the Black Hills. Lots of long hauls up and down. As we crossed the state line we stopped for a "Kodak Moment" at the state line sign. There were 4 firefighters from Arlington Texas doing the same thing so we took pictures for them and they took pictures for us. They told us about home for them were it is typically in the 100's and very dry. However, this year it is much cooler and they've had nothing but rain. They said it gets so hot there that the blacktop practically boils on the road. Boy, remind me to skip Texas in the summer. They did tell us that there is a really nice riding along the Rio Grande where it is somewhat cooler.
Onward we traveled to Sundance where when we stopped for gas I checked our messages and found that Chelsea didn't have water at the house and the phone was out. Seems we had some severe storms last nite at home (just like here!). So, we got hold of a neighbor and he got the water going for us (thanks Bruce). I was quite relieved to hear that we didn't have to have a new well drilled!
We lost Scott and Sandy for a minute, then we met up again and journeyed on. We left the Black Hills and got back into the flatter lands where we saw many fields that were recently harvested for hay and one that they were currently harvesting wheat. It was a really hot ride and everything looked really dry again. Then we rounded a bend and there it was-Devils Tower in the distance. It was very dramatic sticking up in the middle of all the flatlands.
We got closer and it just kept getting bigger and bigger. There were tons of bikes making the same pilgrimage. We spent a little bit of time there and Sandy communed with the Prairie Dogs (see pictures). Then, onto Heulett where there were tons of more vendors set up. We ate at a little restaurant (same one Chel!) that had air conditioning. It was quite a relief to be in air conditioning, sort of, and we enjoyed the highest buffet we have all experienced. If you were short, you definitely had problems here.
We continued on to Aladin, population 52, (or was it 15) and then headed down to Route 90. We only took Route 90 for a short spell, thank god because it is sooooo boring (how will we survive the ride home which will be nothing but Route 90). We stopped at a local watering hole to cool off again and eat tons of peanuts. Then Tom took us down thru Spearfish Canyon which was breathtaking. The walls of the canyon took off from the edge of the road in many places and just went straight up. The lines of bikes coming and going was getting pretty continuous now. The best part was that it was much cooler so we started to come back to life.
Back at the campground we saw a bike arrive with a sidecar that had a yellow lab sitting contentedly in it. Molly is from St. Louis and went across country earlier this year. She has ridden in the Rolling Thunder ride which are groups, mainly vets, that ride from all across the country to the Wall in DC. She sits in the sidecar, harnessed in with goggles on! All told, she has ridden over 65,000 miles! Wow.
So far the traffic and crowds have not been bad. One cop told us the crowds were less so far and that they are typically at their peak by Tuesday. By then, it will be a continuous stream of traffic and he said that you may wait up to 1/2 hour to make a left turn. Wow, that sounds like fun.
I'd better close as it is starting to sprinkle.....till tomorrow

Got the T Shirts!

Day 8 Sturgis

Today we reached the ultimate biker destination - STURGIS. It wasn't a very busy day so we were able to drive right down Main Street and get a feel for the layout before the massive crowds show up this weekend. It was a lot like any other bike rally except BIGGER, with lots more vendors and more choices of restaurants and bars. We spent the day shopping for shirts and pins and stuff with lots of rest stops for people watching.

Some interesting people we saw: A guy walking around with a rat on a cat on a dog ( see the pic), a guy from Washington packing his bike with so many T shirts it looked like his luggage would burst at the seems, a John Deere chopper, a half dressed 52 year old woman walking down the street, a pin up model with the most beautiful blue eyes you can imagine a skeleton riding a chopper who wanted to take Sandy for ride and a great rendition of Thats Amore! by a huge burly biker in the Karaoke bar. It was a really fun day.

As we got ready to head back to camp we could see a rain storm off in the distance. It started to sprinkle so we thought we'd wait a bit for it to pass. It wasn't 5 minutes when a gully washer of a T-storm hit. It was raining in buckets and there was a river running down Lazelle Street about a foot deep. Glad we waited to leave!

It cleared up just as fast as the storm came on and we could watch the massive thunderheads off in the distance with all kinds of cool lightening running through them. It was another slow ride home with the wet road and darkness coming on. We watched the sky lighting up like a fireworks show from all the lightning in the distance.

Another thing we've noticed since getting to the Black Hills is curves and hills in the road. It is a little strange going through all the twisties after 2000 miles of all the straight as arrow roads we had coming through the Great Plains.

We changed the settings on the Blog so you can all leave comments without registering. Something got changed by accident-sorry about that.

Deadwood

Day 7, Interior SD to Deadwood SD, not too many miles.

Today was a slow day. We stayed at a KOA campground last night and met some very nice people. It is always interesting to hear where others have been and what sights they have seen. After a leisurely breakfast we headed back through the badlands for one more look. The landscape changes so drastically with the different angles of the sun. We met a group of bikers from Pennsylvania. Two of their group had a very interesting story to tell. They left home a month ago and headed across the country to Alaska. They made it all they way up to the town where the ice road truckers leave from. All told, they put 13,000 miles on since they left. Part of their journey took them over 400 miles of dirt roads. When we heard this we all looked at eachother and laughed. Two days ago we began down a dirt road, with very severe washboarding, and we didn't make 400 feet because our teeth were chattering out of our heads! Wow, we all bowed down to these guys. To top it off, one of them was 60 years old and has to have surgery on his knee, due to an injury before he left, the day after he gets home. They certainly made our trip look like a jaunt to the corner store.
We stopped back into Wall Drug again since it was closing when we got there last nite and we missed a bunch of things. Scott and Sandy got to sit on the Jackalope (see the picture!) and we got the free ice water, which is how Wall Drug got started. It is a really neat place with tons of touristy things to look at. It is really a step back in time to the old time roadside attractions.
Then it was back to I90 and headed west to Rapid City. Scott and Karen (his GPS lady) lead us today. They took us thru the suburbs of Rapid City and we headed north on Nemo Road to Deadwood. As we climbed in elevation the landscape turned green, it had been dust bowl brown. The fire hazard is very high here.
The black hills are a new landscape for us. It is so different from anything else we have seen. We are not used to seeing grass continue clear up the mountains to the top. The frequent wildfires keep the understory to a minimum so the forest is very parklike. You could tell that this area has been burned many times. More recently, there was a 300 acre fire on Nemo Road and we saw many makeshift signs along the road thanking the firefighters.
We arrived at our campground, just south of Deadwood, and luckily our sight was available as we arrived one day ahead of schedule. So, after a nice relaxing afternoon, we headed to Deadwood for the evening to check it out. We didn't do any gambling, it is a real big gambling town. We just walked around and had dinner and listened to a local singer and his really bad jokes. We also learned that Wild Bill Hickock was killed 131 years ago today in Deadwood. We visited his gravesite too. Tom found a great piece of deadwood from Deadwood to take home as a souvenior (to add to his tumble-stick) and Sandy got mad at him because she hadn't found anything yet. Well, she left the cemetery with a nice piece of deadwood from Deadwood too.
Thanks for leaving us comments and we look forward to reading more from all of you!
Tomorrow.....Sturgis.......

Should have taken a right turn at Alburqurque

Day 6 Valentine, NE to Interior, SD - Way too many miles!

We spent the morning riding through the sand hills of northern Nebraska. No pretty pictures here, a very stark, almost desert like landscape. The type of place the old west cowboys wouldn't want to get stuck in without a horse. We were on US 20 for a stretch, it has a very different look than US 20 as it goes through the Berkshires!

By noon we were into South Dakota and onto the Pine Ridge Sioux Reservation. This is the second largest and most impoverished reservation in the US. Conditions were what you might expect in a situation like that. We stopped at the sight of the Wounded Knee Massacre, a sad moment in the history of both the Sioux and the United States. A teacher giving a talk to a group of young kids at the mass gravesite was telling them that it is important to visit, remember and honor the victims of such tragedies because such things are still happening today and remebering the past might help stop them from happening in the future.

We had lunch in a Tex Mex place in Kyle, still on the Pine Ridge reservation. Once we were done we had about a half hour ride to the campground on the edge of the Badlands. After one wrong turn, that half hour turned into about 2 hours. Towns are so spread out here that it takes about 20 miles before you realize you took a wrong turn. We were low on gas so we had to take a new route out to I-90 t fill up. In all it was about an 80 mile detour in the blazing 100 degree sun when we should have been sitting around the pool at the campground.

We finally made it and got set up, had dinner and took a ride through Badlands National Park just as the sun was setting. The Badlands are just unbelievable. I can't even describe them- just go to the pictures to see for yourself. We made a stop at Wall Drug- touristy but fun all the same.
The ride back to camp was dark and slow with lots of deer on the side of the road.

Tomorrow we finally get to our destination in Deadwood. It will be nice to not have to break camp every morning.