Sturgis

On Sunday, Ed and Jim took a ride out to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse and then on to Deadwood on their cycles. Jim said it was a 140 round trip. They had a grand time. I went shopping in Rapid City and I had a nice day too. Monday we had an exciting event. Jim and I and Ed rode the motorcycles to the Buffalo Chip to pick up our concert tickets. On the way, a deer ran in front of us. It was so close (about 3 ft) to us we could hear its hoofs clicking the pavement. I never saw it til it was right in front of us. Luckily Jim saw it out of the corner of his eye and was able to hit the brakes in time without dumping me. There was a guy going the other way and he screamed because he thought he was going to hit it but it went right passed him and into our path; and when he screamed is when I saw it. We were still moving as it passed before us - Jim said if the deer wasn't traveling as fast as it was we probably would have collided. Ed said from where he was sitting he thought for sure we were going to hit it. Needless to say, I was pretty scared. My arms felt numb until we got off the cycles. Anyway, after we got our tickets we stopped in town for lunch and shopped around at some of the vendors and got some shirts. Then we stopped at the grocery store for more provisions and decided to spend a quiet day at the campground. From now on I'll be on deer alert you can bet. Our neighbors (husband and wife) camping across from us are tattoo artists from Germany. They are setting up shop in a local beauty shop. They've been doing this for the last 5 years. The beauty shop owner closes up and moves her equipment out and the tattoo artists are expecting their equipment in tomorrow and will set up and start working on Wednesday. We have spent the last two evenings talking with them. They flew into Chicago, then bought a bike and rode here. It took them 4 days. Jim and Ed are thinking of getting tattoos from them. We'll see. Until later........

Friends in Sturgis

We sure had a great day today. Ed and Jim took a ride on their motorcycles and when they got back we got Mason to go for a ride with Ed. I think Mason was really getting into the biker mode. He was having a blast. We even got Judy on the bike. Judy was really a good sport -- even though riding and bikers is not her thing she went along with all our shenanigans! Our new friends, Val and Ryan (from the grocery store) came over for happy hour and dinner . We had a great feast - We bought steaks, and Judy, Ed and I fixed the rest of the fixens; baked potatoes, rice a roni, asparagus casserole, fried apples. Then we went over to Val and Ryan's buddy (Gene) for another happy hour. Gene had converted his garage patio into a bar and party room. It was really cool. His sign was posted on a big bear carving in his driveway. Then we all walked into town to their favorite night spot and listened to this great rock band. I'm not really a fan of rock, but this band was great. It was such a fun day and to think bike week hasn't started yet. I will admit, we were pretty wore out by the end of the evening. Judy and Mason leave on Saturday and Jim and I are thinking of having a quiet day at the pool to rest up.

Black Hills, SD

Today Judy and I explored more of the Black Hills looking for quilt shops, antique stores, etc. We had a wonderful drive about the country and had lunch at a wonderful coffee cafe in Spearfish, SD. The guys, Jim, Mason and Ed went looking for RV parts, hardware stores and also found a great little local bar called Gunners in Sturgis. Judy and I stopped off to meet up with the guys and they (the guys) had quite a party going on in the bar. It seems earlier in the day, Ed met a woman (Val) who owned the local grocery store the day before and struck up a conversation and when the guys got to the bar, Val and her husband (Mark) were at Gunners, so they all struck up quite the conversation learning all about who's who in Sturgis. Then the owner of the bar (Gary) came in and turns out he is originally from West Virginia, so don't you know the group got cozier. Gary told us overnight the town will go from 6,000 to 500,000 people. It's like they drop in out of the sky. We are starting to see lots of bikers arriving now; in fact our campground is just about full. Anyway, we had a great time with them and we ended up inviting them out for a cookout at our RV campground for Friday. We then took Ed down to Deadwood so he could see the western town and we all had dinner at the Buffalo Steakhouse, where they had Entertainment while we ate. After dinner we walked out onto the street and they were reinacting the capture of the man who killed Wild Bill Hitchkock. Ed really got a kick out of that. The picture above is of all of us standing in front of Kevin Cosner's bar with a Bill Cody reenactor. Judy and I found our spots at a favorite slot machines and the guys sat out on bench watching the biker babes. Hope everyone is doing well. The temperature here is now a comfortable 80 degrees. Until next time.......

Devils Tower, SD

Wednesday, Jim and I and Mason and Judy traveled to WY to see the Devils Tower. Our friend Ed stayed behind to see about having his truck looked at. He thought he might have a transmission problem. It turned out his truck is fine. Anyway, the ride out to Devils Tower was beautiful. It took about 2 hours. The scenery was beautiful. We started taking pictures of the tower as soon as we could start to see it. We think we were about 10 miles away when you could first start to make it out in the clouds. The Blue Angels Jets were doing fly bys and it was awesome to watch. Jim wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch a picture of them as they flew by. Mason got a great shot though. We had lunch at the Devils Tower KOA resturant and talked to several people who were out touring around. It was a really great time. Then on our way back to our campground, we decided to ride thru Sturgis to see how the 3 most popular places during the rally were coming along with preparations. Glencoe and Buffalo Chip still had a long way to go before they were up and running. Nothing but tractor trailers lined up everywhere unloading and carpenters everywhere making last minute remodelings. The third place, Full Throttle was open for business, but were in the process of getting deliveries and building platforms outside of the bar. We all enjoyed a cold beer and talking with the waitress about all the events planned for bike week. We ended our evening with dinner at our RV and a game of cards. The guys called it an early night (not very tough bikers men) and Judy and I stayed up watching TV and working on our rag rug project. All in all a great day. Until next time..........

Hill City, SD

Today, Jim and I and Mason & Judy traveled to Hill City, SD and rode an 1880 Steam Locamotive train from Hill City to Keystone, SD and back. It was a 2 hour train ride in open air cars and the scenery was just beautiful. Along the route, an old man was standing on a platform in front of his house waving to the train passengers. When we waved back he took off his hat and bowed. The conductor says he is out there 3 times a day as there are 3 trains that go by his house. He was so cute! He just loved it when everyone waved backed to him. Then we went to Deadwood for a late lunch and some more gambling. At least Judy and I gambled. Mason & Jim met a cowboy character that joined them at their table and told them all kinds of Deadwood stories from the past. He was quite the character. When we got back to camp, Jim and I relaxed down at the pool and met several folks who have come in for the motorcycle rally. Then around 7:00pm our friend, Ed Steckler, originally from Fredericksburg, now Fernandino Beach, FL came rolling in. He's coming in for bike week, but decided to come down early to do some touring around before the rally. We got Ed and his 5th wheel all settled in and enjoyed the rest of the evening talking with other campers around us. They were telling us that this campground is like one big party during bike week. He says you don't have to go into town there will be so much going on here. That was good to know. Tomorrow, we plan to go to WY to see Devils Tower. Until then.....

Sturgis, SD Bound

Jim and I left Forest City, Iowa Friday morning. We spent the first night in a place called Presho, SD. I was hoping to get my nails done while there but the lady at the desk said the nearest place to get your nails done was at least 50 miles away so I forgot that. Saturday we headed out on Interstate 90 W and were hoping to intersect with Judy and Mason (Jim's brother & wife). We decided after looking at maps we would meet up with them at the famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. But first Jim and I went through the Badlands National Park. (pic to left). What an incredible place. All Jim could think of was all the Gunsmoke movies he watched and how Matt Dillon used to ride thru the Badlands to catch the bad guys. I had to keep reminding him it was just a TV show and Matt really didn't ride for 6 months at a time through the Badlands. We did meet up with Judy and Mason at Wall Drug later that afternoon. (2nd Pic). Wall Drug really has an interesting story to it. It seems this young man left his hometown with a wife and baby to start a pharmacy in 1931. His family told him not to go because people were broke and starving in that part of the country and he could never make a living. Well he decided to give it 5 years and at the end of 5 years he was beginning to think he had made a mistake. But his wife had an idea. She decided they would put signs along the highway offering Free Ice Water. Well guess what, people came and before you know it people came not only for the water but started buying other things and the rest is history. It has grown to a huge establishment offering many jobs for the community and offering not only pharmacy stuff but has many resturants, galleries, gifts, jewlry, animal displays, etc and yes they still offer free ice water! And it is still family owned and operated. We really enjoyed our visit there, especially after we found out the history. We got to our campground (No Name City Campground) late in the afternoon. Its about 3 miles from Sturgis. Judy and I went shopping on Sunday - I finally got my nails done in Rapid City which is about 22 miles from the campground; and we discovered a really neat quilt store. That evening we drove into Deadwood for dinner and casinos. None of us won anything to speak of darn it, but we did have a great time. Monday we toured Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse monuments. They are really incredible sights. Judy and I also discovered the Blackhills Jewlry and more quilt shops. Needless to say we came dragging back to the campsight and it will be an early night for all of us. We are tired!!! Hope you all are staying cool. Saturday it got as high as 111, today it cooled down to 101. It does get nice and cool in the evenings though. Take care....

GNR Day 4 - Final Day

Well Thursday was the last day of the GNR. We started out the day with a show put on by the Brett Family from Branson, MO. They were fantastic. I'm glad that they didn't cancel out altogether because of the storm the night before. They were sure worth the wait. Then believe it or not Jim and I attended a Microwave/Convection Oven Cooking Class. Yes, Jim went to a cooking class. Actually we both got a lot out of it. I've been experimenting with my convection oven in our RV, but I was never comfortable with what I was doing. So Jim went along to understand the "technical" aspects of using the oven. Then that evening, Jim decided to use the oven and cook dinner. Now that is a first for Jim. He never cooks!!! After Jim's dinner, we went to the final show of the GNR and it was "50 at the Hop" band from Branson, Mo and again another great performance. We will leave Friday morning for South Dakota. Until then.....

GNR - Day 2 and 3

Above is a view of how packed in we are. We had a state dinner at a resturant about 20 miles from here at a resturant called the Branding Iron. The food was wonderful. They had the biggest steaks I've ever seen. The lady at the end of the table is our VA State President. She has done a wonderful job at this rally making sure everyone had fun. We took up about 5 tables for the VA group.

We spent Tuesday checking out the vendors and listening to the entertainment being provided.

Jim is still going to seminars and I took a rag rug class. It was pretty neat. The evening entertainment was a 50/60 band that was terrific. Despite the heat, quite a number of folks were up dancing including Jim and I. Jim got shots in his knee before we left on this trip and he is happy to report that his knee if holding up well. We missed happy hour tonight but I think we had more fun at the dance. Wednesday, I took a quilting class and Jim continued his seminars. The evening entertainment got wiped out again because of another rain storm. So we continued happy hour under the awnings. The cancelled entertainment will be held on Thursday at 10:00am and we have another big event planned for Thursday night. Until next time......

GNR Day 1

Well the GNR has officially kicked off. There are seminars and craft classes, entertainment, and vendors set up all over the grounds. They say there are approximately 1500 RVs checked in with approximately 5,000 people not including the Winnebago reprs and vendors. Jim has been getting educated all day - he also got replacement parts for our kitchen vent fan, awning straps, etc. I enjoyed the entertainment almost all day and especially enjoyed listening to Les Gilham who is a country and western balladeer. He has told some great stories about Buddy Holly, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, the Carter family, etc. They were announcing tornado warnings and severe storm warnings the for evening so that had some of us women quite nervous especially regarding the tornados. We were to evacuate to the bathrooms if we heard the sirens. About 5:45pm it got really dark and I was just waiting any minute for the sirens to go off but they never did. We did get a terrific thunderstorm though. It only last about an hour and the next thing you know the sun was shining. They had a big entertainment gig arranged for that evening, but called it off because the stage was too wet to bring out all the electrical wiring and stuff. So again we ended the day with another of our famous happy hours. Our circle has gotten quite big now - we take up the roadway between the VA and NC RV rows. Still having a great time!

GNR - Days 6-8 Pre-Rally

We spent the weekend before the rally enjoying Puckerbrush Days in Forest City. Forest City is a community of about 4500 people and it's small town reminds you of small town America. People are very friendly and Puckerbrush Days is like our county fairs on a much smaller level. Lots of good food, games for all played in main street, parade, and music. They had events from Thursday thru Sunday.

Our club members brought their lawn chairs and we all sat in front of the town hall watching the activities and enjoying food and good company. Iowa is known for its corn so we were all looking forward to their sweet corn and pork sandwich dinner on Friday evening. They cook this corn in these huge steamers right on main street and store it in these roaster pans full of butter; it sure was delicious. Saturday, we watched the parade and enjoyed BBQ chicken cooked over coals on the street. The evening was topped off with fireworks. Of course we end each of our evenings with happy hour over at our RV sights.

Grand National Rally (GNR) Days 4&5 of the Pre-Rally

More and more RV's are rolling in as well as vendors. The official opening of the GNR is Monday, but pre-festivities are already starting. RV's are lined up by states, ie our 7 club member RVs are parked on the Virginia lane. We have gone to breakfast over in town and folks are scheduling their RVs for service at the Winnebago Service Center daily. Jim put the truck in at the Dodge dealer here in town because sometimes it wouldn't go into neutral; and in order to tow the truck, it has to be in neutral. Well the dealer worked on it for 2 days and declared it fixed but when Jim got it he determined it still wasn't working right so the dealer took it back and after checking it out on the 3 day realized the problem was owner operator. Jim wasn't always putting his foot on the brake when he put it in neutral and so sometimes it worked (when his foot was on the brake); and sometimes it didn't (when his foot wasn't on the brake). As soon as the service guy told him what he thought his problem was; Jim remembered reading it in his manual and was totally embarrassed that he had wasted the dealers time on the problem. Poor Jim; don't you know our RV friends loved that problem. Tuesday we took a tour through the Winnebago factory. It was very interesting. It takes 3 days to complete an RV and then it goes through a series of tests before it is released for sale. It was amazing watching the assembly line. Both men and women have the same positions and the work looks really hard. I was amazed at watching the women cut tiles and nail walls together making it look easy and you know it was heavy and hard work. We found out these workers get paid $10 per hour and after 6 months they can earn as much as $12.50. We've been ending each evening with happy hour that goes on until 9:30pm. The nights are cool here; you actually need to wear a jacket by 8pm.

This evening we had a tailgate dinner cooked by one of our members and continued happy hour til 9:30pm again,. Today was also registration day for those campers that are already here in the campground; so we registered and have been busy going through our schedule of events planned Mon-Thur of next week. So far I have signed up for a quilting class; convection oven class and a rag rug class. Jim has been busy with his spit and wittle group determining what seminars they will be attending. There will be entertainment all day every day and a big show each evening so next week will get very busy. This weekend the little town of Forest City starts their Puckerbrush Festivities so we are looking forward to enjoying Puckerbrush days. Until next time.......

Grand National Rally (Day 3 of the Pre-Rally)

Well today is the 3rd day of the pre-rally. More and more motorcoaches are coming in. People have been busy scheduling repairs; upgrades; etc to their RVs at the plant service center. Jim had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday at 9:00am but they called us while we were out and about in the town Monday to ask if we could bring it right over because they had an opening. We hightailed it back to the RV and got it right over to the service center. We had to bring the dogs out with us because they can't stay in the motorhome while it is being serviced. Both Bono and Charlie were so delighted to be in an among all the people. They service anywhere from 50 to 100 motorhomes a day and they have a big waiting room where people are allowed to bring their pets inside as long as they act good. As you can imagine the waiting room was packed. Well Charlie and Bono were definitely on their "church behavior" and lots of people kept petting them and telling them how good they were. We met people from all over the U.S. and Canada who were waiting to get serviced and spent the afternoon telling traveling stories and making jigsaw puzzles. I was about 15 pieces from finishing a 1,000 piece puzzle when Jim said it was ready to go; I hated leaving before we finished the puzzle but we had been there all afternoon so I left it to a lady from Canada to finish it off. We got new windows put in on the front drivers side but we had to be back at 6:00am Tuesday to finish the problem with the slide. Getting up at five this morning was not fun but we did it and we were out by 11:00am with all the problems fixed. Jim is a happy man this afternoon; all his toys are fixed. We went for a bike ride later today and happy hour is about to begin and I'm being paged to enjoy the festivities so More later........