Sturgis, SD Motorcycle Rally 2008

We arrived in Sturgis, SD on Saturday, Jul 26th. We are here for the famous Sturgis motorcycle rally. They expect 500,000 bikers this year. We are staying at No Name City RV park, our third visit here now. It's a very nice quiet campground about 2 miles from downtown Sturgis. We no sooner got here and found out from our friends, Val and Ryan that there was a retirement party in honor of Dean the meat cutter at Mier's Grocery at Dean's house. We quickly got situated, walked the dogs and made the party! It was good to see Val and Ryan again, as well as Dean and his wife, Mary. We met them last year at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and they took us under their wings and showed us all the fun places to go to in town and of course introduced us to Gunner's, our favorite biker bar, as well as a lot of their friends. Sunday we took a day of much needed rest and fun in the sun by the pool. Monday, Jim and I went to get our concert tickets for later in the week. We went to the Buffalo Chip to get tickets for Kelly Pickler and Kid Rock. Sen. McCain will also be here as a tribute to veterans. We also got tickets at the Rock N Rally Glenco Campground for Kenny Chesney. Both of these campgrounds are know for their rowdiness and anything goes atmosphere. Well as we were leaving Glenco, we passed by this old man who had just set up his pop-up camper and was resting in a chair totally nude. He was sitting in a chair facing the road with all his glory hanging loose and just a grinning and waving. He had a bunch of beads hanging off the fence in front of him - I don't know if he was collecting beads from passer-bys or giving out beads to anyone who flashed him! Tuesday, Jim and I rode to Deadwood (2nd pic) for lunch and to try our luck at Blackjack. Deadwood is an old western mining town which was established in 1876 when gold was discovered here. The town's saloons are much the same as they were back in the 1800's. It's pretty neat. We ate at this restaurant called the #10 Saloon. It is the saloon where Wild Bill Hickhock was killed. They did a little skit where this guy playing Wild Bill gave a little history of his life, then they did a re-enactment of his fatal day. Jim got asked to play the saloon owner, who was one of the card players that day. In the pic above, it looks like Jim has no pants on but he did have shorts on but it was hilarious to see his hairy legs sticking out of his jacket! Tomorrow, Jim and I are going for a bike ride to Moonshine Gulch. We are trying to find places to go that we didn't see last year and Moonshine Gulch is one of them.

Forest City, Iowa Winnebago GNR #7

Thursday was the last full day of the GNR. Jim and I went over to the surplus store one last time to check for any bargains and sure enough we found stuff we couldn't live without. I bought 5 rolls of very nice upholstery material for $2 each. Don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, but I'll figure out something, the price was too good. One chapter club bought 72 rolls!! Jim found some stuff too. We rode our bikes over to the Chuckwagon Restaurant for lunch. After we got back to the camp we decided to check out the 2009 models they had set up. That was a pretty scary decision for us, because the last time we went "looking" we ended up trading. We weren't even going to look this year, but curiousity got the better of us so we did. We are happy to report we didn't have any buyer's remorse after checking out the models. We're still very happy with our new motorhome. Since it was our last night for our club members here at GNR we decided to go out together for dinner one last time. We went to a biker bar of all places and they had a taco special for a $1 each that most of us got. (see pics above). We had a fun time exchanging stories of all that we did and saw at this GNR and previous GNRs. The evening entertainment back at GNR was a piano player by the name of Jason D. Williams. What a fabulous player -- he played boogie woogie, rock and roll, country, classical, gospel, etc. You name it; he plays it. He was very very high energy and had everyone stomping and clapping to his music. He was all over the piano; sitting down, standing, laying down on top of the piano, running at it, under it, etc. It was quite the show. Later, we came back to our RV's and Jim got out our campfire unit and we all sat around the campfire until midnight. (see pic above) I couldn't believe we sat out so long - but it was such an enjoyable evening together. Friday morning we left for Sturgis, SD for the motorcycle rally. We had beautiful weather and such a pretty ride through Iowa, MN, and now SD on Hwy 90. We are staying in a campground right off of Hwy 90 about 250 miles from Sturgis. We hope to get to Sturgis, Saturday afternoon.

Forest City, Iowa Winnebago GNR #6

Wednesday started off with a dog parade. So I decided to enter Bono and Charlie. Bono was in his glory -- he wagged his tail the whole way. Charlie on the other hand couldn't stop focusing on his goggles and harley hat so I had to carry him most of the way. When we came back, both dogs were exhausted -- I don't know why Charlie was but as you can see from the pic above he had had it. We spent the rest of the day looking for bargains at the vendors and over at the Winnebago surplus store.
The evening entertainment was Bobby Vee. He was a teen idol and one of the original stars of American Bandstand and most of his hit songs were from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. He's still out there playing and entertaining around the country but most of his tours are over in Europe, and Branson, MO and cruise ships. His 3 sons play in his band and two of them were here last night; one on the drums and one on the base. They were very entertaining. Just a few of his songs are; Come Back When You Grow Up; Rubber Ball; and Will You Love Me Tomorrow. To be honest, I didn't remember him til he started singing those songs and then it brought back memories from my teenage days. One of the interesting things he told us that while he had made a few records back in the late 50's, he didn't get his big break until Buddy Holly died in Feb 59. He said after Buddy Holly's plane crashed right here in Clear Lake (about 15 miles from Forest City, IA); Buddy's managers decided the show must go on and they quickly looked for a rock and roll singer to take his place at a planned concert and they found Bobby Vee. Last night's show almost got rained out, but we just had a few sprinkles and Bobby Vee said he would keep going until they tell him it's raining too hard. We were able to watch him for an hour and 15 minutes and they even did an encore. He is such a wonderful person; he loved reminiscing with the crowd and it was interesting hearing about his family and how he got his start. When he sang Come Back When You Grow Up he stopped and said, see that you all grew up and came back. He said he was even going to show us his medicare card!! It was a very fun and entertaining evening.

Forest City, Iowa Winnebago GNR #5

Monday was quite a day. They had 7 entertainment events planned throughout the day, to include Les Gilliam from Oklahoma, a Jazz piano player, a 50, 60 rock and roll group, and some Branson entertainers. They had seminars planned for all hours of the day. Jim and the guys had several seminars they were interested in and us gals had plenty of stuff to look into too and lots of vendors to check out. I did manage to fit a Curves workout in and visited the local quilt store. Jim and I ate in since we need to be careful of his diet now -- we don't feel like taking any chances with that gall bladder stone!!! The evening entertainment started off with an Elvis and Marilyn Monroe look alike contest. They only had one of each so each of them won a $50 cash prize. The Marilyn look alike really got into the part - she even sang a song, "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend" and really gave it all she had. It was a riot! They also raffled off a 1 hour hot air balloon ride - I really was hoping to win that, but no such luck; however the lady who did win was so excited she could not stop hollering! They are also offering tethered hot air balloon rides every evening from 5:30-7:30 first come first served. I am hoping to get lucky to at least get a tethered ride. The big entertainment that night was a band called New Odyssey. They were awesome. They are from Chicago and play all over the US. They played every type of music and all kinds of instruments and some comedy thrown in too. It was great. Tuesday was extremely busy for us. First of all,
CBS news came to the rally grounds at 6:00am. Jim got me up early to see all the activity going on. I have to admit, it was pretty exciting even at 6:00am. (see pic) They were there from 6-8am and interviewed folks from all over and even went inside motorhomes to see how the folks lived. About halfway through the show, the hot air balloon went up with the lady who one a free ride the night before. It was really neat - it looked so majestic. (see pic) Then at 8:45am Jim and I got on the bus to attend the Advantium cooking class. Yes, believe it or not, Jim wanted to go. This new microwave/oven has lots of buttons and stuff so Jim was excited to go to see how it all worked. Luckily, it was men teaching the class and they were the technical types to teach not only cooking but how everything works. Jim was in his glory -- and I learned some things too. After that class, Jim and I split up. I went to the entertainment tent and listened to the various muscians and Jim went to seminars. From 1-3pm I took a quilting class which was a lot of fun and and I learned a few new tips on quilting. At 3:15 I went for a facial at the local town spa. It was wonderful. At 4:00pm the state row parties started. Everyone brings a dish and gathers at their state representatives. Then you could go from row to row and share goodies. They even had an old fashing band with a guy dressed as a woman who was hilarious. (see him and Jim pic).
We ran into Joe and LeeAnn our friends from CA (see pic) and we all got homemade ice cream at one of the state row (OK I believe). At around 7:30pm after walking the dogs one last time, Jim and I decided to call it a day. We had a ball but we were exhausted!!!!

Forest City, Iowa, #4

Well our motorhome did not get finished on Thursday as we had hoped; we had to go back to the service center on Friday at 6:00am. So at 6:00am over we went, dogs and all again. This time they did get it finished and we were back at our site at the GNR by 3:30. It felt good to finally get set up for the remainder of the time. Our motorhome is the center motorhome in the first picture. Friday evening we all went over for the beginning of Puckerbrush Days in the town of Forest City. They were serving pork sandwiches and fresh corn on the cob in front of the town square. There was music and the businesses of Forest City had what they call the Battle of the Businesses (relay races) in the middle of Main Street. We met folks that we had met here back in 2003, Sandy and Jack, who are locals and had invited us to eat our dinner inside the American Legion Club where we could eat at tables and watch the Battle of the Businesses from inside. After our dinner, we went back outside and finished watching the activities. Saturday, the town had a parade and cooked chickens and beans along one of the side streets. They had vendors on the town square and pie and ice cream social in one of the churches off of main street. They had mini tractor pulls for the little kids that was sooo cute. Each kid (4-5 year olds) got a ribbon and a bottle of water just for trying and this one little boy was so excited when he found out he won 2nd place; he was whooping and yelling and holding his trophy up in the air -- it was so cute you would of thought he won a million dollars. (Of course, I forgot my camera for this small town USA event -- I was so mad at myself). That evening, all the RVrs from Virginia got together for a steak dinner at the Branding Iron restaurant about 10 miles out of town. (See pics above). So we had a pretty full day. Sunday proved to be an exciting day for us. Jim got up early to make a Wal Mart trip at 7:30am and he took our dog, Bono for a ride. Well about 10:00am one of our friends, Sue came over to tell me Jim was trying to reach me (I had my cell phone off of course). So I got on her phone and it turns out he had to go to the Emergency Room in Mason City (40 mi away from GNR). He said he had severe stomach pain; so bad he couldn't stand up and felt like passing out. So he left Bono in the truck with the truck running and the air running, because he had no idea how long he was going to be in the hospital or if he was even going to get a hold of me. When I got to the hospital, I found the truck with Bono in it and he was looking all worried and frantic, I guess he could sense something was wrong with Jim. When I got inside the emergency room they took Sue and I back to see Jim. They had started an IV with pain medication and he was starting to feel better. Then they took blood samples, took him down for an ultra-sound and then doctor came in to talk to us. Turns out he had gall bladder stones which caused him to have a gall bladder attack; in addition, his white blood cell count was up which meant he had an infection, so they put some antibiotics in his IV and said we needed to wait for the Surgeon and make a decision as to whether to have his gall bladder removed today or when we got home. Meanwhile, Sue decided to take Bono back with her to the camp sight and she offered to take care of our dogs for us. I thought that was so thoughtful especially since she is not a dog person, and we were so grateful for her. Anyway, the Surgeon finally came in and told us that he definitely had gall stones and it was up to Jim if he wanted the surgery today or did he want to wait. He also explained what happens when you have a gall bladder stone and how the attacks come on. He said he could have another attack tomorrow, or a week, or a month or even a year from now, it was unpredictable when it would happen, but because he has a stone it will happen again and he will eventually have to have his gall bladder removed. Well Jim opted to wait til we get home. We are supposed to go to Sturgis, SD after this trip, then home around Aug 12. The doctor advised him to go home now, but Jim said he didn't want to go home just to wait for another attack which may not happen for another year. He thinks because he now knows what he has, if it happens again before we get home, he'll just go to the emergency room where ever we are at. Let's hope he doesn't have another attack before Aug 12th. He did say he would call his regular doctor as soon as we get home and make arrangements to have to operated on as soon as the doctor can fit him in so that is good. Anyway, we got back to the motorhome around 4:30pm. The opening ceremony for the GNR was today and we actually made it. Turns out there are 1300 motorhomes here from all over the US. Every state but Hawaii is here; even Alaska. It's pretty cool. Afterward we, had happy hour at Cookie and Bill's RV and watched fireworks which were lit about a mile from where we were sitting. So it was a fun ending for a hectic day. Starting tomorrow, we will have seminars, entertainment all day long, crafts, vendors, craft classes, convection cooking classes, etc. for the remainder of the week. The theme for the rally is Rock and Roll and it is Winnebago's 50th anniversary - so its a pretty big deal. They even got 2009 models for everyone to tour on the grounds here.

Forest City, Iowa #3

We arrived in Forest City on Sunday afternoon and got set up in the Virginia row. On Monday, Jim went over to customer service to get on the schedule to get our warranty repairs done. We had to be over at the shop at 6:00am. They took our motorhome in by 7:00am. Jim and I went and had breakfast with another couple from our club, Tom and Ginnie Flemmings. (They too, had taken their RV in for service). We had to wait around all day at the customer repair shop with hundreds of others. We talked with various people waiting for repairs. We had our dogs, Bono and Charlie with us. You can take them inside - they are very dog friendly at Winnebago. Bono and Charlie were perfect. They never barked or growled at the other dogs, like some of the other dogs did. Anyway, at 3:00pm we got the word that not all the repairs were finished. They fixed the leak on our windshield, but we had to let it dry overnight and they would test it on Wednesday, plus they had to order a shade for our bedroom window and order the corian mix to fix our kitchen counter. So we did the same thing again on Wednesday. Dropped the RV off at 6:00am, went to breakfast with our new CA friends, Lee Ann and Joe that we met at HWH. Then back to the shop for more waiting. We read, talked to others also waiting for service and walked the dogs. I did get a break from the service center today though for a bracelet class given at the pre-rally. It was pretty fun. Jim kept the dogs with him at the shop. Again, the dogs were perfect all day. We got a lot of complements on how good the dogs were. Jim said he had to bite his tongue to keep from saying Charlie's good behavior was just an anomaly - he's usually a pain, but even Jim was proud of the little guy. Charlie did keep the other customers entertained while he was trying to catch flies. There were two flies in the lobby and they seemed to be annoying everyone, but mostly Charlie and he was determined to get them. He had everyone in stitches laughing. Anyway, at 3:00 we got the word that we have to come back on Thursday or Friday to do the kitchen counter. I could have died. I hate getting up that early!!!! At least I'm getting a lot of reading in. Some of the girls in our club have been playing bingo every night here at the pre-rally. So far only one of us, Cookie, has won; but we have been having fun trying to win. We're hoping they take us back at the shop tomorrow so we can finally settle in for the rally. At least we don't have to check in at 6:00am. They said to call at 10:00am to see if the corian mix was in. Wish us luck!

Forest City, Iowa Bound #2

Our motorhome was fixed on Thursday and we decided to spend the night there at the HWH factory. LeeAnn and Joe from California left on Thursday and we hope to see them again at GNR. Our other friends from Canada, Diane and Jim, also got their motorhome fixed on Thursday and they too decided to spend the night at HWH too. We invited them to eat with us at our motorhome and play Mexican Domino's. We had a wonderful evening. (1st pic). Friday we left for a campground not far from HWH. We had a beautiful day there but that night we had another terrific thunderstorm. On Saturday, we left for Amana Campground in Amana, Iowa to catch up with our Winnebago club members. Amana is an old German settlement with lots of original shops and restaurants. I'm sure you all have heard of all the flooding Iowa has been experiencing, well we got to see some of it first hand. Right in Amana we saw a farm that went totally unscathed on one side of the highway and another farm that was completely wiped out on the other. There are lot of farms that are still holding lots of water in the fields but the crops seem to be ok from what we could tell. You could also see where all the rivers and creeks were overflowed but are now back down to normal levels. Jim and I got to Amana early so we went into town for lunch and did a little shopping at the shops. Our other club members got in later in the afternoon and once they got set up, the ladies decided they wanted to go explore the German village shops. So of course I went along (just in case they needed help in finding the stores they wanted to see). We left Amana on Sunday and met up again just outside of Forest City at a mexican restaurant, (Canteen). After lunch, we got lined up (there were six of us coaches) and headed to Forest City.
If you want to park near each other, you have to go in the gate together. We got settled in and the President of the Virginia chapters invited everyone for hotdogs at their rig. The pre-rally starts tomorrow, Monday.

Forest City, Iowa Bound

Well we're back on the road again. We left home on Jul 7th and we are headed for a Winnebago rally in Forest City, Iowa. It's Winnebago's 50th Anniversary Grand National Rally (GNR). This will be our 3rd trip to GNR. We're really looking forward to it. Also, Jim has an appointment to get some issues we have fixed while under warrenty at the Winnebago factory. We spent our first night at a Wal Mart in Clarkesburg, WV and visited with Jim's sister, Sandra and her husband, Ronnie. We had a wonderful visit with them. We took a walk to Ryan's and had a great buffet dinner, and then walked back to the motorhome and visited some more with them.
Considering it was a busy Wal Mart, we had a nice quiet evening. The next night we stayed at a campground in Indianapolis, Indiana. We started the evening off with a nice refreshing dip in the pool. Then after dinner we had the biggest thunderstorm. It was raining and the wind was blowing so hard I was a nervous wreck that a tree would fall on us. But we made it through the storm just fine and no trees fell on us, but we noticed some of the camp sites did have trees down as we were leaving that morning. We arrived in Moscow, Iowa on Wednesday afternoon and parked at the HWH factory were Jim had an appointment to get our jacks fixed on our motorhome. We met several folks who were also camped out waiting for repairs. We all pulled up our chairs and had happy hour together and just had a wonderful evening. We met LeeAnn and Joe from Bakersfield, CA; Jim and Diane from Canada; Dave and Janice from Florida. LeeAnn and Joe and Dave and Janice are also en route to the GNR. It was so funny when we first started out we were discussing what we had planned to fix for our dinners, but as the evening went on we shelved our dinner plans and we all ended up having snacks before bed. As of Thursday morning, our motorhome and Joe and LeeAnn's are in the bays getting fixed. Jim and Diane and Dave and Janice are still waiting to be fixed. We'll probably stay the night here again after we get the motorhome fixed. Then we will head out to Amana, Iowa where we will meet up with several of our Winnebago Club members from Virginia.