Sturgis, SD Motorcycle Rally #5

Wednesday, we went over to our friends Dean and Mary's and got together with our Sturgis friends for one last visit. Then we headed off to the Kenny Chesney concert at Glenco. It was quite the production. One of our friends, who has his business at Glenco told us that they brought in 18 tractor trailers of gear to put on the concert. It was unbelieveable. It was probably one of the most professional concerts we've ever been too. He put on quite the show and he was having so much fun; I think he was so impressed with the number of people that showed up, that he offered to play as long as they could come up with songs. We left at 12:30am and the party was still going strong, but we had left the dogs behind and we needed to get home for them. We thoroughly enjoyed the show though. Thursday, we were both so tired we spent a relaxing day by the pool. That evening, Jim, Ed and I went into town for dinner and went down main street one last time to check out the scenery and buy more t-shirts for Jim's friend, Wayne back home. (see bike pics above). My favorite biker chic was little Haley, a Jack Russell, all dolled up in biker gear. (see pic above) Friday, we Jim, Ed and I went on a 165 mile bike ride to Custer State Park and along the Needle Highway. (rest of pics) The Needle highway is so named because of the many, very tall, majestic rock formations, including one that has a hole (eye of the needle?) through it that you drive through. the Needle highway is one of many awsome rides through and around Custer State Park and the Black Hills in general. Jim said that having ridden motorcycle for over 40 years, he has never ridden roads with such tight turns (some with a very realistic 5 mph speed limit) and absolutely beautiful scenery. It was an awesome ride with certainly the most twisty turny roads I've ever seen (even West Virginia has fewer and less sharp turns as a rule). We stopped about every 30 miles to rest our butts at various little roadside inns and country stores. We also had lunch at a really nice lodge in Custer. My butt was really killing me, but I vowed I would not whine and complain and the stops really did help. We stopped off in Deadwood and got an ice cream cone and watched the bikers ride through town; and I'm telling you I was really ready for that stop. I did whine the remaining 20 miles back to the campground though!!!
And wouldn't you know it, when we got back the dogs were all excited and needed to be walked. I don't know how I did it, but I walked them and then collapsed on the couch. I think Jim and I were asleep within 5 minutes of lying down. After a much needed cat nap we woke up and walked the dogs again, this time a good walk, and then Jim loaded up the motorcycle and we started buttoning up the motorhome for the trip home. We will leave about 8:30am Saturday and head for home. Yeah!! I'm ready to be there. Its been really really fun, but we are both bike weeked out!

Sturgis, SD Motorcycle Rally #4

We went to the Buffalo Chip on Monday. We really had a full day and night there. As you can see from the pictures above, it was packed. John McCain and his family were there for a presentation and tribute to the veterans. It was pretty exciting watching the security get ready for his appearance. Here you have thousands of motorcyclists who had been partying hardy before there arrival. They have a fenced in area in front of the stage and they let so many 100 bikers bring their bikes in to sit on to watch the show. So just as Jim and I got there, they announced they would be doing a security sweep and anyone who wanted to get their bikes out of the fenced in area were welcome to do so before the search, otherwise their bikes would be searched. Only a very few moved their bikes because they had prime seating in front of the stage area. While we were waiting in line for the search to be over, we met two sisters who were out and out Obama haters and loved McCain. One of sisters is in pic above, along with another McCain supporter as you can see from his sign. We met several people just standing out in front of the gate, and had a lot of fun talking to them. Somebody was so lucky with the motorcycle search; they found pot in his bags. We never did get to see who owned the bike, but the pic above is them searching and finding the pot. They finally let us in and we had to go through metal detectors and they searched our chairs, camera and my purse. They did it for everyone entering the staging area - I was impressed how well they got the lines through with all those people. Anyway, we put our chairs right up front of the stage (about 20 ft away) and settled in for the wait. Of course it wasn't a problem waiting, because we met more people to sit and talk to. Then the buzzing really got started when a half dozen snipers with their guns got on the roof of the stage. (see pic above). Then we started looking around and you'd see these guys with clean jeans and pressed shirts and ball caps standing about trying to fit in and we noticed the wire on the sides of their heads which indicated they were secret service guys. I couldn't image having their responsibility in that huge rowdy crowed. The guy in front of us (Sean) had his motorcycle and he put up bungee cords across the backs of several bikes of people he was with so the crowd wouldn't push through. It was great for Jim and I because we sat right up to the bungee cords and no one got in front of us. Sean was a hoot. He had this apron with a woman's body (see pic above). He kept slipping it on and woman all around us where flashing him. Ed and Jim kept thanking him for all the good scenery! Anyway, when McCain and his family finally came on, the bikers went crazy revving their engines and the crowd was clapping and cheering so hard it was amazing. He gave a short little speech mainly thanking the veterans for their support. He only zinged Obama once when he said, "my opponent thinks we can solve the gas problem by keeping our tires aired up and although keeping our tires aired properly is a good thing, its going to take more than that..." His wife gave a speech too and again she was focused on the veterans. It was really awesome being their and being that close to all the action. I'm sure McCain was happy with the huge welcoming reception he got. When he closed his speech, the bikers revved their engines til he and the snipers were gone from the stage. After a little while, Kelly Pickler, (from American Idol) came out and did a concert. She was great. She has some really great songs coming out. You could tell she had a ball doing the concert even though she seemed a little shy and inexperienced. Then Kid Rock came out. My goodness did he put on a show. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even Ed and Jim liked some of his songs. He did a little of everything -- rock, hard rock, rap, country, honky tonk, and some comedy. He also did a gig where he went around the stage and played every instrument his band used. It was pretty awesome. The crowd went crazy the whole time he was on stage. I would say it was a very high energy talented show. It took us almost 2 hours getting back to the camp sight, which is only about 12 miles away. The campground (Glen Co) across from the Buffalo Chip had the band Kiss there. So I think everyone who went to the rally was either at Kiss or Kid Rock concerts on Monday. I never saw so many people and bikers in one place. There are definitely more bikers here this year than last year. It's pretty amazing. Tuesday, Jim, Ed and I went over to Dean and Mary's for a little get together then we all walked over to an event called the 1/2 mile flat track race. What a fun time we had. Those bikes flew around the track. Dean used to race when he was younger and he was also one of the workers at the race; so it was pretty handy having him sit with us explaining who the racers were, and what their track records were. At first I was a nervous wreck watching because it started off with teens and I was scared they were going to get killed. But Dean explained that it is very rare that they get hurt at all. They wear a metal boot on their left side that helps them take the curves as they put their leg down to keep the bike up as it rounds the curve and of course they are dressed in all leathers and have their helmets. There were 3 wrecks while we watch that afternoon, but just as Dean said, they didn't get hurt; their bikes did but they got up and walked away. I'm sure they got some bruises. One guy who was running second in a race, slid off the track as he rounded a curve, got up hopped on his bike and still managed to come back in second. It was amazing. They run about 8 laps and on the final lap he caught up. Friends that we met that are camping in Deans yard, were racing too. Its a grandfather and grandson team. The grandfather, John, came in 3rd in two of the top races. The races lasted all day, and by that evening we were too tired to go into town to check out the sites, so we went home and had a quiet evening. It was a good thing too; we no sooner got home when a huge storm came in with rain, hale and high winds. We sat in the motorhome and watched the bikers out on the highway trying to get back to their camps while we were cozy and dry. Wednesday, we have another big concert. We are going to see Kenny Chesney out at Glenco. We're looking forward to it.

Sturgis, SD 2008 #3

Saturday, Jim and I and Ed rode out to Mt. Rushmore for the night time showing. It was a little over an hour ride from the campground. The ride was beautiful, but we did see a little excitement along the way. These two guys got into a fight along side the highway and then the fight ended up in the roadway. One of the guys really took a beating, his face was completely bloody and his chest had a big round bloody spot. I was a little worried he got stabbed. They weren't motorcycle riders - they were just two guys who got into a fight. There was about 10 bikers in front of us and they all started beeping their horns to get attention to the fighters and just as the light turned green, we saw a policemen pulling up as we crossed the intersection. So that was a little exciting to watch. We got to Mt. Rushmore as the sun was setting. At the night showing, they have an amphitheater, and they have a program where the park ranger tells a little history about Mt. Rushmore, then they have a movie on a huge outdoor screen that tells the story about each President and why the artist, Borglum, chose the Presidents he did for the monument. It was very very impressive. I was looking around in the amphitheater and watching the faces of the children watching this movie and it seemed they were all spell bound. At 9:00pm after the movie, the lights come on and light up the Presidents. The pictures don't give it justice. Then everyone joined and sang America. After the song, the ranger invited all people who served in the military to come up on stage and help lower the flag. Once all the people got up on the stage the ranger went to each individual and asked their name and what branch of the service they served in. Jim went on up since he served in the Air Force. It sure made me a little misty. The audience gave a standing ovation to all the military people. It was very very touching. While we were sitting in the amphitheater, waiting for the show to start a mother and baby goat walked along side all the seating and then jumped the dirt path and literally scaled the rock mountain just below the monument. This rock mountain just goes straight up and they went up it like it was flat. It was amazing to watch them. Anyway, after the lighting show, we decided to stop in Keystone just outside the monument for a break. (One pic is of me and Ed, and the other pic is of Jim and Ed and our waitress of course). Jim and Ed never miss a photo opportunity with the waitresses here at bike week. The rest of the ride got quite chilly - we were glad when we finally made it home. We were definitely feeling pretty sore too! Sunday we took it easy for the most part and rode the motorcycles into town around 3:00pm. Man was it packed. What usually takes 5 minutes to get to town took over an hour. There were bikes everywhere. We rode down main street and found a place to park and then checked out all the stores up and down main street. We went to our favorite bar, Gunners for a quick drink before going over to our friends, Dean and Mary's. They live withing walking distance to main street, so everyone gathers at their place to park their vehicles and walk to town. We chatted with them til dark and then headed back to the campground. All and all, a pretty nice day today. Tomorrow should be wild and exciting. We are going to the Buffalo Chip to see Sen. McCain, Kelly Pickler (American Idol) and Kid Rock. Buffalo Chip is a pretty wild place and we are looking forward to it.

Sturgis, SD #2

When we got back to our campsight the other night from Deadwood, Jim realized he had lost our Cadillac car keys. He thought he lost them in the parking lot of the visitor center at Deadwood. It was too long a ride to go back that night so he just decided to suck up the loss. Well on Wednesday we took a ride up to Rochford, SD which coincidentally took us through Deadwood. So we stopped at the visitor center (where we had previously parked the day before) and sure enough, our keys were sitting on the counter when I walked in. It was amazing with thousands of people visiting that town, that some thoughtful person turned them in. So we were pretty happy campers to be able to get our keys back. Then on to Rochford. It was a beautiful ride -- hills, streams, rolling pastures, etc. Rochford is an old abandoned gold mining town, located between Deadwood and Lead. It has a population of about 25 people now. Basically all that is left in the town is the Moonshine Gulch Saloon and a antique store known as Rochford Mall. An old school has been restored over the years and serves as a senior center. The Moonshine Gulch is a draw to people who enjoy music and of course a cold beer. They serve hamburgers and french fries. As you can see from the 2nd pic above, it draws all kinds of different people. It is owned by a lady who bought the saloon about 31 years ago. Apparently every afternoon there is a one man guitar player and on Sundays it is a draw for local musicians to come and jam. The saloon was packed with junk and hats (see pics above). The hats serve as a guestbook of sorts and come from all over. There are dollar bills stapled to the ceiling as well as business cards stabled to the wall. We even saw a UNLV business card stapled on the wall next to the booth we sat in. (Our son went to UNVL). After our visit to Moonshine Gulch, we went on to ride the Spearfish Canyon ride. It is a really beautiful ride and a very popular ride during the rally. We stopped in the Spearfish Canyon Lodge and split a sandwich and ice tea out on the back porch and took in the surrounding beauty. Overall a great day! Thursday morning our friend, Ed Steckler, arrived from Fredericksburg. He had driven all night so he was ready to crash for the day once he got set up. Jim and I went in to town that morning to check out vendors and pick up a few things from the grocery store. Since it is still pre-rally week, not all the vendors are set up yet, but we managed to pick up a few things. We ate lunch in town and came back to spend the afternoon at the pool here at the campground. We thought we were going to read all afternoon, but we met several people at the pool and spent the rest of the day, exchanging ride stories. They told us we need to do Mt. Rushmore in the evening. They have an evening show which is lit up and narrated that is a must see. Se we decided to put that on our agenda. Friday, me, Jim and Ed decided to check out this event at a place called Top 50 Rally RV park. (That's Jim and I in Pic above as we headed out of our campground). They had all kinds of vendors to include the Ridley motorcycle. If I ever get a motorcycle for myself, I decided it will be a Ridley because it is automatic. We we tried out the Ridley (see Pic above) and I fell in love with it. They had a pink and white one that I'd really like to get. Meanwhile, our friend Ed, found these 18 wheeler motorhomes with trailers that haul 18 motorcycles. (see pic above). As you can see, it looks just like a regular 18 wheeler truck, but the inside of the motorhome looks like a Prevost. It has marble floors and granite countertops. It was pretty awesome. Anyway, we had a good time trying out stuff and rode back into the town of Sturgis. Ed had seen some Bikini bike washers when he had run into town earlier that morning. He decided he needed to get his bike washed! (see pic above). That evening, our friends Val and Ryan and Dean and Mary came over for happy hour and steaks on the grille. We had a wonderful evening enjoying good company and beautiful weather.