Summer Trip 2010 #7 Sturgis

Our final week in Sturgis was very busy and lots of fun. Mason, (Jim's brother) and his wife Judy came to Sturgis to camp with us and tour the Black Hills. They arrived on Saturday, the last day of bike week so we rode the camp bus into town to show them all the bikes and crazies. We did some T-shirt shopping and enjoyed the sights. That night, our friends from Fredericksburg had to leave early and gave us their concert tickets to see the Doobie Brothers at the Buffalo Chip. Again we rode the camp bus out to the Buffalo Chip. The concert was great but it got so cold we had to go and buy long sleeve t-shirts to put under our jackets. The next day we went to Deadwood and Judy and I tried our luck at gambling and the guys waited for us in the bars. I finally won a little so I was pretty happy. On another day we went to Custer State Park. We saw lots of wildlife; it was such a fun day. Our first encounter was a buffalo walking along the street. He was so close to our truck we could have reached out and patted him. We continued to see lots of buffalos and lots of buffalo babies. Then we came upon a white donkey. He came right up to the truck so Mason fed him a fig newton. He loved them so we ended up giving him the rest of the figs in the box. Needless to say he was Mason's buddy. Then we came upon some baby burros. They were so cute. I wanted to take the one above home but Jim said no way. What a party pooper. From there we went to Needles highway. It is a very curvy road with the most unusual rock structures. We went to 3 rock tunnels and they were very tight, so tight that Mason scraped his mirror going thru. One evening we had a cookout and our friends from Sturgis came. We had such a nice visit with them. Mason and Judy had met them on a previous trip so it was fun for all of us. On other trip, we went to yhe Broken Boot Gold Mine. It was really cool. Mason and Judy had never been inside a gold mine so it was a real treat for them. From there we drove through Spearfish Canyon. It is so beautiful and lots of streams and a neat waterfall. We all took our shoes off and soaked our feet. We ate lunch in a little town and decided to check out an antique store. Mason found a wall phone he couldn't live without and the lady sold it to him for half price. He was one happy camper. Every night, we played canasta with Mason and Judy and just had so much fun. We all departed Sturgis on Saturday. Mason and Judy got home to Tulsa on Sunday afternoon and Jim and I have made it as far as Iowa. We plan on getting home by Wednesday afternoon.

Summer Trip 2010 #6

Jim and I have had a wonderful time riding around the Black Hills. I have ridden nearly 500 miles on my bike since we got here! I've gotten so comfortable on my motorcycle and have really enjoyed the rides. Our longest ride was out to Crazy Horse. It is the largest mountain carving honoring the Indian hero, Crazy Horse and all North American Indians. The carving was started in 1947 and as you can see, only the face is done. The second picture is a replica of what it will look like when finished. We've ridden to Deadwood, a gambling western town. We rode out to Spearfish Canyon which is a beautiful ride and had lunch at the Spearfish Lodge. Along the way we stopped with other bikers at certain picture spots. Jim was really testing me as I had to back into narrow spots on hills and curves. I was sure I would tap a bike while backing in causing a domino effect of falling bikes, but I actually had no problem. Now pulling out from a hill on a curve with bikers coming from both directions was tricky but I actually had no problem. I really surprised myself. The third picture is of Main Street in Sturgis taken from a tower. Our friend took the picture and Jim and I are actually standing on the right hand side of the street about a fourth from the bottom. I actually parked my bike downtown in all that traffic too. We rode out to the famous Buffalo Chip Campground to see Credence Clearwater. What an awesome concert. It was wonderful. The traffic getting there was unbelievable. It took two hours to get there and it is normally a 20 minute ride when it is not bike week. The 2nd concert we went to out there was to see Bob Dylan and Kid Rock. We decided to take the campground bus to that concert and it still took 2 hours, but the bus driver did the driving not us. I loved the Kid Rock concert - he has so much energy and he had the crowd roaring. It was really fun being a part of the excitement.

The last few nights we have been going down to Main Street to watch all the people with our camping neighbors and our friend, Ed Steckler. It has been a hoot watching all the crazy people and seeing all the different bikes. Bike week ends Sunday morning, and tomorrow Jim's brother, Mason and his wife Judy are coming in. We plan on having a quiet week and doing some more touring around with them.

Summer Trip 2010 #5

We have been in Sturgis a week now and we have already done so much. Poor Jim, everywhere we go people crowd around my bike and they never acknowledge Jim's Harley. I even had a guy lay down on Main St. and look underneath my bike and taking all kinds of pictures. Friends here at the campground have been teasing Jim, letting him know he is only along for the ride with me. One evening the guys put my pink sheepskin on Jim's bike and told him maybe if he put the sheepskin on his bike people would look. I'm sure they would but for the wrong reasons! I have been getting a lot of good experience riding out here. Some of it not planned, like riding in the rain, and riding in the dark. But some of it planned like riding the Black Hills in the National Forest Park. Got lots of experience riding up and down hills and around curves. I was a little intimidated at first but quickly got comfortable. We have ridden about 300 miles since we got here. Our trip to Crazy Horse Monument tomorrow will be 130 miles round trip. We have had rain almost every night but most days are sunny but one, it rained during the day. That was the day we got caught in the rain. Thankfully, we were only two miles from the campground, but I tell you it was pretty scary for me, especially since 1 1/2 miles was on the freeway. Once we got back we watched the storm on the TV and the campground owner had his kids running around telling everyone hail was expected. We put quilts on our bikes then our covers and they did just fine. We had strong winds and pea size hail so we lucked out. But 20 miles away in Lead, SD they had 8 inches of golf ball size hail and they had to bring in plows to clean up the streets for the stranded bikers to get through. Our friend, Ed Steckler arrived this week. Him and Jim are happy right now because the scantily clothed ladies are coming into town.