On the 5th day of Sturgis

my honey bought for me

5 Sturgis t-shirts!

Well, more like 20 and not just for me. We had ridden to Main Street and parked the bike and walked in search of bargains and a tattoo parlour for Ray to get a matching tattoo of his friends but no such luck on the tattoo. I got a new rain suit since I split the pants in my yellow "duck" suit and Ray got several sleeveless denim shirts at hot leathers (.com) Paid $5 to climb the tower to take a photo of all the bikes on Main Street. There were more than 400,000 in attendance, but we didn't register at Sturgis headquarters, so were not counted in, but we were there. The proof is in the pudding, and photographs.

We wandered through all the shops, noting that local businesses cleared out their entire stock and rented their space out to Sturgis venders. Old signs were still up and new signs tacked on the front temporarily. 4 blocks of souvenirs and I think we walked both sides of all.

We grabbed a bite to eat before heading to The Knuckle Saloon to watch the fights (and flashing). Anyone could sign up but it was pretty slow going since there weren't a lot in the same weight category. They ended up going ahead, 160lbs vs 180 and Mr 180 had way too much to drink to barely stand. It was a quick one. The most entertaining were the girls, who put on a great show of taunting and teasing but still got a few good swipes in. We met some great folks to share a picnic table with for a great view and I spent most my time chatting with a lady who was stationed at a base nearby.

Then it was back to the Buffalo Chip to watch The Guess Who and wow what a concert! No one fell off the stage (aerosmith) or threw up on themselves (buckcherry) and we didn't have to stand in the mud pit of a concert bowl. We had prime seats upstairs in a little bar smack dab infront of the stage with a 3 tiered deck to watch and sing along. One more day of bike week left so it was plans for more shopping on Sunday and returning to all the bars to take photos in the day time as my camera is not the best at night. More pics to come! Hope you are enjoying my ramblings. Back soon with day 6!

On the 4th day of Sturgis

we gambled most the day
and waited for the hail to go away!

We road to Deadwood today and stopped at the tourist information to get the scoop on all the places to go in relation to the HBO series we watched the prompted us to even want to visit Deadwood. It was rather shocking to find out that it wasn't even shot on location but at Gene Autry's Ranch aka Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita, California. Guess we will have to take a trip to California now too, but that shouldn't be a problem as that is where my son lives and hope to travel there at least once a year. We paid $5 to park in a hotel parking lot and you got free drinks at the casino (if you're gambling you do anyways, but I don't usually partake) We headed over to the Franklin Inn and grabbed a glass of wine while Ray sat at the Slots. I perused over all the pamphlets to design a plan of attack (on all the touristy places) I also went upstairs to the balcony to take photos and I ended playing the slots anyways, losing 20 at Jacks or Better, but finally my game of choice became available. Lobstermania! Oh how I love fishing for lobster to the tune of the B52's Rock Lobster. Oh how I love winning at the game of Rock Lobster. 60 bucks! Won back my loss, Ray's loss and walked away with $20! Now that's successful gambling to me!

We met a couple from Custer who come to Deadwood to gamble and have dinner on occasion and even offered an house exchange. We live in theirs for a week and they live in ours, which would be great next time we go to Sturgis for us to stay and them to get away. They also suggested heading over to the Silverado for the all you can eat Snow Crab buffet. So we exchanged business cards and filled our faced before heading down the street to explore the rest of the street.

We strolled down Main Street and stopped in where Wild Bill Hickock was shot (with the dead man's hand, Aces and Eights) and played Texas Holdem'. The rules were 5/10/kill and within no time, I was out $50 and stepped away from the table. Ray lost $50 and stepped towards the ATM lol! A while later he was out another $100 so we headed back to the street but it had started to rain, then hail, dime size, nickle, quarter then REALLY hail! Loonie and Toonie size! Ok actually golfball size but I was stay with the gambling theme of $$!!! We stood at the window and watched the bikes get pelted, and a sign us above get smashed with glass crashing down on the sidewalk. Ray threw a $20 into a machine while we were waiting for the storm to pass, down to $10 and won $460! Pretty much paid for the past two days! Thankfully the hail only lasted around 20 minutes (and no more money was lost to the slots) so we headed back to our bike to see how it faired and all was well.

Since it was getting late, we decided to come another day to tour the cemetery and museum but rather than head straight back home (aka hotel) we road around downtown and then headed south to the Spearfish Canyon, flying past The Boars Nest with bikes, bikers and picnic tables outside. We instantly thought of our favourite watering hole in Seven Persons and knew that stopping in was on the list of things to do when we returned next time.

The ride through Spearfish Canyon was wonderful and was lucky there were no animals at dusk this time round. After returning home, we road to the World's Biggest Biggest Bar, The Full Throttle to discover they did not fair so well. As we walked in from the parking lot there was a row of cars with smashed windows. Our bartender explained about the baseball size hail and since the bar is mostly outdoors, no wonder it was not busy at all. We headed across the highway over to Monkey's Rock and it was almost empty as well. Then it was back into town and stopped at the Broken Spoke, but even that wasn't very busy either. I guess the storm sent a lot of people home, especially if they were camping and the rest were at the other two big bars in town... or make that 3. The karaoke place was always hopping, but we passed it over to go back to the hotel to watch the news and weather channel about the recent storm, and rest up for the next plans. SHOPPING!

On the 3rd day of Sturgis

We saw scenes old and new
got great pictures and got rained on too.

We headed out with our friends to Rapid City and I thought of the first time I went there as a kids on summer vacation with my parents as we rode past the Reptile Gardens. I still can see the polaroid photo in the photo album of me and my two sisters sitting on a giant tourtoise and the one of my dad holding a huge snake around his neck. No need to stop in and visit this time round as we have a huge cornsnake named Fluffy at the farm and over the past few years have sheltered a tarantula, lizard, frogs, hermit crabs and more (cuz that's what little boys are made of apparently)

We rode through Keystone then stopped on the side of the road to take pictures of Mt. Rushmore (from both angles), headed up the highway to Crazy Horse and then back tracked to ride through the Needles Highway. I was on the back of Ray's bike snapping pictures left right and crazy... and really need to learn to sit more still after a wobble near the edge of the narrow steep road sent my heart into my throat.

We road back via the Iron Mountain Road that had just as many tunnels as the Needles Highway but with views of Mt. Rushmore when driving through. We almost stopped in Keystone for a bite to eat but headed for Rapid City to try and out run the rain. Bad choice. We should have stayed put and waited for it to blow over since it was a good 15 minute ride in pelting rain before we could stop for something to eat in RC. After warming up and drying out a bit, it was back on the bike to Sturgis and then showered and ready for a night on the town.

We walked to Main Street and spent the night bar hopping, beginning the evening enjoying live music at the Loud American Roadhouse (great band, only 1 fight),

then over to the Oasis for some karaoke (crazy people, only 1 song for me), and got spanked at
One Eyed Jacks (not me, only 2 of the guys)

Then we took the long way home via McDonald's for $1 burgers and home and in bed by 4!!! I guess technically it was day 4, but sleep is much needed before heading out that day!

On the 2nd day of Sturgis

My butt was sore and tired.
but all the way to Sturgis we did ride!


After a wonderful night's sleep at the Elk Creek B & B in Grassy Range, we rode through Billings and headed south to corner of Wyoming. We only stopped to fill up once and to check out the first biker bar along the way, The Stoneville Salloon in Alzada Montana, where we met a nice couple from Chicago that had just ridden in from the Devil's Tower. The place was packed but would not even prepare us for what was yet to come. We arrived in Sturgis and checked into the hotel with the constant roar of bikes going up and down the highway next to us. I wasn't sure I would be able to sleep with all the noise, but at that time I wasn't even ready for bed. We immediately jumped back on the bike to go down town and laughed as the people walking down Lazelle Street were moving faster than we were. There were bikes and cars, vans and trucks, trailers and motorhomes and a stop sign put up at every corner. We never even made it to Main Street that day, but stopped instead at Roscoe's for supper and to buy a sheep skin seat cover for extra padding for my sore butt!


We headed back to the hotel room as the rain had started and around 11 decided to go check out the Buffalo Chip and the Aerosmith concert. We arrived late, but the concert started late due to the rain so decided to fork out the dough and see what we could see. After all so far - $75 for the night at the B & B, $300 a night at Super 8 in Sturgis, $240 for aerosmith tickets. Saw 1 1/2 songs, the sound system blew up and Steven Tyler fell off the stage and was sent to the hospital - priceless!



We returned back to the hotel to find our parking spot gone so parked behind our friend's Al, Charlie and Jerry and left a note on their door to wake us if they need out before we did. It was lights out and sound asleep in no time - ready for day 3 and what ever it might bring. Rain or not, here we come!

The 12 Days of Sturgis - day 1 - travel time

On the first day of Sturgis we got away so late
and split my rain pants right out of the gate!

Ah yes, we donned our "duck suits" and had to be trailered the mile down the gravel road from the farm to the highway to begin our journey. It was about 4 pm rather than noon when we left in the rain to fill up in Dumore and by the time we got to Elkwater the rain had stopped, the fog had set in, and we were thinking the dreaded "S" word - Snow - but it didn't. Thank goodness for heated vests and we were off. Sitting on the back of a bike with only the sound of the roaring wind and rumbling pipes in my ears, I had lots of time to think. Amazing how you think of the past as your ride into the future and take in the present. As we passed Elkwater, I smelled something sweet like honey and I thought of my old dog Jake, who would roll in dead carcasses that for some reason smelled like honey to me, and dead carcasses to my honey. We stopped for lunch at the Duck Inn in Havre and rode along Montana's Highway 2. As we passed the many, MANY white markers on the roadside, I thought of Randy Travis' song "Three Wooden Crosses" even though there where 3 times as many. Know wonder the signs say "4 the 2" and call your Congressman. So many lives lost on that lonely road.

We road through Belknap Reservation, but not that swift as there was a major car accident that held us up for at least a half hour. We had hoped to make it to Billings that night, but the sun was sinking, the deer were grazing in ditches, and we were on the road later than planned. We pulled into Grass Range Montana about 11 pm with no gas station open, no vacancy signs in sight and found our way to a bar and casino with but 4 people inside. After a warm welcome and wet one, they gave us the phone to call the local bed and breakfast in hopes there was room in the Inn. As luck had it, we were the first official guests at the Elk Creek Bed and Breakfast and the minute we walked in I thought of my friend Lorene. That would be her in 20 years, as the couple showed us around the newly renovated, 5 bedroom 2 bathroom luxurious ranch home on the side of the hill with a beautiful view. (not that we could see it at the time) but woke in the morning to fresh fruit and juice and a delicious breakfast in the nook and a breathtaking view.



7 hours to the end day 1 with 7 or so more to go to Sturgis, was just the beginning of luck, good and bad!