August 5, Thursday
Lived through the night, too, with thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. I worried that the rain would come in and get the tent wet, but it did not. I made it through the night and actually slept very well.
Early to the shower, and when I came out a lady told me she had heard reveille. Imagine that. I told her I'd not heard it … I was in the shower. She and her husband are tenting on the hill across the road from us and away down the other side, so the sound is carrying nicely. I believe it is getting louder with each succeeding test run.
The battery totally ran down on the computer so can't get connected. Kevlar and I looked near the Pit for plug ins, but didn't have a whole lot of luck. Finally found one and let the computer recharge itself.
Two Bike walked a route, walked it again with Wrong Way, and then took her riding around so she could figure out how to ride on grass and gravel in the campground. After she had mastered it, which she did, we headed to town to go S H O P P I N G!!!!. We spent a good couple of hours there wandering around, looking at and buying a few things.. It was fun, but still not too busy. It's not as crowded yet as it will be.
Went down to the Pit again and had some dinner. The food down there is actually quite good. I went to the Greek place and against my better judgment had a gyro. When I've had them in the past I get sick, but thought maybe it's finally behind me. Don't know if it's the lamb or the dill sauce. I had a chicken one this time, and it must be the lamb because I didn't get sick. It was really good, and I had hand cut fries with it. YUMMY!
Monty and Brian arrived and started putting up their big tent, and a separate, smaller tent for Rob for when he arrived. I was the direction-reader for them. It was quite entertaining to watch them putting it up. They did get a little help from some of the others, and it was quite the mansion once it was up, a 10-man tent. Then they blew up air mattresses, and I'd guess it was almost like being at home.
A bit later Julie (Birdy) rode in, just at dark. But she found us. She got her tent up, too, and hung her Alaskan flag, so we have two of them waving in the breeze. Makes an Alaskan feel right at home.
Visited for a while, and then it was dark. And all the good little bikers go to bed when it gets dark, just llke the birds. And then we were all in.
Aug. 6, Friday
I got up late … 6:15 a.m. I didn't even hear reveille so I must have been sleeping well. I grabbed my shower gear and headed up the hill. It was cold shower time. If you don't get up there early, that's how it goes. It wasn't all bad, and I “got it dun” We went to downtown Sturgis early, leaving the Chip about 8 a.m. as we wanted to get to the Harley place where they were handing out event pins. It didn't open until 10 a.m. so we had breakfast and then headed back over there. I saw the most beautiful lime green bike, which is a new Screaming Eagle … a Street Glide. It was all metallic and just sparkled and drew your attention from a block away.
There was a Dyna machine and you could ride Sporties and run the gears, racing the person on the other bike. I wanted to do that, but you had to wait, and we were going to be heading to Rushmore. In the Harley tent, we ran into Rick B. from Anchorage and he's staying at Glencoe. He said that during the heavy rain the other night the water dug a big trench and where he was camped the trench cut his area off from the showers and other amenities. Yay for the Chip. It's the best.
Two Bike, Wrong Way, Capt. Cupcake, Sprinkles, Birdy, Stalker, Kevlar and I took off for Rushmore. It was a beautiful ride and I was glad to go because it had been a number of years since I'd been. It's changed a lot since I had been there last. We all wandered around a bit, and then we took off and headed back to camp. There was a lot of traffic, but really not as bad as it would get as time goes by and Sturgis week gets into full swing.
Birdy wanted to go to the Harley shop in Rapid so we peeled off from the rest of the group and got in and parked. While we were wandering around I called Joe to see if Verlie had arrived. I left a message on voice mail for him to call me.
Birdy and I walked around and saw some great-sounding horns. We decided to each get one, hers chrome, mine black to match my air cleaner. So we went and got the bikes and rode them to the vendor area to get them put on. I also asked to borrow a screwdriver so I could get my drink holder attached to the handle bars. One of the guys there said he'd help get it attached. Whoops, one of the nuts fell down into the bike, and the guys at the vendor stand helped get another and get it on. Finally on the bike so I can easily access water. I've been looking for the drink holders that attach to the saddle bag guards, but haven't seen any except for the Harley ones and they're $80 each. Don't want to pay that. They're only drink holders for goodness sake.
Got a call back from Joe when we were nearly finished getting the horns mounted. Verlie had not made it in yet. Her plane had been delayed, and she'd missed her connection and had to overnight in Salt Lake. She was on standby for Rapid the next morning. With Joe calling around to everyone, he was finally able to get her to the top of the list and she would arrive tomorrow morning.
Joe came over to the vendor area at the Harley shop. We visited a bit and decided to get a bite to eat. Olive Garden rocks. While Verlie wasn't here to share the meal, we decided to do it anyway. Can't eat there at home since we don't have one. So I always eat at Olive Gardens and Red Lobsters when I find them down here, and always in Phoenix when I go in and out of there to ride and visit Verlie and Joe.
As usual the Olive Garden meal was excellent. I've never had a bad one there. I looked out the window and it was raining. C R A P!!! We walked outside and there was lightning and thunder. Joe said we could go to their room and stay but Birdy and I decided to make a run for it. I figured if the Chip dirt and grass were too wet I'd just park at the top of the hill and walk down. I'd leave Miss Scarlet on her own to fend off any unwanted suitors. We raced against the wind, and in about 5 miles ran out of it. We could still see some dark clouds ahead of us near Sturgis, but we didn't catch anymore rain. By the time we got back to the Chip it was really okay. They'd only had a little sprinkle, so the grass and dirt were okay to ride on. We got parked in our grassy area without incident.
More folks have arrived, RB, Jr., and some of his friends, Tom Polak and his boy. It's amazing to watch the Chip community grow, and most especially our little community. Each day brings hundreds more to the campground, and areas that were totally bare of either campers or motorhomes are now filling up rapidly. We no longer can walk a direct line from our camp to the shower house. It's something to see, bikers from all over, coming to their event, hundreds upon hundreds, and this is only one campground. I don't know if it's the biggest, but I'm sure if it isn't, it is one of them.
Visited with some of the folks and was tired. Off to bed, and all in.
August 7, Saturday
Birdy and I decided to do the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain. We took off and I promptly got us turned the wrong way. When we rode in on Tuesday I didn't realize we'd come from the north rather than the south, so we went about 23 miles out of our way. But it may have been okay since we saw some beautiful country and avoided going through Sturgis itself. Although, if you have to go through Sturgis morning is best.
We rode on out and stopped for the pancake breakfast the Bible Bikers are holding up near the entrance. As we were looking around in one of the little vendor areas up there who should I see but RB, who had just arrived. Got a big hug, and then we left as we had biker bidness to take care of in the way of riding. When we pulled up to a stop sign, a guy and his lady on a big bike behind us came up close and said he thought I was as good a rider as any he'd ever seen and that I really handled my bike well. I took that as a great compliment, and later in the evening called Biker Bill to tell him about it, and that he gets the compliment since I learned a lot of my riding skills from him. He reminded me that while I probably thought he'd been strict and harsh with me when I learned to ride, it was now paying off. Yes, yes, and yes. Thank you, Biker Bill. All that I am in riding and the things I've seen because of riding are because of you. And that's the truth. If I didn't ride a bike I'd never have seen much of anything since I don't like to drive in cars anywhere. There's nothing like seeing the sites from the seat of a Harley.
We did the highways, 5, 10, 15, 25 mph corners, spirals and hairpins. As we rode through some of the area, it seemed familiar. I remembered seeing a place where we came through a tunnel and thinking that Biker Bill, his buddy Bob and I had stopped on the other side because it was pouring and we had to put on rain gear. I'd thought I'd not done this highway, but when I phoned home and asked, Biker Bill said yes, my memory was correct and we had done it in 1994 during our first Sturgis run together. It was a great ride, and I enjoyed it a lot, I'm sure a lot more than I did the first time when I was still a relatively new rider.
Once we got off the highway Birdy and I headed to the shop again as she was looking for something. We pulled in and parked and I wondered if Joe and Verlie would be there. We hadn't tried to set up anything. I heard my name called, and there came Verlie running across the parking lot. Big hugs, and more hugs. It was so good to see her … she's one of my best friends. Again, I'm so lucky to have many …. She said Joe had spotted me coming riding in … the white hair stands out in a crowd. Was great to see them, so we hung out a bit, and make plans to meet the next morning to go to Devil's Tower. The rest of the group did it today.
Birdy and I headed back to camp, and the traffic coming through Sturgis was horrendous. And it's not in full swing even yet. Burned my legs and got a heat rash on them again. But it's not nearly as bad as the burns I got going to Vermont. I'm a lot more careful and try to put my foot up on the lower to keep my leg away from it and to cool it off some every now and again.
The line of traffic coming into the Chip was again long. We just breeze by as we're registered but those that are coming in don't seem to end. It's quite a procession and something to see. It's certainly not quite like anything I've ever seen before. Where are they going to put them all? I wonder how many acres Buffalo Chip is anyway?
The evenings have been nice, not too hot, and so we usually wander around and go down to the Pit. Birdy and I went down and ate at Porky's as the others say it's great. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, cole slaw and corn. I thought the corn would be corn on the cob. It was creamed corn, and some of the very best I've ever eaten. It must be pure cream, and cream cheese in the sauce or something. I could have eaten a gallon of it. I could feel my veins hardening up with the fat content from the corn. But I'd sure like more of it. Maybe another night.
We headed for camp. Gotta say that even with the noise I'm sleeping very well. And so, I'm all in.
August 8, Sunday
Birdy and I headed out to have free pancakes again (not quite since I always leave them a donation), gas up and meet Joe and Verlie at the on ramp for Exit 30. It took us a little while and we got up to the ramp and waitedabout 5-10 minutes and here they came. Near perfect timing once again. Funny how that works. We've run into people, met up in a timely manner. The stars must all be aligned or something.
We took off for Devil's Tower, and enjoyed the view as we drew closer. Lots of bikes on the road. Not too many cars by comparison. We stopped near the entrance and looked around in the gift shop. Some lady told me she thought it was sexy to see a woman on a big bagger. She thought it was great. We had a little chat, and I let her sit on Miss Scarlet. She thinks she wants to get a bagger, but her husband didn't seem nearly as excited about her having one.
Once we did the tower and listened to the ranger talk on the legend, we headed out. We were glad we weren't going the one way on the highway as traffic was way backed up due to some type of accident. We had lucked out once again.
We went to Vale to the Last Call Bar and Cafe. We'd been told the food was good, and the corn the best. We had steak, and it was great. The bar had all these deer racks hanging around, so took pictures of lots of them for the Great White Hunter (you know who you are). Knowing I needed to stay up late and not go to sleep with the birds, I started drinking Coke to get all hopped up. It helps.
Once we left the restaurant, we headed back to Sturgis. We decided to go park and wander around town and watch some of the parade and check out shops. I drank some sugared lemonade to keep the sugar high going and the adrenaline rushing. I needed to stay awake for the concert.
I found a bag to fit in the back seat. I'd been looking but couldn't find one that I liked. I didn't want leather. I also found the water bottle holders. They were $20 for a no-name brand versus the $80 ones with the Harley emblem on them. I don't need no stinkin' Harley logo on water bottle holders. Birdy, Joe and I walked back to put things on the bike so we didn't have to pack them. You know I depend upon the kindness of others and strangers, so needed help packing things. The water bottle holders went on, much easier after removal of the saddlebags, and the bag I just bungeed on. I'll worry about how to attach it later. I also found a shirt for the other friend I needed one for. Tomorrow it all gets mailed hither and yon.
We separated and went our different ways as Birdy and I wanted to get back to hear the concerts, Guess Who and Credence Clearwater Revisited. We cut through the alleys in Sturgis and it made our ride a whole lot easier, and not so much stop and go. A big plus was that my legs didn't catch the heat like they had on previous days. All right!!!!!
We got back and quickly changed into walking shoes and headed to the concert. I did not forget my flashlight this time. I was able to stay awake for the entire concert of the Guess Who and Credence. I was last to get back to the tent tonight, which is unusual. I did forget to turn off Spot though when we got back from the ride. And in fact, forgot to turn it off all night. I am not having any trouble sleeping. In fact, I'm sleeping so well it scares me. I stay awake a little bit, hear the music and bikes roaring around, and then it's lights out for me, and I'm all in.
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