Sturgis 2018

I left Hayward WI. on Thursday august 2 for my 42nd run in a row to the motorcycle rally in Sturgis SD. This is the 78th running of the rally that started in 1938, they missed 2 years because of WWII. When I left my house about 9am it was in the low 50's and some mist in the air and damp roads. I sure am glad I spent 4 hours cleaning up my bike so that after 10 miles it again looked just like it did before I cleaned it, oh well. It wasn't until my first gas stop in Cold Spring MN, 185 miles from home that it finally started to warm up and the sky's started to clear.
By my next gas stop in Dawson MN it had turned into a great day to ride. All my gas stops are preplanned so as to avoid buying anything with alcohol in it. I have to run premium in my Harley, thank god for the Internet which makes it pretty easy.
By the time I reached my destination for day one, (Faulkton SD, a nice small friendly town along US hwy 212) it had turned into a clear very warm day. There were thunderstorms to the north and northwest, but we stayed dry.
I stay at the Faulkton Inn and have stayed there several times, low rates and clean rooms. This time she gave me the suite with the Jacuzzi for my 70 dollars.
Friday morning turned out to be a great riding day. I went through one small area of just a few drops of rain near Eagle Butte SD. Everything is very green. I've heard that they have gotten above average rain this year.
I stopped for a break about 70 miles from Belle Fourche SD at the Ben Ash monument (a wide spot in the road) and discovered that I was down to the wear bars on my rear tire. I guess I missed that detail when I cleaned the bike before I left. That is not normal for me. I'm pretty anal when it comes to my tires.
Upon reaching my final destination, Wyatt's Hideaway Campground before noon on Friday, I discovered it had become very hot and humid.
My next order of business was to get camp set up and find a tire. It took about a half hour to get everything squared away. By then I was sweating profusely.
My first call went to Deluxe HD of Sundance WY about 50 miles away. They told me it is first come first served. I said great see you in an hour. I arrived at about 1:30 and headed back to camp before 3, with a new tire and a lighter wallet.
And then the drama started to unfold. Upon arriving back at camp I discovered that my tablet was not in my trunk, oh crap. I had removed it to use while they serviced my bike. I didn't know if I had left it at the dealer or the bar where I had lunch. I called both and they hadn't seen it. Darn. As it ended up I talked to the wrong person at the HD dealer. My next call was to Verizon to deactivate it.
After all of that I just wanted to have dinner with my friends Rich  and Lynn who live out here in the summer. We had a great visit.
Saturday morning I decided to take a chance and drive up to Sundance and see if anybody had found it. My plan was to start at the HD dealer then the bar and finally check at the sheriff's office a block away.
As I walked into the dealer there it was sitting on the counter. I talked to the service writer behind the counter. He told me that it got to be closing time and he saw it sitting there and thought, somebody is going to miss this. so he put it behind the counter. The next morning he put it back out figuring somebody (me) would claim it, and he was right. I reactivated it that afternoon and life was good again.
Sunday ended up being great, sad, and alot of wet. It was great because breakfast at the VFW was with people I may only see once a year. It was sad because after breakfast we went to a cemetery near Deadwood so my friend Tom could spread some of his wife's ashes. She past away 51 weeks ago. Alot of wet because the weather looked good to the northwest towards Devil's tower. It may have started out that way but then it changed. It was just a very light rain before the tower, and as we went by, it got pretty heavy for a mile or so. It was more of a nuisence than anything. We didn't stop to put on raingear. More drip drip most of the way into Sundance. We stopped there for a bite to eat and enjoy it not raining. Then it was back in the saddle again for some more rain enhanced riding back to Sturgis to drop off my most wonderful passenger for the day, Terresah. I hung around Sturgis for an hour or so waiting for a storm to pass that was blocking my dry return to camp in Belle Fourche.  I walked main street from the VFW on the south  to the police station on the north end of the motorcycle only area street parking, about 5 city blocks long. There seems to be alot more food venders in town this year. The group on todays ride included Lyle, Carl, Lisa, Terresah and the new guy Jose.
Today monday I am taking as a day to relax.
I don' have alot of pictures this year. Partly because of all the smoke in the air from western wildfires.
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Sunset in Faulkton day one.

Sturgis, everybody wants to be here.

Motorcycle museum.

Sturgis main street south end. Sunday 8:30am.

Hulett WY sunday afternoon, dry, soon to change.

Sundays rain riders, (LtoR) Lyle, Carl, Lisa, Terresah and Jose is hiding behind Carl.

From saturday in Sundance: The Dime Horseshoe Bar, a group of about 40 South Dakota riders stopping for a break.

I really liked this bike, just enough orange pinstriping and it's hard to beat black.

Home base with Lisa, Carl, Jose and Lyle.

Another sweet looking black bike.

And finally what I rode this year.
Tomorrow will be another day of riding and then start home on weds.

Sturgis Cushman Rally (Buffalo Chip)

On thursday morning I took a walk around the Buffalo Chip main stage area which was a short walk from our campsite. Later in the day they would be running the scooter drag racing. It sure looks alot different now than during the rally. I talked to Rod the owner and he said that they had plenty to do to get ready with about 50 days till rally time. Art and I had this camping area all to ourselves except for the gal in the camping cabin who worked for the forest service. It was quiet with a good view.

In the second photo you can see the main stage in the background over the hill from our campsite.

Our view to the north was Bear Butte.

The Big Engine Bar. This was at the west end of the Chip.

The gate at the east end of the campground leading to the huge main stage area.

I stayed at city park in 1981 and Buffalo Chip in 1982. Does that make me riff-raff?

A few pictures of the grounds.

Nice art work.
In the afternoon on thursday they had scooter drag racing, old school style with a raised arm starter and you race to the pedestrian bridge about 600 feet down track. The two fastest racers both ran OMC V-twins in Cushman frames with CVT power delivery.

The fastest of the men was this guy at 84 years old. The fastest of the women and 2nd fastest overall was this gal in her 50's. Finish line speed was a solid 70mph+.

The machine the gal was riding.

Sturgis Cushman Rally

Tuesday the 5th of June turned out to be another typical South Dakota day. Nice in the morning and hot in the afternoon with a chance of thunderstorms. After helping Art get set up I got on my XT250 and went for a ride. I took the back roads up to Belle Fourche and stopped for a visit with my friends Rich and Lynn. When I left their place it was more back roads into Spearfish for a stop at the Walmart for a long sleeved white cotton shirt so as to avoid a sunburn. It worked well.
In the afternoon they ran a skills event that had a good turn out.

Here is grandpa, daughter and grandaughter. The object was to balance on the teeter totter.

One of the other games was to wrap the rope around the barrel without moving the barrel or the rope touching the ground.

You have to have good balance because you can't put a foot down either.

The day ended with another nice sunset and stormy weather to the north and east.

It was a good day.
On weds Art and I rode the scooters up to Whitewood for breakfast. They ran a little rough and so we spend alot of the rest of the day fiddling with the carb. The elevation in Sturgis is about 2000 feet higher than at home in Hayward WI.