Saturday, Day 10, Sturgis 2022, back home

 On Saturday I got up early and had left the hotel by 7:30a.m. for the final leg of my trip home from the Sturgis motorcycle rally. The weather this morning was cloudy and about 60 degrees. It really didn't warm up and stayed cloudy for the 271 miles I had left to cover to get home. I was home by 1p.m..

I relaxed and had some lunch before unpacking and getting things put away. The bike needs a good washing. That will happen in the next few days. After a great dinner of Five Hour Stew and buttered bread I went to work on my mileage spreadsheet. It showed that I traveled 2617 miles, used 50.16 gallons of fuel costing 240.49 dollars at an average cost per gallon of $4.79. The price per gallon ended up being $.91 cents per gallon more than last year. The best news was my mile per gallon at 52.17.

Starting mileage for Sturgis 2022.

Ending mileage for Sturgis 2022

Me and my bike safely back home.

Trip spreadsheet for 2022 Sturgis trip.

Friday, Day 9, Sturgis 2022, Headed Home

 On Thursday after enduring the extreme heat for more than a few days with 104 degrees on Thursday I made the decision to head back home on Friday.

I headed out from the campground in Belle Fourche at about 8 a.m. with the temperature at about 80 degrees. As I headed East on US hwy 212 the temperature begain to drop into the mid  to lower 70's. It turned out to be a perfect day for riding across South Dakota an into Minnesota. The temperature slowly moved back up to around 80 by the time I got to my destination for the day. I stopped and took a few pictures along the way. The crops looked to be in good shape in the area that I drove through. I covered 440 miles today, ending up in Montivideo MN for the night at the Grandstay Hotel, A nice place.

Tomorrow I'll knock off the last 270 miles and be home in the early afternoon.

Ben Ash monument East of Newell SD at about milepost 80 on US hwy 212.

Picnic area at Ben Ash.

Wild Flowers growing in the gravel.

Dont know what kind of flowers these are. Buttercups maybe?

Many acres of sunflowers. These are East of Lantry SD.

Previous 6 pics taken near Lantry SD

Corn near Ridgeview SD.

US hwy 212 bridge across the Missouri

Constuction ahead. They are putting down 31 miles of new pavement.

Had about a 10 minute wait for the pilot car to take us through the constuction zone. I really like running hwy 212, not much traffic and well maintained.

Sinclair station in Gettysburg SD. 190 miles East of Newell SD. No premium gas inbetween.

Windfarm near the SD/MN border.

Lots of farmland.

Thursday, Day 8, Sturgis 2022

 Today was a lazy day mostly because it got up to 103 degrees in the afternoon. In the morning I went to visit my fiends Rich and Lynn who live only about 7 miles from the campground. The last 3 miles are down a gravel road that was dusty and had many washboard areas. Not fun to go down, but I made it. Spent about 4 hours visiting with them. A most enjoyable time. After my visit I came back to the campground for the rest of the afternoon and rested and began to pack some things for my anticipated departure Friday morning.

About 5:30 p.m. I got on the bike for one last trip into Sturgis to see if the crowd had started to thin out and it had. Bought a T-shirt and flag. Some of the venders were already starting to lower their prices and offering deals on multiple shirt purchases. Stayed downtown for a couple hours and then headed back to the campground. By the time I got back to the campground around 8 p.m. the temp had dropped to about 90 degrees.

Some shots of the campground. The name is Wyatts Hideaway. I had the cabin on the far left.

Downtown Sturgis Thursday evening. There was plenty of parking open on main street.

Wednesday, Day 7, Sturgis 2022

 Got on the road about 9a.m. today. It was going to be a super hot day, close to 100 degrees so to better cope with it I got out my Cool Vest to wear under my jacket. What a Cool Vest is is a vest that you soak in water and wring out most of the excess water and put it on over a t-shirt and under your jacket. I wear a ventilated jacket so the wind moving through it makes it act like air conditioning. It works very well and when it drys you just rewet it. I had to rewet it about 5 times yesterday. It helped tremendously in conquering the heat. I left camp and my first stop was the Harley tent in Sturgis. I picked up my ride pin for HOG members and talked to one of the reps about their passenger seats and what I didn't like about them.

When I left Sturgis I took the quick route down to Hot Springs to visit my friends Preston and Eugenia at their rock shop. Spent a couple hours talking with them. They say business has been good which I'm glad to hear. I've known them for over 30 years. Great people.

Next stop was Custer and then on to Hill City. In Hill City I took the road that follows the tracks of the 1880 train and actually got a picture of it, not a great picture but a picture. When I got to Keystone I went through town and picked up road 244 otherwise known as the needles Highway. This is where Mount Rushmore is located. Then it was back to Hill City for fuel.

My camping cabin and bike.

Downtown St. Onge. built 1902.

St. Onge building 1910

Hot Springs.

Hot Springs train depot now the Info center.

My friends rock shop in Hot Springs.

They are adamant about no masts. Only robbers wear masks.

Custer.

Near Crazy Horse.

Crazy Horse Monument.

My bike near Crazy Horse.

1880 Train.

Mount Rushmore.

Side view.

The daily train out of Belle Fourche headed east with a load of bentonite. About 30 cars worth. There is a large processing plant and mine outside of Colony WY. this stuff is in everything. Look it up.

Cars filled with Bentonite.