Home

We rode back into Columbus about 2:00 p.m. yesterday afternoon. And, there's no place like home . . the closer we got the faster we went.

We tallied about 3,300 miles over the ten days we were gone. That's about 2,700 miles from here to there and back, and then another 600 while out there. It was one of my most enjoyable vacations as the scenery was so wonderful, and the company excellent.

We're talking about perhaps a Route 66 experience on motorcycles for next year, so who knows. Stay tuned! Thanks for following our adventure.

Last Night on the Road

We had a nice, sometimes long, 600 mile ride to Danville, IL today, and will ride the remaining 260 miles (or so) to home tomorrow. No pictures . . .nothing to photograph.

It's been a really great vacation and spending time with our friends Jeff and newer friend, Danny Buford Whittier. We're anxious to get home, though, and back in our routine, including picking up our dogs (Paco and Monty) tomorrow from the kennel.

Thanks for following our experience via the blog, and all good things to you and yours.

The Ride Home

We started out from the First Gold in Deadwood at 9 a.m. MT today with a plan to ride about 500 miles to Sioux Falls, Iowa. It was incredibly hot and dry, so each gas stop (about every 130 miles or so) allowed us to swill as much water as possible before starting out again.

It seemed different going home than coming out, and showed in the way people were riding. MOST were going slower, while some were going very fast in an effort to go home. I guess the slower crowd, like us, were either tuckered out or simply didn't want to go home. . . perhaps a combination of the two.

It was a pretty uneventful ride and we got to our hotel about 7 p.m. CST, just about 10 miles into Iowa. Most of the day was spent riding through South Dakota. Tomorrow we'll similarly spend most of the day traversing one state - Iowa in this case - in our planned ride of about 600 miles to get to Danville, IL. That allows us to finish up on Sunday with about 250 miles to home.

And, again, thanks to all who've posted comments and indicated they've enjoyed this blog. I appreciate you taking the time to read this.

Sturgis

Our last day here and time to see for ourselves what all the hoopla is about. . . . the town of Sturgis is yet one more small town in South Dakota with a population of about 6,000 (other than during Bike Week, of course). There are a few major events during the summer that bring tourists in with the headliner being the biker crowd for Bike Week.

When checking out of Black Hills Harley Davidson earlier this week, I asked one of the (obviously temporary) checkout girls (probably in high school) what Sturgis was like other than during Bike Week, and the quick and emphatic response was "dead". So, there's a lot of activity and a lot of money made in a very short time during Bike Week.



We started our day with a ride back to Black Hills Harley Davidson near Rapid City to pick up a few last minute things like self-powered speakers to bring music to Cheryl's Road King. Those will get installed when we get home, but most of the vendors there would install whatever you bought . . . for a price, of course. And, because we bought so many other things, primarily t-shirts, we had to buy an extra bag to put on the back of my bike to hold all of our booty.


From here, we journeyed back to the outskirts of Sturgis for, first, Thunder Road, and second, the Full Throttle Saloon - a Sturgis landmark. Thunder Road was mostly a show of custom bikes and also featured an appearance by Steven Tyler, frontman of Aerosmith, to highlight the launch of his new line of motorcycles - Red Wing Motorcycles. He was coming after we decided to leave, so we missed the Demon of Screamin' but his motorcycles are nice.



Across the street is the Full Throttle Saloon, one of the most interesting places I've ever been. It covered a small city block in the middle of nowhere and is only open about 5 weeks per year. It had a camp of small wooden buildings to house all the temporary workers they bring in from all over the country. And, neatest of all, the decor was decidely kitsch with a little bit of this and a little bit of that. A hair band from the 80's, Jackyl, was scheduled to play there that evening and the stage was pretty large surrounded by standing room for people and many bikes parked. Like at Buffalo Chip, something that sounds good draws many, many loud and revving engines from the concertgoers.

Finally, time to roll on into Sturgis and there were more motorcycles here than at any point on the trip. I'd guess that Main Street was lined by several thousand bikes, and there were stores galore. At this point, though, we found ourselves fatiguing from the heat of the day, so the "highlight" got relatively short shrift and we ended up leaving after only a couple of hours . . . sans any more purchases, thankfully. If we come back, we'll need to start the week with this so we can experience all that Sturgis has to offer.


All in all, a fabulous week and great to spend so much time with Cheryl to whom I'm very close (as most of you know). The scenic rides and national monuments were wonderful and added another 600 miles or so to the 1,400 (roughly) it took to get out here. We leave for home tomorrow about 8 a.m. MT, so perhaps a brief note from the road tomorrow evening when we stay in Sioux City, SD.

Pantiless Wednesday to Nature's Beauty to Wild Bill

We had an early morning call today to hit the road for the 90 minute ride to Hulett, Wyoming. I had heard from our "guides" (Buford, Jeff, Bill, and Frank) that this was quite an experience . . . .a very small town (population 407) that really know how to celebrate Bike Week. We met Frank and Bill on the way there and roared down I-90 toward Hulett.

On the way there we spied Devil's Tower in the distance and gradually it became closer and closer until we passed it as we turned onto the highway to take us into Hulett.

Today - August 6 - was officially "Pantiless Wednesday" there. Apparently this is an annual tradition because lots of people were wearing t-shirts that proclaimed their attendance at the event in prior years. Now, this moniker doesn't really mean exactly what it sounds like, but something pretty similar as there were a number of women parading about wearing very skimpy bottoms visible under chaps. Of course those kinds of mindless pleasures don't interest me, but as a man - hey, you do notice that kind of thing.

Because this blog is a "family" kind of thing, I'll spare you the photos that someone - I don't know who it could've been - took with my camera of these shamless acts of indecency. I will say, however, that beside the scantily clad women, there were a lot of other unusual folks in Hulett on Pantiless Wendesday. But, that was of no concern to us because the biker crowd, with rare exception, is nothing but friendly, nice people. And Cheryl, being a very outgoing and extroverted person, had no trouble making friends with some of the more unusual ones.

What I really noticed was the sheer number of people that descended on Hulett. The roads in and out were simply packed with a nonstop flow of motorcycles. . . again, hearing that constant rumble and roar is simply indescribably delicious for a motorcycle lover. And, of course, there were vendors in Hulett eager to take our money so Cheryl and I obliged them for more t-shirts and biker belts. I'm not sure you'll see either of us wearing these at home for work, although my Harley Davidson belt might bring an interesting twist to a business suit or Cheryl's concho belt at the Mount Carmel College of Nursing.

From here, we rode back the way we came and stopped for some closeup viewing of Devil's Tower. To think of the kind of glacial activity that created this huge pylon of stone is simply amazing. . . a word I keep using, but it certainly applies to this and so many of the other sites here.


As we began our ride from Devil's Tower back toward Deadwood, we passed through Sundance, Wyoming where Robert Redford throws his shindig. Then, we rode on into Spearfish, South Dakota and through the absolutely gorgeous Spearfish Canyon. Let me say that BOTH Cheryl and I believe this was our favorite part of the journey so far because this canyon is absolutely beautiful country, and the loop of about 30 miles or so through it was one gorgeous view after another; the only thing separating them from each other were the curves in the road.






















The day drew to a close with a stop in Deadwood. It was here that Wild Bill Hickok met his untimley end playing poker. Holding what became known as the "dead man's hand", he was assassinated by a no-gooder named Jack McCall whom he had spared only moments before after being held hostage by Jack and his gang for several hours. Wild Bill allegedly took him to the Number 10 Saloon to buy him a drink to celebrate letting him live, but Jack McCall had a major axe to grind with Wild Bill and simply couldn't leave without taking care of business.

Even Wild Bill's "partner" - a woman named Calamity Jane who liked men, in general, and Wild Bill, in particular - was powerless to act quickly enough and Wild Bill was no more.

Although we didn't go there, both are buried, side-by-side, in Deadwood. Calamity Jane went on to become a minor star in her own right. Jeff Bridges starred as Wild Bill in a movie of a few years ago that tells the story, embellished a bit, pretty well.

Tomorrow is our first real visit to Sturgis, although we've ridden through it a few times. Better get it in tomorrow (Thursday) as we leave for home on Friday. More tomorrow.

All Harley All The Time

Tuesday was a pretty big shift in gears (pun intended) as we dropped the sightseeing for a day and, instead, dropped hard-earned American currency on an all American company - Harley Davidson.

We again traced South through Deadwood on Route 385 South but cut over through another beautiful and scenic area to Rapid City, SD, where we found ourselves among - guess how many - a jillion people at the Convention Center which was totally occupied by the official Harley Davidson people (while the unofficial remora-type vendors crowded the nearby parking lot).

It was here that we visited the HOG "booth" to pick up our official "2008 Sturgis Harley Owner Group" pins to adorn our leather jackets. Cheryl found a few gifts for friends, and we went outside to watch some stunt bikers - crazy kids on Ninja-style Harley-offshoot Buell motorcycles. And, I availed myself of the free bike wash.

Lot of good that did, though, because the next stop was Black Hills Harley Davidson where the parking lot was gravel, dust, and more dust. Black Hills HD is a monstrous-sized dealer with, again, a ton of other vendors out in the parking lot. The money dropping got more serious here as we picked up new butt pads for the ride back home, t-shirts, etc.

After this, we met up with Bill and Frank at Elk Creek Steakhouse for dinner, and then rode back to Rapid City (about 15 miles away) for some libations and billiards at a local Irish bar. In glancing out the window, I saw the blackness of a big storm coming from the west - the direction to return back to Deadwood.

It was pretty reassuring, though, that the waitress told us that the really BIG hail seldom fell downtown despite what the emergency broadcast system was saying on television. In fact, it DID rain like cats and dogs but, thankfully, no hail. We simply waited it out and played pool as a group. Jeff, Cheryl, and I (with Cheryl again on the back of my bike, left about 10:30, donning our rainsuits for the ride home (30 miles to Sturgis and 15 to Deadwood), but encountered no more rain and relatively dry roads. The latter I was particularly grateful for because the Sturgis-to-Deadwood trek is nothing but constant curves where at least this rider's confidence goes down a bit - especially after that tipover episode from the night before.

Wednesday we're going to Hulett, Wyoming to see, at the very least, the famous Devil's Tower which was made famious by Richard Dreyfuss' nutcase performance in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Guess you can see it from many, many miles away, so photos to come from Cheryl on the back.

(PS - thanks for all the nice comments from some of you reading the blog . . . . )

The Black Hills and National Treasures

Monday - our first day the posse shrank to 4 - Jeff, Buford, Cheryl, and I - as Frank and Bill are staying in Rapid City about 50 miles east of Sturgis (and Deadwood where we are is 15 miles west). After our late night with Alice, we were slow getting started but finally left the hotel about 11:00 a.m. for a day riding through the Black Hills and seeing the sites.

As hot as it was the day before, it was equally cool and overcast, threatening rain as we left. Naively I asked before coming if I'd need my full leather jacket and today proved why.

On leaving Deadwood, we all needed gas and pulled into a station on the outskirts of town. As I pulled to the pump, a typical biker fellow had the pump in his hand and was waving me forward, so I pulled up to see what he wanted. He said he was the "Rabbi", a masters-prepared theology graduate who was part of a Christian biker ministry and that the fuel was on them! Hard to believe, but all he wanted was a brief chat and wouldn't accept ANY donations. I'm sure he pumped hundreds of dollars in his stint there, but one little sign of the goodness of people was a great way to start the day.


Riding south on the Blue Star Memorial Highway (Route 385), we passed into the Black Hills National Forest as we headed toward Custer State Park. The cool overcast day finally began to spit rain at us so we pulled off to don our rainsuits. Cheryl was riding on my bike with me to shoot pictures while moving, and had left her rainsuit back at the hotel. So, being the gallant guy I am, I surrendered mine to her. She and Jeff put their suits on while Danny and I stayed in our clothes and, sure enough, the rain quit about 3 minutes after we got started again.

Fortuitously, we were going a route that Danny didn't usually take and it took us directly past the Crazy Horse monument. We stopped and took a brief visit to the Visitor Center where I ("Museum Boy") could've stayed for several hours, but hey we had roads to ride and miles to cover. Cheryl always kids me about wanting to take the kids to "Monkey World" when they were little, so I try to be sensitive to others whose buttons aren't pushed by museums.

One item there particularly struck me . . . .a sculpt entitled "Death Song" which told the story of the warriors of a small tribe. Two were selected before battle and then had their sash staked to the ground and stood with their weapons to face the oncoming attackers. It was a great honor to be selected for what was surely their death, and the thought of that kind of courage was overwhelming.

I asked the attendant there if there was any projected finish to the monument where you can currently see Crazy Horse's head very clearly while work begins on the head of his horse . . he responded that there was NO end date forecast. It looks to me like it'll go on for decades and perhaps a century or more . . . .a long overdue monument to the Native Americans. One last note about the monument and its size - the four heads on Mount Rushmore could fit on the head of Crazy Horse.

Amazing.

From here, we went on into Custer State Park and about a 25 mile "Wildlife Loop" where we saw some of the most gorgeous scenery as we went up and down hills and small mountains. And, of course, we saw the wildlife - Buffalo, a hundred thousand donkeys, deer, etc. Sometimes it seemed as if the other bikers had never seen an animal because they'd be pulled off the road snapping photos of donkeys and trying to pet them. We emerged from the Loop and had a welcome lunch of pickles, sloppy joes and coney dogs at Elk Haven, one of Buford's favorite spots.

Next stop was the highlight for the day - Mount Rushmore. You can see it from miles away and the roads and tunnels as you approach it seem designed to frame it in the most picturesque manner. Cheryl and I had "studied up" on the monument before coming and knew a lot about its history, etc., but there is NOTHING like seeing one of our nation's greatest treasures up close and personal.

The vision, ingenuity, and hard work by tough men to build this are simply staggering. I'm guessing that there may have been some kindred spirits to me there - I don't always like what this country is doing, but I surely like this country.

Keystone is a small town just below Mount Rushmore so that became our last stop for refueling our bikes and ourselves. As Cheryl noted, this is just one small town in this area and there were a jillion motorcycles there.

You can see how this event - officially known as the "Black Hills Rally" really can bring 500,000 bikers (and their money) to this beautiful area.


And, Cheryl was glad to contribute some of her money to the local economy as she bought herself some chaps, and yes, she looks great in them.


As it started to darken, time to hit the road back to Deadwood. It was a lovely evening ride "home" to the hotel until the last traffic light. In pulling up beside Jeff and behind Buford and coming to a stop, I have no idea why I did this (as I've been riding motorcycles literally for 40 years), but I turned the wheel slightly to the right and pulled my front brake. Well, that's a recipe for disaster and, sure enough, we tipped over right in front of everyone at the traffic light. Mind you, we weren't moving, we just tipped over Artie Johnson used to tip over on his tricycle on Laugh In.


Before I knew it, some good fellow ran out and helped us right the bike and, just as quickly, police lights with an officer telling me to pull it off to the side. I knew he thought I was drunk and I explained I hadn't been drinking (at least not since lunch several hours ago!), but he seemed unconvinced and leaned in to smell me. . . he saw I was telling the truth and allowed us to move on. How embarrassing, but there's a saying about bikes . . . .a motorcycle that hasn't been down WILL be down sometime sooner or later. Glad I got that one out of the way so painlessly.


Tomorrow is Harley day as we ride to Rapid City and the mega HD events.

Badlands and Buffalo Chip - Bad to the Bone

Day 3 saw us emerge from the Best Western in Murdo, SD after our long ride the day before. But that's the beauty of motorcycling . . . you only have to be off the bike for 10 minutes and you're good to go. Other than an extremely slow breakfast, we were ready to go on our next adventure. So, it was with excitement that we took off for the last leg to Sturgis, and frankly our "hosts" (Frank, Bill, Jeff, and Buford) were very excited, as seasoned veterans of Sturgis, to show us the beautiful sites to come.




The first part of the ride was through the gentle rolling hills of South Dakota where the sky and horizon met. For most of this time you can see. as shown on the left, perhaps, 50 or 100 miles in any direction. All I could think about was "no wonder the Native Americans didn't want to give up this place" because it was simply beautiful. Of course we took care of that with manifest destiny. I'm glad (as a liberal, of course) they're getting their revenge with all the large, Indian-run casinos taking back the riches we stole from them. In terms of the scenery, I guess I expected more "Arizona-like" conditions, but in fact it was grassy and lush, with a lot of small ponds and lakes.


Then it was time to turn into Badlands National Park, but not without the first stop being for beer. At least Frank, Bill and Buford really like their beer because they have it when we stop ALL the time. The truth is, though, that it is so sunny and hot that you seem to sweat most of it out pretty quickly, not that I'd know or anything like that, of course. Jeff and Cheryl enjoyed ice cream instead. But we soon mounted up and went into some of the most stunning country I've seen in the entire United States.


The Indians called it the Badlands because the ground was simply "bad" . . . nothing would grow there or be hospitable to animals. The Army and others called it the Badlands because bad guys - outlaws - would simply disappear into it to hide. And like I told Jeff, if I was chasing him and he went into that area, I'd say "good luck"!

We stayed there for several hours and I tried to take photos of our guys on their bikes riding through the park, but alas the roads were too curvy and way too busy for many good shots. I probably could've gotten a few but might have ridden right off one or more of the cliffs that crept right up to the road in places.

Bill pointed out one in particular where there was a narrow ledge of land and promptly ran out onto it for photos. Buford and Jeff got out there and, well, boys will be boys. And heck, I was just beginning to like Buford! Oh well.



From the Badlands on into Wall, SD for the "world-famous" Wall Drug. I remember reading some story about this place as a kid and thinking I'd never see it myself. It was, frankly, both impressive and disappointing. Guess it is one of those places you build up in your mind to something more than it really is . . . a tourist trap.

We had a great lunch across the street at the Cactus Cafe and clearly the number of motorcycles outside Wall Drug was impressive. You could sense the buildup of motorcycle mania here even yet 100 miles from Sturgis.



On into and through Sturgis from here. The roar of hundreds/thousands of bikes on I-90 was certainly something you can't forget. And, it was here we had our first few drops of rain, but it passed so quickly we didn't even have time to stop and put on our rainsuits. No harm, no foul.


Through Sturgis and we rolled on into Deadwood to the First Gold hotel. . . .the site of the discovery of gold in South Dakota. Didn't have time to dally, though, because Cheryl and I had tickets to the "legendary" Buffalo Chip campground to see Puddle of Mudd and Alice Cooper. I had the foresight to buy VIP passes which were really reasonable so, after wandering around and looking at all the vendor stuff, we found our way to the VIP area . . . a bar and private area where the artists come out to meet the guests, and then an elevated seating section to the side of the stage to go along with the fenced in area right in front of the stage.


There's about 100 tickets sold to the VIP section, so clearly we had good seats. Alice was a no show for the meet-and-greet, but we didn't mind. After all its gotta' take a 60+ year old rock and roll star some time to get ready for the show. Puddle of Mudd was good, but a bit younger than our classic rock tastes. At 10:30 pm (12:30 a.m. EST, mind you!), Alice hit the stage.

Sitting to the side at this point, it was pretty cool because they had a large curtain between the band and audience. Alice's band - all very young but accomplished musicians - started up and Alice came out to a sudden drop of the curtain and an explosion of light. Everyone went nuts of course, including us. He played ALL the hits from my teenage years - Be My Lover, Be My Friend; Under My Wheels; Muscle of Love; No More Mr. Nice Guy; I'm Eighteen (which my high school rock group used to play loud and proud); and the list goes on and on. We also had access to a private fenced-in area right in front of the stage, but being blessed with extraordinary shortness didn't allow me to see as much as I wanted from that vantage point, what with all the tall folks wearing cowboy hats in front of me. This I do know . . . . Alice Cooper rocks.

Because of the logistics of this campground - down in a hollow with about a billion people and bikes and gravel roads in and out - we started back to our bike about 11:40 p.m. with the show slated to end at midnight. We absolutely NEVER leave before the encore (which was undoubtedly "Schools Out"), but made an exception this time or we might still be trying to get out of that parking lot. Finally got back to the hotel about 1 a.m. after riding through the darkness on some of the windiest roads in the world between Sturgis and Deadwood . . .Cheryl on the back. We had a great time and I'd recommend Alice to any of you wanting to relive your youth with a guy who rocks.


That's it for Day 3 . . . . not sure what Day 4 holds but will fill you in on that after Monday evening!

Corn, Corn, and More Corn, and Then . .. .

Anyone who thinks Ohio has a lot of agriculture and corn, in particular, is sadly mistaken in comparison to Iowa. I've never seen anything close to that much corn . . .as far as the eye can see. No wonder the Iowa farmers like the concept of biofuels because they can make an incredible amount of it!

So after hours and hours of corn, we were just getting ready to cross into South Dakota in the early afternoon. We were making great time in our 660+ mile trip to end up in Murdo, SD for the night, when . . . .

Earlier back in the last stages of Iowa, we all noticed what looked like a "crop duster" flying parallel to the highway. Turned out NOT to be a crop duster, but a police plane measuring our speed. 10 miles from that point the Iowa staties were lined up . . . 3 cars nailed all 6 of us and a hapless guy from Florida who was following us as part of our group. . . .82 in a 70 zone (good thing they weren't measuring it about 5 minutes earlier because we might've ended up in the pokey).


In the "takes one to know one" category, though, with Jeff Mathias as a current SWAT sergeant in Columbus and Danny Whittier as SWAT-retired, we got the lenient treatment and got off with a "slow down" warning. And, we did.

I'm glad we took it a bit slower because the scenery in South Dakota is absolutely gorgeous . . gentle rolling hills as far as the eye can see. And crossing the Missouri River as we descended down into a valley was a breathtaking sight. I'm told that our trip to Deadwood tomorrow through the Black Hills is even more beautiful.

We arrived about 7:30 p.m., took a quick shower, then adjoured to the Buffalo Restaurant in Murdo for dinner. And finally, from the "it's a small world" file, the guys at the next table turned out to be from Waverly and Portsmouth (OH for all you out-of-towners) and left Friday at 4:00 p.m. after work . . . they rode really far in a very short amount of time as we had about a 7 hour head start on them.

Up tomorrow for the last 150 miles to Deadwood. See you then!

Day 1 Ride to Iowa

Our "posse" of 6 met this morning outside of Columbus and had a largely uneventful 550 mile ride to Davenport, IA. Our group consists of myself, the lovely Mrs. Mace, our dear friend and neighbor, Jeff Mathias, his good friend, Danny "Buford" Whittier, and two gentlemen from Mansfield who've made this Sturgis trip many times, Bill Campbell and Frank Namath. (L to R in photo: Frank, Danny, JD, Jeff, and Bill)



The weather was pretty hot, so everytime we stopped (about every 130 miles for gas, getting about 30 - 35 miles per gallon . . . not bad considering how fast - 80+ MPH - we were riding) we each downed several bottles of water, Diet Coke, etc. There was no rain although it looked like it a few times, but we'd round a curve in the highway and, voila, it was gone!



I'm particularly proud of Cheryl (seen in photo to left) who rode hard and fast with the boys and never once complained but only smiled and had fun. Like the Four Tops sang, "Ain't No Woman Like the One I Got", proven again today.


Tomorrow is a long ride - about 650 miles - to Murdo, SD which will leave us about 180 miles short of our goal - Deadwood, SD - where we're staying for our the time we're there. We'll finish that last portion off on Sunday a.m. after riding through the Black Hills. for what we're told are some pretty glorious perspectives on the United States. Stay tuned for more on our adventure!

Nearly Ready to Go

We're only a few hours from our planned 7:30 am departure tomorrow and plan on riding about 550 miles to Cedar Rapids, Iowa on Day 1. Last night the whole thing seemed like it might blow up altogether as, in succession, we heard from J.D.'s mother whose health is a constant question, and then from Cheryl's mother. She was being whisked from vacation with her husband and family in northern Michigan back to Riverside Methodist Hospital because of acute and severe stomach pain - an 8-hour drive under normal conditions.

J.D.'s mother was able to get settled, and the attention turned to "Mum Mum". She was admitted to the new Dublin Methodist Hospital and diagnosed with diverticulitis. Cheryl returned home at 6 a.m. and slept a couple hours before trudging off to work. Her mom will likely be in the hospital a few days recovering, but all looks like a "go" for Sturgis if her condition stays the same and improves . . . . next post from the road (so keep your fingers crossed, please).