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!