We're Still Here

Still here, still reporting from the Sturgis Bike Rally. We’ve covered a few more miles since last time I wrote – went on one of my most favorite rides here in the Hills.

We went over Terry Peak and drove down Spearfish Canyon. The canyon is full of log homes built up in the cliffs overlooking Spearfish Creek. And as the sun gets lower in the western sky the cliffs change color to the most beautiful, warm, golden color. The road is full of 20 miles of gentle curves that run along the creek that flows over a lot of rocks. Along the road about halfway through the canyon is a waterfall called Bridal Veil Falls. Most years when we visit there, there is very little water flowing by this time of the year due to lack of rainfall in this part of the state. But apparently there has been adequate rainfall this year because the falls was pretty impressive. And besides that – at the end of Spearfish Canyon is the Dairy Queen. We certainly couldn’t miss a stop at one of nature’s best features (snicker)


Speaking of rain, we sat through a pretty terrific storm Tuesday night. We had been watching the clouds building all afternoon to the west. I had checked the Internet weather and knew that something was moving in. About 6:30 the radio started issuing warnings for heavy rain, hail and 80 mph winds and the sirens in town went off. All the folks in the campground started loading their bikes back into their trailers, or those that didn’t have trailers tried to get them under some kind of shelter. At the campground next to us there was a big sound stage all set up to host a bit concert last night. Lightening struck some of that structure, and three people who were standing next to the structure had to be taken to the hospital. We heard the next day that some of the campgrounds were so muddy from all the rain that people couldn’t even get their bikes out. Fortunately our campground is pretty sandy with a lot of grass (it’s an old pasture) so we didn’t have that issue.

We spent Wednesday afternoon in Deadwood where Karen did her share of feeding the slot machines and of course coming out with nothing. The rest of us sat on a bench out in front of the casino and people watched. It’s truly surprising what you can see by just being an observer – there’s some really strange stuff out there. I haven’t taken pictures of much of it because we’ve spent most of our time on the bikes moving about. But I’ll try to get some good shots of a few things within the next day or two.

Dan and a friend of his arrived this afternoon to spend a few days. Dan doesn’t ride a Harley – he rides a Victory, but we don’t hold that against him and let him camp with us anyway (snicker). Tomorrow Dick and Jane are supposed to arrive at some point. They called yesterday from Butte, Montana, and were planning to spend today going over Bear Tooth Pass and end up in Cody, Wyoming.

So nothing too exciting happening – just beautiful weather that makes for beautiful riding. This is the first year in many that we’ve hit it so perfectly. Usually it’s so cold you have to leather up, or so hot you can’t drink enough water to stay hydrated. This year we’ve not had to wear jackets at all; t-shirts have been all we’ve needed. Just soak up the sun and the warm wind.