There was a shooting in downtown Sturgis on Friday night in the Loud American Roadhouse. About 2 a.m. a Hell’s Angel and a member of the Iron Pigs got into it. I understand they were both from the Seattle area, and knew each other from there. I had never heard of the Iron Pigs before, but found out through the local newspaper that they are a group of policemen and firemen. What precipitated the shooting wasn’t published in the paper, but it was the Iron Pig cop that pulled the gun and shot the Hell’s Angel. The newspaper article led me to believe that there was going to try to be a cover up regarding this situation. The Police Chief from Seattle was already on his way here to help with the investigation. Guess I’m glad we were home tucked in bed by that time.
We had good intentions on Saturday afternoon. We intended to ride up to Rochert, a quaint little town way up in the hills. But by the time we reached Deadwood there were some bad storm clouds blowing in over the top of the mountain, so we stopped for a quick lunch and went back down the hill to Sturgis. We waited out the storm that never materialized by watching a movie. At least it never materialized in Sturgis, but we heard on the radio that Deadwood and Lead and golf ball sized hail. So I guess I’m glad we weren’t there either.
So because we had been so tame all day we decided to take our lives in our hands and venture into Sturgis on Saturday night. You never know what you’ll find after dark. We sat for a couple of hours people watching and here’s what we saw.
Pretty boring, huh? No weirdoes last night. So back to camp we went. We packed up early this morning and were on the road by 10:30. We had to say goodbye to our good friends, Dave and Karen, from Arizona, which always brings a few tears. They are such dear people.
So we’re currently on the road out in the middle of nowhere – it’s 75 miles to the nearest town and all we’ve seen for the last hour is hay bales and antelope, along with large gates with ranch names, and gravel roads leading across the prairie to the ranch that may be many miles down the road. Should be home around 9 o’clock tonight (Sunday).
THE ADVENTURES OF OLE & LENA A Stud & and Hot Dish
Showing posts with label Sturgis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sturgis. Show all posts
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
It Could be a Crabby Day
I could be crabby today, but I decided not to. Isn’t that big of me?
I tried to sleep in this morning as I haven’t been sleeping very well since we got here. Too much on my mind, I guess. Before 8 o’clock I woke up to voices out in the front end of the RV. Fortunately, Ole had closed the bedroom door when he answered the door so I wasn’t lying snoring and drooliong on my pillow in front of God and everybody, you know. So when I opened the bedroom door who should I find in my living room having coffee with Ole but Dick and Jane!! They got in about 10 o’clock last night and set up their tent just down the road from us. They couldn’t park on our lot this year because it was already full with Dan’s truck and trailer. Oh, too bad.
So I made nicey-nice with Jane for a bit this morning and heard all about the horrors of their trip. Jane got a Harley this year so they decided to take a week and put some miles on. They rode from home out to Glacier Park, then to Idaho; over to Red Lodge, Montana; over Bear Tooth Pass, down through Wyoming and into the Black Hills. They averaged 450 miles a day, with the last day getting into Sturgis at 550 miles. That’s a LOT of miles on a motorcycle in one day, especially when the temps are in the 90s and there’s a wind blowing. And they didn’t stop to see anything – they just put miles on. What fun is that? But I guess it’s their trip – not mine. So she had nothing to say about anything fun – just how hard it had been to get from Point A to Point B. If that’s the only thing I had to talk about after taking a trip like that, I think I’d rather stay home.
Ole and I spent the afternoon wandering around downtown Sturgis. Or I should say I wandered around downtown. Ole sat on his bike and people watched. I don’t think he felt very good this afternoon and I tried to convince him to go back to the RV and take a nap, but he wouldn’t have it – afraid he’d miss something I guess. Darn Men. It was so terribly hot downtown this afternoon that I didn’t enjoy myself either. I get so wiped out when it’s so hot. And if you could dress appropriately for such hot weather – shorts and sandals and such – it maybe wouldn’t be so bad. But shorts and sandals are definitely not appropriate attire for riding on the back of a bike. All that denim and leather is a reasonably good guard against road rash if you should happen to lay that bike down for some reason. So jeans and boots make life a bit on the extremely warm side when you’re wandering the concrete sidewalks looking for bargains. And I didn’t even find any!!
So when I wandered back to the bike what should I find but Ole sitting there fast asleep. Now you’ve either got to be really tired to fall asleep on the back of a motorcycle, or probably have turned your hearing aides off. Guess which one Ole did? How about both? You can’t imagine the roar of the engines on a constant basis on the main street of Sturgis. So somebody who can fall asleep sitting up with all that noise – there’s got to be “issues” there – believe me. Could I convince him to come back to camp and take a nap? Nu-uh. Not Ole. He might miss something – never mind the fact that his hearing aides are turned off and his eyes are closed!!
So when Dan showed up, Ole regained consciousness and we decided to take a little road trip up to Deadwood, just to ride and cool off. We stopped at the VFW and had a sodie-pop and then came back down the mountain and eventually ended up back at the RV. I was so glad to get away from all that downtown heat and all the throngs of people.
Yes, there are throngs of folks here from all over the world. We’ve seen license plates from Russia, England, lots from Japan, France, Norway, German – you get the idea. But still the Rapid City Journal reports that the attendance is down approximately 40%. That’s quite a drop over last year. And you can tell the attendance is way down due to all the open spots in the campgrounds, vacancy signs on motels, and parking spaces available downtown.
It’s 11 o’clock, I’ve put Ole to bed, and my kitties are looking at me trying to convince me it’s time, too. Simon is such an excellent traveler, and I think Lucy is taking lessons from him. Although last night she wanted to play with him desperately, and at his age he thinks that’s just a bunch of nonsense. He was sitting in the middle of the floor looking pleased with himself for some reason when she sat down in front of him and whapped him across the face. Poor old guy didn’t know what hit him and backed up a bit. She immediately moved forward and wash, rinse, repeat. He’d had enough so he turned tail and tried to walk away when she whapped him across the behind and then sat there just trying to egg him on. He’s such a gentleman he just didn’t react. She tried her hardest to get him to play last night but he wouldn’t have it. I think she gets lonesome when we’re gone all day. But we’ll be home in a few days and she’ll have other things to entertain her.
Me? I’m off to bed. Night everyone.
I tried to sleep in this morning as I haven’t been sleeping very well since we got here. Too much on my mind, I guess. Before 8 o’clock I woke up to voices out in the front end of the RV. Fortunately, Ole had closed the bedroom door when he answered the door so I wasn’t lying snoring and drooliong on my pillow in front of God and everybody, you know. So when I opened the bedroom door who should I find in my living room having coffee with Ole but Dick and Jane!! They got in about 10 o’clock last night and set up their tent just down the road from us. They couldn’t park on our lot this year because it was already full with Dan’s truck and trailer. Oh, too bad.
So I made nicey-nice with Jane for a bit this morning and heard all about the horrors of their trip. Jane got a Harley this year so they decided to take a week and put some miles on. They rode from home out to Glacier Park, then to Idaho; over to Red Lodge, Montana; over Bear Tooth Pass, down through Wyoming and into the Black Hills. They averaged 450 miles a day, with the last day getting into Sturgis at 550 miles. That’s a LOT of miles on a motorcycle in one day, especially when the temps are in the 90s and there’s a wind blowing. And they didn’t stop to see anything – they just put miles on. What fun is that? But I guess it’s their trip – not mine. So she had nothing to say about anything fun – just how hard it had been to get from Point A to Point B. If that’s the only thing I had to talk about after taking a trip like that, I think I’d rather stay home.
Ole and I spent the afternoon wandering around downtown Sturgis. Or I should say I wandered around downtown. Ole sat on his bike and people watched. I don’t think he felt very good this afternoon and I tried to convince him to go back to the RV and take a nap, but he wouldn’t have it – afraid he’d miss something I guess. Darn Men. It was so terribly hot downtown this afternoon that I didn’t enjoy myself either. I get so wiped out when it’s so hot. And if you could dress appropriately for such hot weather – shorts and sandals and such – it maybe wouldn’t be so bad. But shorts and sandals are definitely not appropriate attire for riding on the back of a bike. All that denim and leather is a reasonably good guard against road rash if you should happen to lay that bike down for some reason. So jeans and boots make life a bit on the extremely warm side when you’re wandering the concrete sidewalks looking for bargains. And I didn’t even find any!!
So when I wandered back to the bike what should I find but Ole sitting there fast asleep. Now you’ve either got to be really tired to fall asleep on the back of a motorcycle, or probably have turned your hearing aides off. Guess which one Ole did? How about both? You can’t imagine the roar of the engines on a constant basis on the main street of Sturgis. So somebody who can fall asleep sitting up with all that noise – there’s got to be “issues” there – believe me. Could I convince him to come back to camp and take a nap? Nu-uh. Not Ole. He might miss something – never mind the fact that his hearing aides are turned off and his eyes are closed!!
So when Dan showed up, Ole regained consciousness and we decided to take a little road trip up to Deadwood, just to ride and cool off. We stopped at the VFW and had a sodie-pop and then came back down the mountain and eventually ended up back at the RV. I was so glad to get away from all that downtown heat and all the throngs of people.
Yes, there are throngs of folks here from all over the world. We’ve seen license plates from Russia, England, lots from Japan, France, Norway, German – you get the idea. But still the Rapid City Journal reports that the attendance is down approximately 40%. That’s quite a drop over last year. And you can tell the attendance is way down due to all the open spots in the campgrounds, vacancy signs on motels, and parking spaces available downtown.
It’s 11 o’clock, I’ve put Ole to bed, and my kitties are looking at me trying to convince me it’s time, too. Simon is such an excellent traveler, and I think Lucy is taking lessons from him. Although last night she wanted to play with him desperately, and at his age he thinks that’s just a bunch of nonsense. He was sitting in the middle of the floor looking pleased with himself for some reason when she sat down in front of him and whapped him across the face. Poor old guy didn’t know what hit him and backed up a bit. She immediately moved forward and wash, rinse, repeat. He’d had enough so he turned tail and tried to walk away when she whapped him across the behind and then sat there just trying to egg him on. He’s such a gentleman he just didn’t react. She tried her hardest to get him to play last night but he wouldn’t have it. I think she gets lonesome when we’re gone all day. But we’ll be home in a few days and she’ll have other things to entertain her.
Me? I’m off to bed. Night everyone.
Something just a bit curious on the street.
The Ole' Homestead
Respite at the end of Spearfish Canyon - the DQ!
Friday, August 8, 2008
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.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Wanna Go for a ride on the back of a Harley?
I'm back at Blogspot because Wordpress and I just didn't get along very well. It wouldn't let me do a lot of the things that I wanted - and being I'm a stubborn Norwegian and wouldn't give in I had to find a spot that was more cooperative. So anyway - read on.
Sunday we covered a lot of territory. Neighbor Dave's brother and girlfriend were visiting, and she had never been here before so we tried to pack as much into one day as we possibly could. Made for sore butt cheeks by the end of the day, but it was fun. And Ole's leg held up quite well, although I didn't. By the end of the day my back was killing me, which precipitated a visit to a local chiropractor yesterday.
He was a young guy, just out of school by about a year, and when he was done working me over I told me that I wished he practiced in my City. I also asked him if he rode a motorcycle and his response was "No, he was a cowboy, raised on a ranch up by Bowman, ND, so he stuck to horses, not bikes."
Speaking of ranches/farms: there is a father son combination camping next to us who are from Huron, SD. They've camped in the same spot for the last 5 years, just like we have, so you kind of get to know people that keep coming back to the same place. Dad and Son operate 6000 acres, 3000 on which they grow wheat. Can you imagine looking at all that grain waving in the wind? I'm sure it's a beautiful site. On the other 3000 acres they raise beef cattle and horses.
Another couple that we've gotten to know, Rocky and Billie, are from Kansas and have also been camping in the same spot for the last 5 years. They have a black lab named Norton who is a real hoot. He's everyone's buddy and always comes running out to greet you and lick you all over whenever he sees you.
Our weather has been great for biking - it's been hot and so far we haven't had to deal with any rain. There have been storms, but they've all gone around us - way different than last year when we had to contend with lots of storms, rain and even large hail.
John McCain spoke at the Freedom Rally at the Buffalo Chip campground last night. We would have loved to have attended, but when we checked it out the tickets just to get in the gate of the Buffalo Chip were $63 a head - and the security, as you can imagine, was horrendous. You had to be in the secured stage area by 3 o'clock in the afternoon and from then on you weren't allowed to leave. McCain wasn't scheduled to speak until 7:30, so that would have been a very long wait in the hot sun.
Ole's leg continues to improve daily which is certainly a good thing. I truly had some major concerns when we started out on this trip and over the first day or so. But things so seem to be turning around a bit on that issue. So we're having a great time, although keeping a very low profile. Lots of the rides that we take every year will have to be put on hold until next year. But that's okay - at least we're here and on a vacation that we both needed very badly.
So hop on the back here - hold on tight because there are a few bumps in the road.
Hope you had fun!!
Sunday we covered a lot of territory. Neighbor Dave's brother and girlfriend were visiting, and she had never been here before so we tried to pack as much into one day as we possibly could. Made for sore butt cheeks by the end of the day, but it was fun. And Ole's leg held up quite well, although I didn't. By the end of the day my back was killing me, which precipitated a visit to a local chiropractor yesterday.
He was a young guy, just out of school by about a year, and when he was done working me over I told me that I wished he practiced in my City. I also asked him if he rode a motorcycle and his response was "No, he was a cowboy, raised on a ranch up by Bowman, ND, so he stuck to horses, not bikes."
Speaking of ranches/farms: there is a father son combination camping next to us who are from Huron, SD. They've camped in the same spot for the last 5 years, just like we have, so you kind of get to know people that keep coming back to the same place. Dad and Son operate 6000 acres, 3000 on which they grow wheat. Can you imagine looking at all that grain waving in the wind? I'm sure it's a beautiful site. On the other 3000 acres they raise beef cattle and horses.
Another couple that we've gotten to know, Rocky and Billie, are from Kansas and have also been camping in the same spot for the last 5 years. They have a black lab named Norton who is a real hoot. He's everyone's buddy and always comes running out to greet you and lick you all over whenever he sees you.
Our weather has been great for biking - it's been hot and so far we haven't had to deal with any rain. There have been storms, but they've all gone around us - way different than last year when we had to contend with lots of storms, rain and even large hail.
John McCain spoke at the Freedom Rally at the Buffalo Chip campground last night. We would have loved to have attended, but when we checked it out the tickets just to get in the gate of the Buffalo Chip were $63 a head - and the security, as you can imagine, was horrendous. You had to be in the secured stage area by 3 o'clock in the afternoon and from then on you weren't allowed to leave. McCain wasn't scheduled to speak until 7:30, so that would have been a very long wait in the hot sun.
Ole's leg continues to improve daily which is certainly a good thing. I truly had some major concerns when we started out on this trip and over the first day or so. But things so seem to be turning around a bit on that issue. So we're having a great time, although keeping a very low profile. Lots of the rides that we take every year will have to be put on hold until next year. But that's okay - at least we're here and on a vacation that we both needed very badly.
So hop on the back here - hold on tight because there are a few bumps in the road.
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