Rich's Photo Album

More articles from Rich

21 August 2008

Sturgis revisited....

Click on thumbnails for larger images, then use your browser's back button to return.

The Sturgis trip started at ten o'clock on the morning of the 31st of July. I met up with Ron, Scott, Bob, Joe, Tom, Rick, Jerry at the "DOT park and ride" lot on Indian River road. This is the culmination of two years ofwaiting and planning. Probably much more waiting than planning.

We have survived a couple of set-backs, not the least of which was the loss of Ed and his "big" truck. After some rescheduling and last minute changes to the riders in each truck/trailer we are ready, and stoked to get on the road. Joe and Tom, in Toms Toyota, pulling two Harleys; Ron's Diesel powered Chevy with Bob, Jerry and Fred pulling their four Harleys; finally, Scott, Rick and myself in Scotts F-150 pulling two Harleys and my Valkyrie. The plan was to try to adjust the load proportionately to the truck. It seemed to work out pretty much as planned and nothing seemed to be overloaded. We felt spoiled with Mike Lamys' "Haulmark" he got the "Gucci" model, plug in chocks, and infinitely adjustable tie down points.

We said our goodbyes to the "Loved Ones" and proceeded up the ramp to I-64 west. We were soon enjoying the famous 64 "crush" as we struggled through the tunnel, and laboriously threaded our way towards Richmond; as we closed in on the capital, we made a slight detour to pickup Fred. His bike had been loaded the previous weekend, and he was packed and ready to go. We took a quick food break, and then got back on 64 heading WEST!

We managed excellent time and were at the point where we blended onto I-81/64. we mentioned the ill fated trip in 2004 when we had broken down just a little past the point where 64 and 81 part company.

We waved as we passed Cashes truck repair and wondered how Fred, the Dalmatian/Basset was doing. This is one unique looking animal, he has the body of a Basset, but the white coat with black polka-dots of the Dalmatian side of his family.

We managed the West Virginia turnpike without incident, well, one minor delay due to a lane closure, but it only slowed us down for twenty minutesor so.

We pressed on until dusk, stopping at a Cracker Barrel for dinner. As per our plan, we did not stop that first night, we just rotated drivers and kept rolling. Scotts truck has an extended cab, which was handy, thelittle back seat was not real deep, but wide enough to serve as a great "nap" spot. Well, I do not have any first hand experience, I am too largeto fit, but Scott and Rick said it was fine.

We stopped for the night just a little south of Sioux City, at this point we had made the transition to I-29 and were traveling North. Again, this was in our plan, we would spend the night and roll out early, rested and refreshed.

It was late afternoon, and we did a fast check in, some of the guys jumped in the pool, and then we walked across the little parking lot to one of those Chinese all you can eat buffet places. I had never eaten Chinese food in Iowa, but am here to tell you it tastes just like the Chinese food in Virginia Beach. I suppose they share recipes or something like that.

We broke out early the next morning. I had discussed the bike situation prior to leaving, and had loaded my "Killer Bee" last in the trailer. Scott and Rick indulged me and helped me get unloaded, I would ride it in the rest of the way. They also rolled Scott’s bike back to the spot I had just vacated, this was to help distribute the load in the trailer more evenly.

I felt very spoiled to have been released from the confines of the truck, and was really enjoying the beautiful morning ride. It was still pretty dark, but soon I was treated to the glorious sights of sunrise over the Iowa farmland. I started feeling bad for the guys stashed away inside the cabs of those trucks, but it passed after a few minutes. Sorry guys, I was just having too much fun.

One of the topics we covered during the trip was the difference between "Owners" and "Riders". Some folks don't, and will never understand that concept. All I can say is that I was absolutely having the time of my life out there on the highway. I could see, hear, feel and smell a million different things as I rolled along. Especially smell, there were a whole lot of cows along that stretch of roadway, and most of them seriously needed a shower.

We pressed on north, and made another quick stop at Sioux Falls, (Harley dealer, Flying J). at that point we shifted over to I-90 West, which would take us the rest of the way in to Sturgis. As we climbed out from SiouxFalls, the trucks maintained a steady pace, I speeded up a little to keep up with the bike traffic. Not to worry, I had my cell phone, and could communicate as necessary.

I made a couple of stops along the way, I did not have the range of the trucks, so I pulled in every hundred miles or so. One of the stops was a little town called "Okaton" or something like that. Quite a few of the buildings there were vacant, and had been empty of people for a long time.

They claimed a population of 13, but I only saw one of them. She was the lady that ran the gas station, very pleasant, she explained that the pumps were not able to correctly compute the cost, but were accurate as far as quantity. She used a calculator to figure out how much I owed. It sounded like a reasonable amount, so I paid up and continued on.

Her gas did not contain any Ethanol, and I did not get the best mileage from it. No problem, it got me to the next station, and they had "regular" Regular, 10% Ethanol and I was back to the normal range. I was making good time, keeping up with traffic, and generally feeling like a million bucks. This part of the trip was just a little under 500 miles, and I was starting to wish it was longer.

I was just a little past the outskirts of Rapid City, had not seen any of the trucks for awhile, so I decided to head for the big "Flying J" just a little to the east of "Rapid", exit 61 to be exact.

Joe Mustaca is the one who turned us on to the Flying J stations. He kept insisting that we stop at one if we had the chance, and it began to sink in that they were not only clean and well stocked, they generally had the best prices on gas. Anyway, I pulled in and was just starting to fuel up when I noticed that two of the guys were standing there at the same island I was using.

Last leg of the trip, it was around two in the afternoon, the weather was clear and warm, and we were all in a group closing in on the biggest bike event in the country. Hell, it is the biggest bike event in the world.

We managed to locate the campground and checked in, got our wrist bands and started looking for a place to set up. We found Joe and Tom, they had staked out a spot, we parked the trucks and began the process of buildingour own little tent city. I had picked up a new tent for this year, $39.00 at Wal-Mart, I figured I couldn't go wrong at that price. I was pleasantly surprised when I unpacked it and got it set up, plenty of room for the air mattress. I had the feeling this was going to be a great trip.

Enjoy the pictures; I will try to write some more for next week. I am in San Diego for the next couple of weeks, but should be back in September.

(as in Attila, not as in sweetie)
hun@bikerenews.com

Back to On the Road

Back to More from Rich