DJ & JJ"s Most Excellent Sturgis Adventure

Monday afternoon we arrived in Murdo, SD our first stop. We stayed at the Super 8 and while we were sitting outside relaxing a young man walked by and looked at our bikes and noticed my KAXE sticker. He was a student at UMD at one time and had a friend from Grand Rapids who turned him on to our station and he loved it. He was working with a threshing crew or is it combine crew?

Tuesday morning we made the first stop for most everyone going west to Sturgis, The Badlands of South Dakota, yes there are The Badlands of North Dakota too. My favorite time to see the Badlands is at night and under a full moon. The shadows and stillness make it seem like a lunar landscape. Of course after traveling through The Badlands the next stop is Wall, SD and the most famous tourist trap in the U.S. and maybe the world, Wall Drug. We stopped at a local watering hole, it was 90+ that day, and noticed again an unusual phenomena, for us anyway, Russian waitresses. Young girls with very little English working in South Dakota!!! Also South Africans!!! They are temporary workers and we're not sure why and for how long because we don't want to pry and they speak and understand very little English.

Wednesday during Rally Week is Wyoming Wednesday and several little towns in WY put on special events. On the way we stop at Beulah, WY site of the famous street drags down main street, well actually there is only one street. The drags have been shut down for years by the Wyoming Highway Patrol because that main street is also Hwy 16. The drags were even on an episode of Cops. Here at the Dime Horseshoe Saloon we check out the time for the Burnout Contest in Sundance, WY. It starts at 4pm so we head to Devil's Tower.

Traffic is beginning to build and it is 90+ again and we take some free ice cold water from this young man who has for years been preaching and giving water to thirsty people. I just noticed the irony of The Cross and Devil's Tower in that picture.

Next stop is Hulett, WY for the Ham n Jam. It is also "No Panties Wednesday" in Hulett. I don't know if this is only during Wyoming Wednesday or every Wednesday, but it is a quaint custom nonetheless and hopefully restricted to just Wyoming Wednesday. Thankfully there are porta potties everywhere because Hulett's normal population is just a few hundred people and the thousands that are there for the fun would swamp them literally. We parked our bikes on the outside of town and walked in across the bridge and looked around and it was time to head back to Sundance and the burnout contest.

On the out skirts of Sundance we ate at the Chop Shop and I ordered a pork tenderloin and got something less than I was expecting, but it was cheap and hot and they also had lemonade. You need to keep hydrated because of the high temp, clear skies and low humidity. The burnout contest was awesome. My next blog will be all about it. All I can say is you needed to destroy equipment and go topless to be in the top 3.

We had many clear nights and it was a beautiful sight to see the moon over the Black Hills. We stayed at Black Hills State College in a dorm room. It is a great deal, $400 for four nights and five days for two people.

Thursday is set aside to ride the Black Hills and see Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Lake Pactulo, Keystone, Custer and ride the Needles Highway as well as The Iron Horse Road. We ride up Spearfish Canyon on our way and stop to take in the beautiful scenery. Scenes from Dances with Wolves were filmed here and as well as Black Lock Falls.

We also stopped in Lead, SD to see the Homestake Gold Mine. No activity going on even with gold prices at a record high. Well, they have already mined millions and millions of dollars worth of gold.

Next on our list is the town of Rochford, SD. It is a beautiful fifteen mile ride on gorgeous blacktop. Two other roads lead out of Rochford, but they are gravel. We also find the Moonshine Gulch Saloon and learn that The Hamsters were here yesterday and held their own burnout contest and hence the four Sheriff Deputies in town. No butnouts today. More later on the Hamsters.
From Rochford it is off to Lake Pactulo, a beautiful lake created in the fifties to provide water for Rapid City. Today at Veterans' Point a group has scattered the ashes of a loved one on the waters of the lake.


Mount Rushmore has changed so much in the last ten years. Before you just pulled into a parking lot and go look. Now you have to pay admission and there is even a parking ramp and stoplights. We took the Needles Highway to see this side view of George and ride the switchbacks. The Needles Highway has several of these extremely tight turns and you can look down and see the bikes coming up the same road....no place for novices.

Next on the list is Crazy Horse. I first saw it in 1970 on a road trip. It was a family operation and Korshak's wife actually gave us a tour. Their plan was to have it ready for the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976 and obviously didn't make it. Now as you can see it has a multi-laned road with ticket booths.

From Crazy Horse it's a short ride to Custer, SD. We stopped at the VFW and they had a Veterans' Program in progress that included a fly over down main street by a B-1 bomber and a young veteran who has learned to play the bagpipes. He was fabulous, hey, I love bagpipes and accordians, what can I say? He played three or four songs for us and finished with the standad "Amazing Grace" and it brought a tear to my eye he was so good.

On our way back we stopped in Hill City, SD and engaged the locals in conversation. I knew the moment I walked in I was gonna like the place because they were playing Ring of Fire by Social Distortion. We also got to see the sun set over Lake Pactulo.



Deadwood, SD and Old N0. 10 Saloon is a must see for everyone. This is the site where Wild Bill Hickcock was shot. The chair he was supposedly sitting in when he was shot is hanging on the wall. Wild Bill wasn't there but Santa Claus and one of his elves was inside relaxing before the busy season starts. He said some kiddies won't be getting any present because of their behavior during Rally Week. The main street in Deadwood is brick and very attractive. I first saw Deadwood in 1966 when prostitution was still legal and gambling was illegal. It was a sleepy little town with one main street and a railroad running next to it. It was like going back into time and the old west. Now gambling is legal and there are several casinos one of which is owned by Kevin Costner.

Friday was our last full day in Sturgis. We went to the Full Throttle Saloon in the morning and it was all but deserted. As the day builds and night begins this place fills up and has many activities going on including bands, burnout contests and other mayhem. Friday is also a great day to bargin shop because The Rally is almost over and vendors will bargin. T-shirts that cost $15 are now $5 because they say Sturgis 2008, leather can be bought for halfprice sometimes. One more year and still no tattoos. We talked about getting one, but we ran out time and besides there are evil squirrels in SD and they were after our nuts so it was time to get out of Dodge.