Sturgis 2010 (Staring Dale and James)
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
I loaded the motorcycle in the the truck at the Harley dealership and after work I went home and picked up Connie. Connie wanted to visit a friend near Dallas, TX. Connie with her recent knee surgery could not ride on the bike. We made marksville, LA and spent the nite at the casino on the Indian reservation. We did a little gambling, dinner and just walked around and talked. With a daughter and two grandkids living at home, it seemed a small vacation to us or surely we must be doing something illegal being alone just us two.
Thursday, August 5, 2010:
We left the casino early in the morning and headed for Texas. We wound up in a La Quinta hotel in weatherford on I20 just east of Fort Worth, TX. At a Sear's lawnmower service center across the street they had a ramp for unloading lawnmowers that was just perfect for unloading the motorcycle. Once unloaded, we went back across the street and parked in the hotel parking lot.
Friday, August 6, 2010:
I was up early and packed the bike. The continental breakfast opened at 6 am. I had breakfast and coffee with Connie and then headed out about 7am. Connie would head back east and visit her friend and then head home.
The ol' Harley was running fine, actually had a tough time holding it down. It was just exciting to be out there on the road and I just moved right along. About 9 am the A/C just wasn't working right and it was getting hot and yucky. At one stop I heard it was 100+.
I was a James's place in Andrews, TX, at about 11am. He wasn't ready as he was recovering from three 16 hour days. However it wasn't long until we were on the road.
James was running a 2009, V-rod Muscle edition (1250 cc). The thing probably pops wheelies at a hundred. My old 1997 Lowrider most likely won't do a hundred but I have added a 10:1 high compression kit; couldn't tell an power increase but the range with reserve increased about 15 miles. Also note that I beat James to Sturgis by at least 0.2 seconds.
We left Andrews and went over to Eunic, NM, for lunch. We had lunch at a place I had been before when I worked at LES. I had the usual, the "Guy Special". It was still good as ever.
We left Eunice and headed for Roswell, NM, land of the aliens. When we got to Roswell we stopped at the Harley Dealership. Before we got out of there the aliens had me for $77.00. We also had our picture taken with and alien. Note that these are welcome aliens unlike those illegal aliens of Arizona. However, I still don't trust 'em.
Originally the plan was to head north up 285 but we turned west and left on 380 to Carrizozo, NM. We pitched tents at the Valley of Fire State Park just outside of town. This is a neat state park with piles of lava all over where it bubbled out the ground. They have a walkway out through the park which makes it nice. The gnats will help you keep moving as they are quite thick and bothersome.
Then we decided we were hungry, but it was heading on past 8 pm local time and things were closing in the nearby town. We got the Carrizozo and the bar was still open. We had the green chilli burger. I thought it was pretty good and I highly recommend them if you are out that way. James was drinking alien beer with his. Not sure what it was but the bottles had pictures of aliens on them. After dinner we went back to t he park and pitched tents in the dark. Slept pretty good that night and was really surprised at how early daybreak came.
Saturday, August 7, 2010:
We actually got up just before daybreak. We fed the gnats as we broke camp. i ate a couple of them too, so I guess that made us even. I got loaded first and moved the bike around the park to try to keep those gnats confused. When James came along we backtracked about 5 miles to Carrizozo for breakfast.
We left Carrizozo and headed west on 380. Again the ol' Harley was running great and I was rolling right along. When we got to I25 we headed north towards Albuquerque, NM. On I25 James and I became separated. A truck driver indicated to James that his load needed attention. He pulled over to check it out before he caught my attention.
When I noticed James not behind me I pulled over to look back. After about 2 minutes (which seems like a long time) I went to the next overpass to turn around to go back and look for him. I kept an eye out for him as I went back to the last place I saw him. I turned around at the next overpass and watched alongside the road for him until I was back to where I originally stopped. There was only one overpass between where i last saw him and where I stopped so I went back there to look for him. I went to the nearest gas station to see if he stopped there, but no James. The boy had just vanished. I tried the cell phone but no answer. I called a mutual friend of ours to keep trying to call him. I would go back and make another search looking more carefully down in the ditch. Just as I was about to go back my phone vibrated. It was our mutual friend with a text telling me that James was up ahead at our turn off point for highway 550 north of Albuquerque. When I got there James said he had not been waiting long. He fueled up but I didn't as I had gassed up while trying to figure out where he was, thus I had used up 40 miles of gas when we headed up 550.
As we headed up to Colorado, I noticed it seemed easier to breath and my AC started working again. Wow, weather was nice and I noticed an elevation of 6800 feet. James told me later he also noticed the air difference.
When we finally stopped for gas I put 4.49 gallons of gas in my 4.7 gallon tank. A while back in Louisiana I had coasted into a gas station once so I thought I could really find out how much my tank would hold. I filled it up sitting on the bike and filling it right up to the little neck and it held 4.71 gallons.
The Vrod had a 5 gallon tank and I think the extremely low light must have come on at about 2 1/2 gallons. James is soooooo cautious and didn't like to see the light on. I gave him such a bad time about needing only a 2 gallon tank since that's all he used. He shut me up as later he put 5.12 gallons and another 5.1 gallons in that 5 gallon tank. However I'm not quite sure if that is what he intended to do. By the time we were heading home though, that extremely low light was burning so much I was kidding him about needing to carry an extra bulb for it.
As we headed north on highway 550 we meant to do some traveling around the hills in northern New Mexico but somehow missed the turn. Next thing I knew we were in Colorado. Then it wasn't long and we were in Durango, CO. We stopped a short time at the Harley dealer to go potty, but not much was going on there so we headed out again.
We headed up Coal Bank Hill Pass (10,600 feet high). Dang it started getting cold up there. When going around the mountains on the outside edge I would like to point out that there are no guard rails in many places. If there were, the pilings would have to be over 5,000 feet tall. It makes one just a bit queasy. Then you notice the cracks in from the edge for which there is no guard rails, then you get just a bit more queasy, however on a mtorcycle there is room between the cracks and white lines.
it was gorgeous coming down that pass into Silverton, CO. Silverton is usually closed during the winter because thepasses become impassable. It was getting dark and I told James I had a sisiter in Montrose, CO, and we could spend the nite there. He was in agreement and we started up Red Mountain Pass (11,000 feet). With ol' Harley I had to drop to 3rd gear quite often but when I mentioned shifting to James he said what shifting. Those new bikes are so nice.
We had just got over the top of that pass when disaster struck. I started noticing cars coming at us with winshield wipers on. I pulled over to put on my raingear. However, James did not have raingear, only his coat. We started down the pass and it was COLD and the the cold rain hit. Then the gusty wind made going around those curves with no guard rails quite interesting. Up ahead of me were about 5 motorcycles sprinkled in amongst two cars. The storm was getting so bad that the motorcycles were taking those 10 and 15 mph curves at LESS than the suggested speed.
For whatever reason I decided on doing a little swerving and curving. I would really lay back and then start taking those curves above suggested speed. I now had the wind I could use in taking some of the corners. I noticed James would fall back pretty far so eventually I just fell in behind the car in front of me and maintained a pretty constant distance into Ouray, CO. There almost everything pulled off but we went on. We were down out of the hills now (at about 6,800 feet) and the road was pretty straight so I upped the pace a bit. At first James fell pretty far behind but he started slowly gaining and doing better. eventually I was up to a decent insane pace and James was keeping up. Ya know there is just nothing like running down the road on a nice cool nite with the rain and wind in your face (especially when you have raingear).
Contrary to James's version of the time it took for this stretch of road, it wasn't long until we got to my sister's house. That James is just normally so quiet and patient but he can be quite a kidder too. When we stopped he said where is the nearest HD dealership and I don't know how expensive raingear is I'm not going to get caught without raingear again. However James knew by then the HD dealership was closed and tomorrow was Sunday and they wouldn't be open. What a kidder. Then he was explaining to Gene, my brother-in-law, about how motorcycle riding is consistent evaluation of risks and acceptance of them or whatever. I think I heard the word "sanity" in there somewhere too. Not sure what that was all about but it was nice that James and Gene were talking while I talked to my sister and mother.
My sister fixed us a wonderful dinner and then went and made beds for us. My sister has such a sick sense of humor. James got the guest room with blue blankets while I got the computer room daybed with red and white valentine sheets with blankets with pink hearts. She said she would leave the windows open. It's been a long time since I slept in a house where the windows were left open, but it was quite comfortable. Once in bed I was out in seconds. Then I awoke, what seemed like only seconds later. Since I awoke in the same position I went to sleep I was sure I was only asleep a very short while. I could hear James in the next room rustling around. I couldn't figure out what was going on but I looked down at my cell phone and it was just past 6 am local (7pm home time). WOW what a shock!
Sunday, August 8, 2010:
I got up and got going. My sister fixed breakfast and we loaded the bikes. Gene had recently given up riding and gave James a pair of rain pants he never used. I'm sure James appreciated the gift very much. Soon we were on our way again heading north on 550 to Grand Junction and Dinosaur, CO.
Based on information obtained at a local bar we modified our plan. The scenery was much better on an alternate route, even though it was a little further. We turned left at Dinosaur, CO, and left town on highway 40 to Vernal, Utah. From Vernal we went NOrth on 191, VERY beautiful country. We then went through Green River over to 372, up 372 to 189 into Yellowstone National Park. The first exciting thing we saw were the Grand Teton Mountains. WOW what a sight, these are a must see. We then saw a moose and looked at some waterfalls and creeks. james had never been to Old Faithful and I thought that was just a must so we headed for Old Faithful.
Then all of a sudden I noticed cars with winshield wipers working coming at us. We did a quick stop to put on our raingear. James was set up in about half the time it took me but he was just as patient as ever as I got my stuff on. This time he had rain gear and he seemed pretty calm about it all, but there was another lesson about to be learned. There are stories about the weather in Yellowstone how wierd it can be at all times of the year and we found out.
We got moving and it suddenly turned cold, just about to my limit. Then the bottom fell out of the sky as it just unleashed rain and wind. It was raining so hard I could hardly see the tail lights of the car in front. I then realized I was in 1st gear hardly doing 10 mph. THEN came the HAIL!!! My mirrors were useless, my face shield fogged up and I just hoped James was back there somewhere. Just when I was starting to run down the procedure for panic I realized we were at the Old Faithful Visitor's Center. Every sort of cover had a motorcycle under it. Then I spotted a covered area. There were signs out front that said no admittance, do not enter, and wrong way, hoever there was a gate big enough to fit through and I went right under there. Immediately James appeared beside me.
Once under the cover I lifted my faceshield and announced to James that we had arrived at Old Faithful. James, normally very quiet and reserved was muttering words not normal for him and seemed to be in some foreign language. I eventually was able to pick up on some of the English words that had to do with the hail stinging or beating his hands. THen I realized he had on these cheap thin gloves and had black hand disease (I was disappointed when he showed me the Harley logo on them). Of course I had on my foul weather gloves and hadn't noticed. I also caught something about in the future he would have different gloves.
I could see we were in a maintenance area and some of the workers had noticed we were there but no one said anything to us. After a short while the hail and heavy rain subsided and we followed the wrong way signs out and parked in the general parking area. Then we went over to see Old Faithful.
Finally after Old Faithful we decided to make a run for Cody, WY, about 120 miles away to spend the night. James suggested we get gas first which we did.
I don't know how high up we were but I got over 60 miles on the first quarter of my tank coming down off that hill. If a tank had been burned out at that rate my normal range of 200 miles would have been 240 miles. It was cold coming out of Yellowstone down the mountain and didn't turn warm until well out of the park close to Cody, WY.
The original plan had us spending the night well past Cody as Cody is on the beaten path to Sturgis. As it turned out we got the next to last room in town at the Grizzly Bear Inn. It cost $118 for that room with a single bed and a roll-away. Later we would get a cabin for $37 that was a lot nicer, over twice as big and slept 5. We went downtown to Irma's for dinner. After dinner we came back over a dirt road to the back where our room was. The hotel was so old it still used metal keys. We managed in the confusion to lock the key in the room and James went to go get another one. I slept on the roll-away. I think the thing only had 10 springs in all of it and when I rolled over I would bottom out. But I was dry and warm and after this day that was enough and I just drifted off.
Monday, August 9, 2010:
The next morning we took turns standing outside the room while the other one tried to get ready in that $118 room. When I stepped out for my turn there was a guy staring at the back of my bike. Louisiana plates he said, we don't get many of those in northwest Wyoming. We laughed and talked a bit. I explained I took the boy to Yellowstone for his first time.
We went back to Irma's for breakfast and headed out of town south on highway 120 towards Meeteetse, WY. They captured the Arizona killer there the day before and we were too late to get in on the capture. Just my luck.
We caught 431 east over to 433 north. At highway 16 we headed east to Buffalo. At Interstate 25 we headed south to 192 and then a short distance to Kaycee, WY, where we had lunch. From here it was about 200 miles over to Newcastle, WHY, which was on the edge of the Sturgis, SD, bike rally. Newcastle would be a good place to spend the night and we would be there early to get a place to stay. Kaycee appeared to be a dried up very old desert town with only one inexpensive hotel in town and we decided we weren't interested in the hotel even though there was a bike there. It did have two bars and two restaurants. We found out half the town went to one and the other to the other one. There were political signs all over.
James is a logical type male and I also consider myself a reasonably logical person, but neither of us can explain why we decided to spend the night THERE. The nice young blonde behind the bar, who got off at 5 and lived on 40 acres just outside of town, told us the camp grounds had spaces for tents at $10 a head. For whatever reason after lunch we decided to walk down to take a look. There the guy said the spaces were $11 but he had an air conditioned cabin for $37 that slept 5 and had a bathroom and was next to the laundry. After that things went pretty fast. Next thing I knew we were walking to the store on the other end of town to buy laundry soap.
We bought laundry soap and were walking on the sidewalk approaching the Powder River section called the Lower Fork. Then James stopped and said did you hear that? At 61 my hearing isn't the best and as far as I could tell it was just stone cold quiet in that town. Finally I gave in and said what. He said he could hear his feet walking on the sidewalk. I was just speechless and just couldn't think of a comeback. Sometimes I just miss the obvious interesting things in life.
We crossed the river which would probably be classified as a health hazard in the Colorado ROckies and went to the cabin. The cabin was pretty interesting. At the front door you pulled a rope at the top of the door to lift a board on the inside of the room. The bathroom door handle was made from a deer antler. Also the toilet paper hung on a deer antler in the bathroom. THey used what they had and all was pretty practical. The front door lock was a padlock.
I gathered my laundry together and got it in the washer. This was now nap time. To my surprise, James was on h is bed for a nap. I dozed off a bit then got up and put the laundry in the dryer. I dozed off again and then went and got the clothes out of the dryer. We mulled around a bit then we realized it was getting late and we should go eat divver before they put the town buildings away for the night.
We were approaching the restaurant when James stopped and said do you see that? This was the same voice he used when he heard his feet walking on the sidewalk. He was looking down at the boardwalk in front of the restaurant. I looked at how the porch pillar was attached, nothing different there. I looked at the bottom of the entrance door and how the boardwalk was attached to the building. I just could not see what could possibly bring on this adrenalin rush. He said look, they used boards instead of cement for the walkway. I was just speechless again.
I had liver and onions and the waitress filled us in on the politics of the town. On the way back to the cabin James noticed the stars. I have to admit it has been a long time since I have seens stars taht clear. It just looked like you could reach up and grab a handful.
Also, Kaycee is the birthplace of the singer Chris Le Deux. They have a nice little park with a statue of him there, very tasteful.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010:
Wednesday, August 11, 2010:
Thursday, August 12, 2010:
Friday, August 13, 2010:
We set up camp in Deadwood at the back of the campground along a little creek. I snore and just flat can't help it and James is a light sleeper. Along the way we picked sleeping arrangements to minimize the disturbance of my snoring. However James never noticed once my snore being a problem when we camped here. The roar of the Harley's through town and the bubbling water of the creek covered me. The campground now costs $20 a night, up from $10 a night in 2003 and $15 in 2009.
I can't remember on which days we did what so I will just list the things remembered.
Number 1 priority for James was to go to the Old Stone House to see if his name was still on the wall in the closet from 2008. It was there and he added 2010 and I added mine there. I checked for Alan's and his name was there and I added mine. The names are in the closet in the bottom bedroom.
We went to see where Wild Bill was buried. The aces and eights were black and the fifth card is thought to be a nine of diamonds. Calamity Jane is buried next to him. She was madly in love with him but he couldn't stand her, but she won in death.
We went up to Moonshine Gulch for a beer. They did some burnouts there. James with his muscle version Vrod could have put them to shame, but he just wouldn't bite. He did mention the back tire cost about $300. I couldn't even get him to get out there and pop a wheelie.
We went to Rapid City HD to see what was happening. Tried to win a truck, but no luck. James thought he had a bad mirror but they didn't have one. So we went to Kmart (not Wal Mart) and bought some tools to tighten it up.
We went to Custer to look around. We saw Custer and he said hi. I sent a text that Custer was not dead that I saw him and he was alive. I got back the following responses:
Good news about Custer, have you seen Elvis?
Custer's death is an Obama Scam to descredit him.
Bring some of that stuff home and let's talk about Lafitte.
Coyote Ugly opened shop for the first time in Deadwood. We went over there but I didn't see anyone dancing on the bar that I knew. Piglet's mother was in town and looks a lot like her, but she apparently wasn't there. They had a bikini wash outside but James only watched them wash others and did not spend the money to have his washed. He is so cheap. He did notice a couple of Hell's Angels getting theirs washed.
We went on the Big Thunder mine tour. The tour guide said there was more money in tourists than was ever in that mine. I think it was 21 ounces they extracted in 40 years. Really a deep hole though.
We did lots of walking around Sturgis looking at the various wares and ideas. I like walking around just watching the people. My knees got tired at one point but we just happened on a we T shirt contest. There were some chairs at the back and James went up to check on the judging. By the time it was over my knees were rested. James didn't seem to agree with the judges. It was probably fixed. AND in Sturgis we did see Elvis, he was much older and thinner than I remember las seeing him.
We went over to Buffalo Chip to check it out and bought camping and tickets for the Doobie Brothers for the upcoming Saturday night.
Saturday, August 14, 2010:
We got up early but were pretty slow in breaking camp in Deadwood. We actually had time today. We only had to go over to Buffalo Chip and set up camp. The morning was perfect. What a nice start. We left just after the office opened and we checked out. Then we meanedered towards Buffalo Chip making a few stops here and there to investigate various items.
Just before enetering Buffalo Chip we stopped at a Veteran's exibit, the traveling wall. It had a field of flags. James bought a pin for his old Army unit.
We then went in and had camp set up by noon. We were on a hill just outside the concert gate with a full view of the stage. We then went down into the concert city and had a Domino's Pizza. There was a guy there with a bike if you could ride it (cost 10$ for four tries) about 20 feet you would get $100 bucks. The front wheel turned the opposite of the handle bars. I just couldn't get James to give it a try. One guy fell flat on his back so much they wouldn't sell him any more tires. Then we looked at a few exhibits and went back to the tents and I took a nap. A little rain cloud went by and James got into his tent for a nap too.
After awhile we got up and meandered back down to the concert city. Got something to eat, drank a beer and walked around. Then things started happening on stage. Then the Miss Buffalo Chip contest started. That didn't end until after the concert and neither James or I picked the winner out of ten. James picked the one with a tattoo because he thought Miss Buffalo Chip should have a tattoo. I picked the one that looked the most refined, and it was only coincidental that she was a little busty.
Then they brought out Williams and Reid (the Indian & white guy). They told indian and whiteman jokes and had cute little songs for support. The concert was on. For applause the audience started Harleys and rapped the pipes, it was deafening. They did this for Doobie Brothers too. With noise and fumes at least we didn't have any bugs bothering us. I may not be real fond of some of the songs they played but that group had talented musicians. It was a good time.
After the Doobie Brothers we went back to camp and listened to the Miss Buffalo Chip. After that it wasn't long and I was out.
Sunday, August 15, 2010:
We got up about daybreak. Breaking camp went fiarly smooth at it wasn't long until we were rolling. We were riding for time today. The weather was just perfect.
Nothing much interesting this day. We did stop in Cheyenne Wells, CO, for gas. This town has memories for James, Alan, Tamera and I.
We biked on down to Boise City, OK. Odometer indicates about 624 miles today. The weather was a mess on down the road. We decided to spend the night there to see what the weather looked like in the morning. In the morning, James would head south back home to Andrews, TX, and I would head to Fayetteville, AR. I would spend the night in Fayetteville with relatives and then head home the next day.
Monday, August 16, 2010:
It was raining the next morning when we got up but soon stopped. Trouble is that the front that had passed was not in the direction I was going due east on 412. The weather looked better for James as this front was almost past and another front was moving in on Andrews but he might get there before it did. As I looked things over I had this strong urge to escort James home adding a day to my schedule. I expressed this to James, then I said sometimes the older generation just has to let go and let the birdies fly. James repeated and we both laughed.
It was only a few years ago James rode a Harley (mine) for the first time and I sort of brought him along. I went to Safety training with him and he scored higher on the written and practical test than me with 40 years riding experience. I try not to encourage anyone to ride, but if they decide I like to help as much as possible. I had taken James through storms this trip and he had raingear. I showed him no mercy and he asked for none (maybe some minor grumblings). He was ready as he would ever be. He was in raingear when I left the hotel the last time I saw him in Boise City, OK.
I left Boise City, OK, just before daybreak. For the next 3 1/2 hours I just got drenched. The rain pured down so hard I had to find a car with bright taillights to follow, or sometimes I would follow a truck. The rain had soaked through my boots and they were holding water. We was gaining around my cuffs and I was starting to get a little cold.
Then I broke into the 90+ degree hot ddry Oklahoma summer weather. I was amazed as I was dried out in about 30 minutes. In about an hour there wasn't any more water in my boots and my socks were starting to dry.
I eventually made the 390 miles to Broken Arrow, OK, to Buddy's house. Donna took me right in and had my clothes in the washer in a flash and food on the table for me. Then I decided to check my phone for messages from James. There was none. He only had a little over 200 miles to go. Just for a second I was concerned but then a text came that he was home. He had to fight rain AND HAIL. That James just always has to outdo me, must be that Texas blood.
I visited for a few hours with Donna, Buddy, and Savage. Once the clothes were done and lunch was over I headed for Jay, OK, to visit my cousin Sue and her husband Jimmy.
Jim and Sue met me at the door in Jay. They gave me a root beer and we visited a bit then I was off to Fayetteville, AR, to spend the night with my cousin Carolyn. I eventually got to Fayetteville about 9:30 pm.
Carolyn had dinner ready for me. I got a towel, shower and a warm bed. There are just some huge benefits to being on the road. Friends and relatives just feed you the best and just take the best care of you.
After dinner I went to bed. When I woke up I felt much better.
For some reason the spirit just had tough time getting me moving this morning. Eventually I got up and got going. They took me to a new place to eat breakfast. The waitress and her husband also rode a Harley. We talked motorcycles a bit and I got a ton of biscuits and gravy.
After breakfast we went back to the house. I started packing the bike, but that spirit was just having a tough time getting me started on the last 500 mile run back home. The spirit managed to get me going about 10:30 am.
We had checked the weather and it appeared dry all the way to about Natchez, MS. When I got there the rain was right on time. I got drenched the last 2 hours home.
In Conclusion:
Millage when I parked in the carport was 56,108 and at the beginning was 51,720 for a total distance ridden of 4,388 miles. Adding 454 miles for the trip with Connie in the truck to Weatherford, TX, would make the trip 4,832. 12 days on the bike would make an average of 403 miles per day.
Summary:
Total trip: 4,832 miles
Total bike miles: 4,388 miles
Average per day on bike: 403 miles/day
Miles traveled on one tank: 202 miles
Bikes starting trip: 2
Bikes completing trip: 2
Persons starting trip: 2
Persons completing trip: 2