Day 7 .... Sturgis. ..We finally go to Main Street.

 

 

 

Being somewhat hung over from the previous nights festivities we slept late, 7:00 Am. We headed on over to the Rapid City Civic Center to get our HOG Sturgis Rally pins. You have to get these in person so it is kind of a nice thing to have if you want to prove to your buddies you were really at Sturgis.   Problem was, we got there at 8:45 thinking they opened at 9:00. Wrong again. They opened at 10 and it was a hot boring wait. I decided a hair of the dog would cure me.  I WAS RIGHT.   But we finally got inside and we were in and out within 10 minutes.  We were off to STURGIS.

 

 

 

We head on down I - 90 and ride the 25 miles or so in record time (No speeding, way to many cops eagerly writing tickets). We get off the exit and almost immediately come to a stop. Stop and Go traffic for the next mile and it was mostly stop.  Engine heat was building between my legs and the motor was running rough to boot from the overheating.

 

We finally find a place to park at the South end of town across from the Broken Spoke Saloon.  After a quick beer we head on towards Main St.  As fate would have it we arrived just in time for the first official Main St. photo. George and I were in the Second Row, so hopefully we will see ourselves on the Internet.  (Eat your heart out Dave..lol)

 

It was so hot today that I really didn't even want beer.But we made our way down towards One-eyed Jacks Saloon and I forced down a cold one, after all you have to drink in Sturgis. (I think it’s the law)

 

From the 3rd floor balcony George saw what he was looking for, The United States Post Office. George had been obsessing about the need to get the new Motorcycle Stamps on the first day of issue that was only being sold today in Sturgis.  Needless to say we braved the heat and made our way to the distant USPO.

 

 

 

After walking the streets heading into countless street vendors we were back at our bikes and headed on out. Storms were lurking and we were off to Rapid City.

 

 

 

What we have learned is that Sturgis itself is just a minor part of the mystique of the Black Hills Rally.  It’s the entire area. It has been some of the most breathtaking scenery I have personally ever seen.  Around every corner is a new surprise. I have seen deer every day. We have seen forests, rivers, canyons and mountains. We have seen vast prairies that seemed endless. I look forward to getting home but know that there will be days that I long for another ride thru the Black Hills.

 

 

 

Tomorrow. We head on towards home.  We hope the weather is as kind to us as it has been so far.

 

The Great Tatanka Tour continues.......... 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8 ..... Contemplating the past ... Looking towards the future

 

 

 

After sending last nights update. We were enjoying our dinner (OK, and 5 or 6 cocktails) and a storm blew in.

 

I'm not talking about a little thunderstorm either. I'm talking 60 MPH steady winds, 2 inches of rain in 45 minutes type of storm. I had noticed a lot of dust on the bikes, so once again the Great Tatanka was helping us.  (As my good friend Quinn likes to say..."Its all good". You just have to look for the good sometimes.

 

 

 

We left early this morning heading towards Sioux Falls, SD a short trip of about 370 miles. Actually, one our shortest travels of the journey.  Not a whole lot to tell that you haven't already heard about, we have already been there. But as hard as I try to describe out journey so far, its still one of those things you have to experience to really get the whole picture.

 

I have not had this kind of feeling in a long time.  We were pulling out of Rapid and I was not exactly sad, but there was something that just had me as mellow or somber as I have been in as long as I can recall. I turned off the CD on the bike and just rode with the wind in my ears. I waved at the Badlands as we passed, with those gray pointed cliffs to our right. We came to Murdo; I gave a little salute to that little town of 600 some people, our home with fellow travelers for one night.   (Don't ask me why...it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time)

 

 

 

George and I stopped for gas at one of our previous fuel depots and he had the same look. We had done what we had set out to do. We both agreed that it was an easier and better journey than we had even dreamed of. It’s hard for both of us to imagine the rest of the Great Tatanka Tour can match what we have experienced. If it doesn't so be it. But somehow I doubt it.

 

 

 

We get into Sioux Falls, check into our luxury suite at the Microtel and head out for dinner.

 

Outback Steak House, (nothing less for us tonight).

 

We meet Ashleigh our latest best bartender of the trip. (But I still like AJ the best)

 

She took a peculiar liking to George.  He said she was trying to set him up with her mother. I knew different.

 

Let me add Ash,  (for short) was a doll. Wait till you see her picture.

 

We leave the Outback and travel our 2 blocks on the back street to the hotel, and here we are.

 

Ready for another day in our journey.  It won't be bad. We know that, just different.

 

Another day to look forward to, Rain or Shine...

 

It’s the return trip, another route, and another story

 

 

 

 

 

Ashleigh in Sioux Falls

 

Day 9 .... I sure am glad we have already seen this area.

 

 

 

We left in what the weather station said was a drizzle.  It wasn't. It was heavy fog. As Quinn knows from a previous trip to Daytona it might as well be pouring. We were wet before we hit I - 90, a mere 8 miles up the road.

 

The fog was thick enough visibility was about 100 yards.  We were glad we had already seen the area so we just drove on. We made good runs of 100 plus in between stops. No pictures this time.

 

 

 

We stopped after 245 miles for our first meal of the day.  Apparently it was a good idea. As we sat eating we were looking at the weather channel, which showed severe storms moving along our route. By the time we finished eating the sky was clear and warming. We had the sun the remainder of the trip to Dubuque, IA.

 

 

 

This was not a long trip but once again we were buffeted by the winds all day. Between that and the fog we were ready to stop. 420 Miles for the day, not that long but a tiring one. The adrenaline has about worn out, were both ready to get home to our own beds.

 

I guess the highlight ( if you can call it that), was a fellow traveler that rode with us for about 120 miles.

 

I had seen a bike in my mirror that was trailing George for several miles. Suddenly the bike sped up and was passing me.  I gave the basic biker wave and then to my surprise I noticed it was a woman. Coming back from Sturgis.

 

Our fellow traveler led the way for the next 50 miles. Maybe she was just tired of being alone. Who knows?

 

We pulled off to get gas and check the map for directions and she kept going. To tell you the truth, it would have been fun to trade stories for a few minutes. But I'm sure she had her schedule also. She waved goodbye and was gone.  I hope her journey was a safe one.

 

We made it to Dubuque with no problems. George a little sunburned from those last 4 hours of sun but that's all

 

 

 

George however was in heaven when we arrived at the hotel. A bar to the left and a large Casino to the right. We had a few drinks (Hey,, It was hot out there)  and headed to the Casino. George was going to teach me craps.

 

5 minutes after he started, he was done, Minus 65 dollars.  Oh well......

 

He blamed it on our room number. 313.

 

We are hitting the sack early tonight. We run the river road along the Mississippi tomorrow.

 

Weather channel is showing rain. We hope they are wrong.

 

 

 

Day 10 ....... The Great Tatanka is still watching over us

 

 

 

We were ready to leave Dubuque, Iowa at 6:00 AM. Radar was showing severe thunderstorms heading towards us. If it had been one, we would have probably just sat back and had a long breakfast, however, there was a huge one behind the closest and we would have been stuck till after 1:00 PM.

 

We decided it was better to at least get some miles behind us before we had to stop, and besides, there was a break between the two storms.

 

 

 

We left towards the Great River Road.   We traveled down US-20 into Illinois and followed it to where it connects with Hwy 84, The Great River Road.  We drove thru Galena, IL and the town was like some thing out of the past.  Then we saw the sign saying it was Grants hometown. It even looked like a Civil War town; the buildings and homes were probably built before the Civil War.

 

 

 

This is where the Great Tatanka watched over us again. Let me explain, we had been driving thru on and off rain since we left Dubuque. This did not deter us, we pushed onward as if it was a normal day. The lightning was ahead and we figured when we hit the bad stuff we would find shelter and wait it out. (We had already heard that there we 70 MPH winds with the storm we were heading into.  And we sure weren't planning on driving thru it.

 

 

 

As we kept driving the sky was clearing a little. The rain stopped and the storms were behind us. Dang we were smarter than even we thought we were.

 

Finally it came to my thoughts (60 some odd miles later) that I had not seen neither Hwy 84 signs nor Great River Road signs in a long time.  We stopped at a stoplight and I looked at George and said "Hey Toto, I don't think were in Kansas anymore, I think we need to check the map".  George just shrugged his shoulder and pointed forward.

 

Several miles down the road I stopped to look at the map. We had been heading due East away from the river road. It was then that the owner of the gas station came out to chat and check out the bikes.  I asked him directions and told him we had missed the turn off somehow. That's when we knew the Great Tatanka was watching after us.

 

He told us that several Truckers had just been thru and were telling stories about the rain and winds blowing them off the road and tornadoes on the route we had somehow missed. Our route instead took us away from this storm and in fact had us miss it later as well.

 

We headed on down the road. We heard about the storms ahead, 70 Mph winds, severe lightning etc.

 

We decided to stop around 10 AM for breakfast because we saw numerous lightning strikes ahead on the road (it had been raining heavy for at least an hour but that didn't stop us). Rather than go into this severe storm, breakfast seemed a good idea.

 

When we were ready to leave we talked to some truckers that were heading North. There was a tornado that crossed the highway 20 minutes earlier on our highway (right where we would have been except for us eating breakfast). Was it our common sense? Or, once again, The Great Tatanka watching after us? (You can answer that for yourself, we know what it was)

 

We see another heavy cell up ahead and clearing to the west. We decide to wait it out and let it clear some. We meet Cheryl, a lone female biker heading down to Missouri. (We had also seen her at the diner but we had left ahead of her.). We chatted during the wait and George asked if she would like to ride with us, and she did, for the next 100 miles or so. She waved goodbye and made her way West as we made our way East. George and I discussed tonight that we hope her trip was safe and uneventful.  (Update. We spoke to her husband. He thanked us for letting her ride with us, and she is doing well)

 

We headed back into black clouds towards Champaign, Illinois.

 

Just as we were heading into the Black and Lightning we hit 57 south.  I gave George thumbs up. We were heading south and the storm was heading east. As we traveled south with the storm to the left I started noticing the clouds and storm it self looked odd. The sky was turning and the cloud was falling down.  There was a funnel cloud dropping. The storm was so dark I thought I was imagining it. But there it was getting longer and longer. It never reached the ground but was pretty close when it just kind of melted and all that was left were the circular clouds that were surrounding it. Still in a large swirl separate from the main part of the storm (these were the leading edge of the storm, if that helps the visual)

 

Hell, we were in a little sunshine for the first part of the day, it had taken 8 hours to travel 300 or so miles.  Let's get it on.

 

We stopped at a Rest Area just short of Effingham, Illinois. We had hit rain again (so what's new) while stopped at the rest area a trucker (we met many) tells me that all hell is breaking lose just south of town. We get back on the road, crest the hill, and up ahead is darkness.  I mean real nighttime type darkness. Lightning shooting this way and that. We get off the road 3 miles from the rest stop, check out radar at a local Ruby Tuesday’s and call it a night.   We are now wet and tired. Time for a few cocktails before heading to the hotel.

 

 

 

The hotel has a sign at the check in desk (Severe Storm watch till 8:00 PM)

 

I am sure we made the right move. We had traveled over 350 miles in severe weather; we braved it, but were not stupid either.

 

 

 

One last note, we had one huge bolt of lightning go over our head in Bloomington that. Was one of those you see and here at the same time. And it was as loud as I have ever heard. (And that was with two Harley engines cranking at 70 mph.

 

 

 

The next morning we hopped on the bikes and headed towards home.. About 530 miles…the weather wasn’t going to get any better.. We drove thru Nashville… Chattanooga.. And made it home about 6:00 PM.. None the worse for wear..  We hope you enjoy our tale.. We enjoyed living it… 

 

 

 

WHERE READY TO GO AGAIN........Sturgis?, San Diego?  Oregon?????

 

 

TATANKA II

 

 

 

To be continued......