Sturgis Or Die, Day Seven

Head hurts, mouth is dry............oh yeah, the Full Throttle Saloon. Couple that with the fact that I was blogging (at least I hope that's what I was doing!) until about 5am, and I'm in no shape to go on any long sight-seeing  ride today. The good news? Neither is any one else in the crew......well, truth is Mark is pretty spunky, but the rest of us are through. Plans change...........Mt. Rushmore is gonna have to wait until another trip. No big deal, we'll regroup.

Just when you thought it couldn't get more crowded

First cool day of the trip, overcast sky, temps in the low 70's.......a major storm rolled through in the night just north and east of us, our luck continues. The lads decide to hang with Nate while he gets some more LED's mounted up to the mighty Road Glide, after they hit the civic center to look at all the new Harleys and catch a stunt show (stunting a Harley, think about it!), the three old guys head to downtown (Rapid City) to check out a gun store.

The store is impressive, lot's of stock, cool stuff you can't get (legally that is) in the People's Republic of Kalifornia. We then walk down the street to the Firehouse Brew Pub for lunch. Very tasty, had a buffalo burger.........and we were treated to card tricks after our meal, the kid was good, real good.

Trust me, I'm smiling on the inside

Not to be out done by the boys we take a short jaunt to the civic center to look at the new rigs. Way cool stuff......the new Screamin' Eagle Road Glide is sick, (we know for a fact that Nate is already calculating how he can score one) and the mods to the touring line are pretty trick too. I harass a couple of HD engineers about the new XR-1200; "So when you guys gonna release it in the states, huh, huh?" Nothing. They don't give up a thing........but one of them does say he's put a lot of miles on a test mule, "It's a real sport bike, nothing like the Harleys we know. Dare to dream I suppose.

Not everyone's on a Harley

Feeling somewhat better, we head off to Sturgis to wander around and see what we haven't yet seen (it would take a full week, so we're kinda kidding ourselves), and pick up some last minute swag. The sky has cleared, but it's still not nearly as hot as it's been, so it's a little easier to walk the streets.

And the streets are full, the Rally crowd has really started to swell, it's total gridlock in all directions from the center of town. The scene is even more over the top.....more crazy bikes, more freaks and characters, more woman almost wearing clothes......and a few that should rush back to the motel and put on some more. We're just digging the sights........the cops have the street in front of Pee Wee's blocked, over twenty including dogs. H.A. guys everywhere, a stand-off, a show of force. And just as quick the cops split....."guess they showed us" one of the H.A. members sniffed when I asked him what was going on.



More and more club guys can be seen; Boozefighters, Sons of Silence, and more. They keep to themsleves, and help the posers feel tough........sort of a “badass umbrella effect” I guess. We decide to blow off the Buffalo Chip and Kid Rock, we're still tired and we've got to do about 300 miles tomorrow. One more soft serve cone and its a bun run back to Rapid City. We need to eat and pack.

Regrouped we dine at the Ruby Tuesdays next to our hotel. Good meal, friendly server. Early night tonight, no bloggin'  until five am. We're on our way to Hardin Montana tomorrow...........and I'm told the roads are fantastic. Time to turn in.............