August 5, 2014
I have been very remiss on writing my travel blog this
year. It is a cloudy, rainy morning and
I seen to have run out of excuses to write.
Yesterday we rode 268 miles but more on that later. I need to get caught up on previous trips.
In May we did our usual Mothers Day trip to Bunker Hills to
visit Paul, Leslie, Hailie and Connor.
As we have since Hailie was just 1 or 2 we took “GG” (Great Grandma OB)
with us. We did add a couple of days to
our visit to work on tiling the floor and shower of the kids’ basement remodel
project. Paul laid most of the floor and
did the grout. I helped with the layout
and cutting the tile. Same for the
shower except Leslie was more involved with that part of the project.
The rest of the trip was the usual eating too much and
visiting. This was highlighted by too
much Sponge Bob and being rejected by Darby.
We were leaving for the evening and Darby didn’t want to come with us. She was too comfortable sprawled out on their
living room floor.
This brings us to June and out annual SHOWeR trip. Everyone wanted to return to Lake Shetak so
we headed there in mid-June. We arrived
on Wednesday to find the road running north through Currie was flooded so we
got on line and found that park was ok and had to take a 20 mile detour to get
2 miles to the park. P&L were on
their way so we were able to let them know so they were able to reroute coming
from the east.
Lee just had shoulder surgery so Steve towed Melba’s trailer
up for Joyce, Lee and “GG” behind his motorhome which caused quite a stir. When Julie and Arnie arrived Thursday the
park checked in everyone from our group arriving that day. When Steve arrived with their motorhome
pulling a trailer and didn’t have to stop to check in so the folks at the
office panicked and were on the radio telling the ranger about this huge rig. With all the recent rain they were sure that
Steve would have ruts everywhere backing it in.
By the time the ranger got there Steve was unhooking the trailer and
there were 3 other pickups available to back in the trailer. The ranger got a kick out of the
situation. Then asked if we were the
group from last year with the bounce house? Is that good or bad?.. J
Vadim and Paul tried fishing with no luck. With all the rain
the Des Moines River was running back into the lake rather than flowing out. There was so much trash in the water that the
whole lake was no wake until Sunday so fishing was not good. The rest of our time was occupied visiting
and eating. Everyone took turns
providing a meal. Arnie smoked ribs one
day. We had to spend the whole day
smelling them smoke, sweet torture.
P&L did pudgy pies one evening which was new to everyone but us. It was great fun.
This brings us to July and Rockfest. We arrived at Bunker Hills on Tuesday. We spent some time with P&L while they
were finishing packing for their trip.
On Wednesday Leslie dropped the kids off. We took them to Como Zoo and Amusement Park. Being the mean grandparents we made them look
at the animals first. Even though the
whined most of the time they enjoyed a lot of the zoo. The gorillas were a big hit along with the
seals. By the time we were done with the
zoo there was only time for one ride each.
Again being such mean grandparents we made them pick their rides and of
course Connor was too short for his first choice. Then we were even meaner because we made him
watch his sister on her ride. He did get
over being mad long enough to pick a ride he could get on.
On Thursday we left Bunker Hills for Beaver Creek Valley SP
in southeast Minnesota. It is an older
park so the sites are a little tight to back into but it is a very beautiful
part of the state. After we set up camp
we went for a short ride through the park then into Caledonia then stopped at
the playground for a minute.
Friday I took the kids on a hike. There was a short trail that began near our
campsite. It took us to where the water
of Beaver Valley Creek comes out of the ground then follows the creek to the
campground road. It was a short hike so
we walked to another trailhead near the picnic pavilion and followed the creek
to another trail that was closed; we were hoping to see why it closed. The kids pointed out two other trails they
wanted to try that were steep and more challenging. I told them we were not prepared for them and
would try them later in the trip.
One of the things we like to do is get in the car and take a
ride. We did that with the kids and they
just don’t seem to get it. On one of our
rides we found Bratsburg. So we spent
the rest of the trip threatening the brats (kids) that we would leave them at
Bratsburg.. J Mean grandparents.
Sunday we geared up for the more challenging trails. We took some water bottles and granola bars
and set out on the more challenging trails.
Hailie started whining about half way up the second trail but Connor
wasn’t ready to quit. He ran point for
most of the hike and wanted more.
On Monday we returned to Bunker Hills. Somehow Leslie convinced the kids to spend
Tuesday with us rather than going to Amy’s.
We took them to Bunker Beach which we have wanted to do for some time
but were never able to make it work. We
had a great time playing in the water then went to P&L’s for a nice diner
before heading home Wednesday.
On the trip home we stopped at Winnavegas and spent the
night. I played for a short time then
ate dinner. Debbie played after dinner
while went back to the RV and watched a movie.
We did learn that the casino gas station sells fuel for $.25 less a
gallon so we will try to make it a regular fuel stop. It is 3 miles off the interstate and easy to
get to.
That brings things up to our current trip. We left home Saturday for Sturgis Motorcycle
Rally. We took two days to get
here. It was n uneventful trip with the
exception of losing a screw in my glasses Saturday night. I got my riding glasses out in the AM and
made a stop at the Wal-Mart in Rapid City.
Of course the optical department was closed but there was a Walgreens
across the street where I was able to purchase an eyeglass repair kit that had
a screw that worked.
We set up at Rocky Point where we stayed last year and spent
the evening just relaxing. Monday we
went to the Catholic Church in Belle Fourche for their Biker Breakfast then did
a prairie ride from Belle Fourche to Faith then south to Howes then west to
Sturgis then back to camp, 268 miles. It
was a fun day. We spent few hours
walking around Sturgis and stopped at the Knuckle for a drink and a chance to
sit down before getting back to let Darby out.
August 7, 2014
Tuesday was rainy most of the morning. In the afternoon we rode to Belle Fourche for
gas then into Spearfish. We did not find
much that we were interested in so we returned to the campground. We were thinking of going to diner at a
roadhouse in Nisland about 10 miles east of here but the sky started looking
ominous so I put the bike away about 2 minutes before the rain started and
grilled steaks in the rain instead.
Yesterday things looked a little better. We rode to Sturgis Brown High School for
their biker breakfast then to Rapid City H-D.
There are a large number of vendors and of course we needed official
Sturgis HD tee shirts and this is the place to get them. We also wanted to demo a TriGlide and
Harley’s demo fleet was there so we stopped there on the way out and got to
ride one through the rain… J! It was very different than riding on 2 wheels
but I can see why people get them, it’s another way to keep your knees in the
breeze when you’re no longer able to hold up a 900 pound motorcycle.
We rode back to Belle Fourche through more rain for gas then
stopped to let Darby out before going to Nisland for diner. Mom would have loved the place; the floor was
covered with peanut shells. A real dive
but the prime rib sandwich was pretty good.
I’m not sure what we are going to do today but we have to
make a trip to the dump station before we get to start playing.
August 8, 2014
Yesterday the sun was out and we were able to ride into the
Hills. We took US 85 south from Belle
Fourche to Spearfish then south on SD 14A through Spearfish Canyon to US 85 and
went south into Wyoming. The ride was
only about 160 miles but very pretty and challenging, lots of twisties. It is shown on the map as one of the more
challenging routes. We ended up at a
place called the Flying V south of Four Corners. Four Corners is where I was thinking of
turning around and heading back north but by the time I read the sign we were
past it. The sign said “Four Corners
Post Office.”
Flying V was a beautiful setting with an old natural stone
lodge down in a valley. We don’t know
anything of it history but it is currently a restaurant and bar with camping
and obviously does a lot of business during bike week. We had refreshments at the outdoor bar before
heading home. It was about a 6 hour round
trip with a few stops to stretch and look at the scenery.
Today looks cloudy.
Our plans were to head into Sturgis for a while then who knows.
August 9, 2014
Yesterday we rode into Sturgis. We shopped, people watched, looked at bikes
and people watched some more. Debbie has
been looking for a vest but has been unable to find what she wants so we
stopped at a lot of leather stores with no luck. We are restocked with tee shirts and Debbie
found a pair of transition riding glasses and some earrings. I got a set of motorcycle jumper cables and
a Craftsman bottle opener.
It is impossible to describe the sea of people and
motorcycles here. We got to town about
11:30 and it took about 20 minutes to find a parking spot. We found one behind the police station next
to a row of porta-potties. Bikes are
parked handlebar to handlebar on both sides of Main and many side streets plus
a double row down the middle of Main and many of the feeder streets for
blocks. People rent space in their yards
and driveways for bike parking. We’ve
experienced it twice and are still amazed.
Hopefully we’ll get in some more riding this weekend then we
will head to Denver to visit with T&G for a few days.
August 10, 2014
Yesterday was another fun day until I got a ticket. After breakfast we went back to Rapid
City. I wanted to demo ride an Ultra
Limited and I wanted to visit once more with the Biker-Bar guy, I have one more
question about their product. When we
got there I found that they had some Road Glides available so I tried out
both. Debbie rode with me on the Limited
demo and we both were impressed. The
bike was quiet (way too quite) and very smooth with loads of low end torque.
I tested the Road Glide myself as there is not tour-pac or
backrest and a very narrow passenger seat so it was not an apples to apples
comparison but wow do I like it. The
faring is mounted to the frame rather than the fork tubes so the steering is
very light. The Biker-Bar guy had closed
up shop so from RC we headed to Deadwood.
It was a very pretty ride with lots of twisties and pretty
scenery. We took SD 44 west from RC to
US 85 north into Deadwood, where I got a ticket. I was spotted on a surveillance camera “girl
watching.” The fine was $10. It was a fund raiser for the local food bank…
J We ate a late lunch / early supper at the
Number 10 Saloon where Wild Bill Hickok was murdered. The food was pricy but good. Then back to
Rocky Point where after chilling out with a beer in the shade I got stuff put
away in time to watch a thunder storm blow through.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot.
I bought another tee shirt… J
August 11, 2014
Sunday we took a quick trip into Wyoming on I 90 to find a
visitors center. We heard from Terry and
Glenda so we will be visiting them. That means we will be going through Wyoming
and we decided to spend a couple of days somewhere before going to Denver. After stopping at the visitors we headed
north then east back to Belle Fourche for gas.
Then we took SD 34 / I 90 to Sturgis to see what was left, not
much. Most of the vendors were either
gone or packing up to leave. You could
actually drive through town. Then we
headed back to the campground to pack up to leave in the morning.
Today we headed for Curt Gowdy State Park west of Cheyenne
and will be here until Wednesday then head for Denver.
August 15, 2014
Tuesday we took a ride into Cheyenne to get another Harley
tee-shirt then rode to Laramie and back to the park. It is a very pretty drive except the last 5
or 6 miles into Laramie. WY 210 ends at
I 80 just east of town. I am not fond of
urban interstates. Too many distracted
drivers. At Laramie we just stopped for
gas after looking around then heading back to the campground. I dropped Debbie off at the camper then went
to the visitor’s center. There the usual
stuff about the park wildlife and geology and a display about Curt Gowdy that
was interesting.
The rest of the day we read and loaded up for the drive to
Denver.
Wednesday we moseyed to the mile high city and set up in
T&G’s driveway. Nice accommodations with
the exception of the view out the front window of their garage door and privacy
fence… J This is a very laid back visit. We are mainly visiting and enjoying each other
company. Tonight Art, Heather and the
kids will join us, we are looking forward to seeing them. I know the little ones have changed a lot
since we last saw them.
We’ll be here until Sunday then head home.
