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Published: August 17th 2013
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We were fortunate to be able to be part of the 73rd Black Hills Classic Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, South Dakota, in August this year.
Bones (Raewyn) and I flew out to San Francisco and were picked up at the airport, by long time HOG friends, Pete and Suzette, in their Jaguar, where they fed and bedded us for two nights, with a full day of Harley Davidson and BMW Dealers to visit, also fitting in lunch and the Butterfly Gardens (sorta like pay back for dragging the girls to motorcycle shops). We capped off the day with a walk up their local mountain for 'Happy Hour' as the sun set, along with amazing views over San Francisco and the bay, followed by a most succulent BBQ steak, cooked to perfection by Pete.
The next morning was a real early wake up call at 3.00 am, as we had a 5.50 am flight out to Salt Lake City with a connection to Rapid City, where Trapper and Hobby were on their way to pick us up. Thanks to Pete and Suzette for going the extra mile for us, I am sure you both snuck back to bed for a
while....
We arrived on time into Rapid, and it was soooo good to see Trapper and Hobby there to meet us in their Motorhome. We made our way back to their place in Lead, via a fabulous lunch.
Once settled in, we yarned away the night, by the campfire, catching up over the last couple of years.....
The next day was Saturday, and the Rally was in full swing, looked like a good crowd were heading into town, it was estimated by Wednesday the next week that there were over 500,000 bikers in town!!! The drone of bikes past our bedroom, was continuous throughout the night and of course all day long.
We went down town to check out the hundreds of vendors, peddling everything you could think of, from parts and accessories for your ride, everything you ever wanted to wear, hats, T shirts, helmets, paint jobs, right down to magic stuff to clean your glasses!!
The Indian Motorcycle Co. were to release the new Indian 'Chief' motorcycle on Saturday evening, so there was a lot of excitement around their camp all day. We went in on Sunday morning to check the new range
of Indian, that are now being manufactured by Polaris Ind. - Check out the photos.
No matter how much product is on display, the main reason for us to re visit the Rally, is to catch up with a lot of folk we have met over the years, Bones and I were first there for the 50th Rally in 1990, and of course the chance to meet with new friends. Trapper and Hobby are such great hosts, with a campfire every night, where riders that have come from afar gather and tell a lot of tall stories....Robert and Joyce, ride down from Regina, in Canada to be there, along with Charlie and Theresa, Arthur and Renee from North Carolina and Spit and Cookie from Denver, just to name a few, we did miss Ronny and Vanessa though....
Radar (Gavin) and Nikki, (Kevin and Vickie, while they are there) made their way up from Los Angeles and we rode out to Moorcroft, in Wyoming to meet them, then bought them back to Deadwood via the Devil's Tower.
We spent the next few days riding around and checking out the sights, eating great steak dinners. One night, around the
camp fire, Trapper mentioned that he wants to sell (my) Yamaha Venture Midnight??? as they are moving down to Florida. It is a 2006 and only done 11,000miles, probably around 3,000 of those would have been put on by me over the years. Well, we do need to keep this bike in the family, I looked across the camp fire to Bones and our eyes met, a wink and a nod, and the bike is ours......Trapper will take it down to Florida for us, and we will ride it from there, and check out some of the East coast for a change, look out John and Cathy, a visit is eminent.
On Thursday, we took Radar and Nikki, on a ride to check out Mt.Rushmore, the Needles and Custer State Park, but while we were negotiating Hell's Canyon, Radar's rear wheel collapsed the rim and they were stranded. We waited up the road, but thought we had missed them, so we went on into Custer and waited for them. They never showed, so we went back, only to find them stranded on the side of the road with a flat tyre.
We went back into Custer to organise
Heavy Deal
Bones, Hobby, Trapper and Rosco a tow truck to pick them up and take them to get the tyre fixed, as at this stage we never realised that the rim had collapsed. The tow truck duly arrived and took us to the repair guy. he quickly discovered the broken rim, looks like it had rusted through from the inside? So now Radar needed a new wheel!! This was going to prove to be really difficult, as his bike is a 1999 model and deemed to be really OLD! What to do now? I made a call to Trapper, as we were all going to meet at Elk Creek for dinner, lucky they had not left the camp, so they hooked up Leon's trailer onto the back of Mark's truck and headed out to meet us. Once Radars bike was on the trailer, we all headed for the dinner rendezvous.
The next day, was so frustrating, as we tried to locate such an old wheel?? We finally made it to Rapid City Harley Davidson, where they were extremely helpful, finally taking a wheel off another 'Old' bike and selling it to Radar, all fitted on with a new tyre for around$1200. At least he was
on the road again.
Radar and Nikki, were to get on the road the next day and head East, so we rode out with them, and at least, Nikki got to see Mt.Rushmore on her way outa town....Bones and I spend the best part of the afternoon in Cabalas, I just love that place, check out the display at the back of the shop.
Time was now counting down for us, and so I took the time to wash the Yamaha, as we had got caught in a thunderstorm on our way back from Cabalas. later that night we had an amazing thunderstorm that played out like some sort of percussion symphony and it lasted over an hour, of course, the lightning just added to the show. This was sort of a farewell show for us, as the next morning we had to catch our flight out of Rapid and back to NZ. Thanks to all the folk in South Dakota that took time out to share your hospitality with us......
We are now looking forward to some riding down Florida way...
Cheers, Rosco
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