We started this morning in Buffalo, Wyoming around 8:30am and was on the road by 9am. We were 182 miles away from Sturgis, South Dakota when we started. We rode for about 60- 70 miles east on I-90 when Mike's motor put him down again. This time, we couldn't fix it on the side of the road. So he contacted HOG (Harley Owners Group) as a member and they had a wrecker on the way to come get his motorcycle. We waited for about 45 mins. to an hour for the wrecker to come on the side of the interstate waving at the bikers as they made their way into Sturgis. There must have been over 200 motorcycles that passed us from all over the US and some from other countries! Mike's motor wouldn't start up, it would just make a clicking noise, which indicated that the stator or the voltage regulator went out, or both. The roll-back truck got there finally and we helped the driver load the motor onto the back of the truck. He had one of those Condor motorcycle wheel chocks (for the motorcycle enthusiasts)that was pretty neat! Hetook the motor and Mike, as I followed, to the nearest Harley dealership, Deluxe H-D, in Gillette, SD; about 39 miles from where the motor broke down.
We arrived at Deluxe Harley Davidson around 11:45am and an 80yr old gentleman, full of spunk and wit, named Bob, met us and got Mike to fill out the service ticket to get his motor repaired. Bob was from Yuba City California and he commented on how good looking my motor was and it was the best paint scheme that Harley put on a bike (although its filthy right now from road grime) he has a 95th Anniversary UltraClassic just like mine! Of course, I thanked him for the compliment. Bob was a volunteer that HOG called to help out with the rally this year in the service department. They had it all organized as to what lane to put your motorcycle in and for what type of service that needed to be done to it. Deluxe really had it going on! This was a rather busy dealership but they got Mike's motor in as soon as it got off the truck and got started on it. Bob invited us to sit under the big canopy with tables set up for the bikers as the rally was going on. He offered us ice cream and water; while they had a BBQ catering rig, Pokey's BBQ, set up selling sandwiches and plates of food. Since we were going to be there a while, we each ate a plate of bbq and drank ALOT of water! I walked around the shop and a browsed at the bikes and merchandise they were selling while Mike's motor was getting serviced.
We met several people while we waited for the motorcycle to get repaired. Bob had us laughing the entire time, talking about his riding experiences over the years and yes he still rides his 98 Ultra; he was sure to mention that! We met a guy from Ohio that was getting, I believe, tires put on his bike. He rode his in from Ohio. We met three guys from California, one rode his motor in from California and it had the same issue Mike's did. So his buddies that were with him drove the truck and pulled the trailer with his motor on it into the shop for repairs. We meet some ladies that took our pictures for us with Bob before we left the dealership. They got Mike's motor going again and I won't tell you what that cost...Mike will have to tell you that! Let's just say, NOT CHEAP AT ALL! We left the dealership around 3;30pm.
We got back on the Interstate and headed toward Devil's Tower and took some really neat pictures of this massive rock. It was the nation's first national monument ever! Once we left there, we rode into STURGIS SD...and what an experience it was! There were motorcycles everywhere; as far as the eye could see! Up hills, down hills, around corners, on the streets, on the highway: a very amazing sight! We rode through Sturgis and up to Mount Rushmore to see Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Theodore and Lincoln. We rode for about 17 miles in the Black Hills to go visit this site and there were bikers going and coming as you will see in the pics. We got to Rushmore and took several pictures as the sun was going down and it started getting dark. I asked Mike if he wanted to still go see Crazy Horse Monument which was another 17 miles up the mountain, and we both decided we better get down the mountain since it was getting dark. There were signs everywhere saying, "Bighorn Sheep Crossing next 5 miles" and the pictures of these sheep look like rams and we surely didn't want to run into one of these monsters! So we came on down out of the mountain with out seeing Crazy Horse but, it's ok, there will always be another time for us to see it! We rode back through Sturgis and down to Rapid City where we ate pizza for dinner and it was really good! The BBQ we ate earlier was already gone so we decided on having pizza. After we ate we rode on into the night to our campground.
Tomorrow we ride from South Dakota to Abilene Kansas to visit President Eisenhower's Museum. This should be an interesting museum because Ike was an interesting President.
I am still working on the photos, so be patient and keep your comments coming and your prayers are solicited for our safe travels!
No comments:
Post a Comment