Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The Sturgis Rally?

Every year... Just got home last night at 7:45 - after a 12-hour run from Custer.. And the best part is - NO FLAT TIRES!!!!!

Lotta rain... Man, SD makes Ireland resemble the Sahara desert... Most parts of western SD have had up to 300% of normal yearly rainfall. Last Friday,(IIRC) we got stranded in Custer when the city got nearly 7" of rain in about two hours.. The French Creek flooded Hwy 16 at both ends of town.. Cops weren't letting anyone through.. One official said it was a 100-year flood. Somehow, my son got to the camper before they shut down the roads and got my truck in to pick us up.. Checking the forest service maps and the navigation on the truck, I - and three others following us - took the forest service roads (single-lane, gravel, weedy at times; really not much more than squirrel tracks) some 35-40 miles up and around and finally landed on 16 about 8-9 miles west of Custer..

A small, private RV park on the southern edge of the city got ravaged.. One camper floated away a bit and wedged up against a tree. A couple more vehicles were carried by the current into the stream bed.. The city park and ball field on the western edge of town will take a lot of work and money to get it back into some kind of reasonable condition..

Tuesday was the best day - sunny, warm and no afternoon storms.. Can't wait for next year..

Glad you had a good time with no serious issues, thought about you when the storms rolled through Custer. I do not think your trip was complete without any flats though.

It has been a very good rally this year, the few vendors I have talked to in Sturgis are having a good year.

Next year is going to super suck though. There is going to be way too many people.

Ham -n- Jam was yesterday in Hulett, also known as "no panty Wednesday". In the afternoon there was the annual burnouts in Sundance. A lot of the rally took place in Wyoming yesterday. Back to South Dakota today.

In Pa right now on 80 E with 450 miles til home. We planned our rides around the weather as best as we could... Rode about 1200 miles and only got caught in the weather a couple of times. ... Traffic permitting should be home after dinner.

The bikini bike washes are always full,,,,

Maybe - but maybe not.. I think there will be a few more, obviously, but nothing like the 25-yr increments.. The 75th was totally crazy.. Never saw anything like it - ever..

maybe this is where Travis is

Travel safe guys, we get plenty of fatalities every year on bikers travelling through. Be patient and stay awake on your bike. Better to get their a little late than not at all.

I have been there two times. 2002 --2007. The first time was ok..lots of cool bikes to look at...I am not a Harley guy but rather a triumph rider... I guess I don't fit the advrage rally type...we were going to spend 5 days there...I was done in 2 ..Ben there done that..
The ride there and back was the real highlight tho...left from the west coast ...all back roads..2002 was the best trip really..I was on a then bran new triumph bonnivlle America..it got a ton of attention from rally goers ..I would come out of a gas station there were hundreds of Harley's. Some extremely customized ..my little triumph had a crowd of bikers looking at it...I met and visited with some real interesting people...
I recall a guy pulled up on an old beater Electra glide...that bike looked like he lived on it...which he actually kinda did..he was from Bay Area and left the 4 th of July and spending all summer riding...he had over 200 k on that thing...
On other guy I ran across was on an old r80 Bmw...actually turned out to be a collage kid...he was like 6-4 230...he looked pretty funny on that bike...he was from Michigan I believe..it was his dad's bike..it had been in the garage not run for over 20 years...he cleaned the carbs put in a battrie and plugs and lit out for California...I rode along with him all the next day through Wyoming ...
My advice for surges is allow plenty of time for back roads you don't meet too many people on interstates..

A few pictures of the trip

My first trip to sturgis I tagged along wit an guy I knew from work...he was a friend of Indian Jeff...who is in the sturgis hall of fame...he helped with the fund raisers along with Peter Fonda...the guy turned out to be kinda a moron so I left ot on my own from the rally and rode by my self...non the less the trip there was incredible..I had gotten into motorcycles again just recently and this was my first real ride..we retraced Indian jeffs route from Seattle..and camped in his old spots...the sandy beach in Idaho was great ..perfect for a tent camp..we later stopped at Indian jeffs house in a little town in Montana.for a visit..he was still bedridden from his accident but we had a great story time and let us stay the night there..right there in his living room was that old 28 JD Harley he rode so much...the house was absoutly full of old classic bikes...Norton Indian triumph bsa you name it he had it...even a 6 cy benelli in the garage...I was honored to meet him and hear his stories...it was the highlight of the trip..