Last month John and a group of friends went to the 78th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.
Riding on a 2001 Honda VFR800, he and the group had a trip of a lifetime.
John and Johnny B. were last minutes invites due to another party cancelling just before the trip was to take place. They stayed in Lead, South Dakota in a modern pine home. The location was extremely secluded and offered both a quite retreat and a short commute to all of the activities.
Their first ride took place on Needles Highway not far from Mount Rushmore. It was a chilly and rainy day, but their enthusiasm to hit the open road warmed them enough to trek on. Not long after this photograph was taken a large storm system moved into the area. At an area rest stop, a gentleman flagged the group down and advised them to flee the mountain before the hail storm hit. They were luckily able to take cover before the storm arrived and said it looked like a snow covering when they descended the mountain due to the significant amount of hail.
The second day of their trip proved equally as exciting. They arrived at Sturgis and took one of the sales reps up on the free test rides being offered on the new Indians. They liked them so much, Johnny B. of the group even decided to purchase one and bring it home with him! He scored a 2018 Indian Scout, equipped with the coveted Sturgis plate. Afterwards, they rode to Devils Tower in Wyoming and the group conceded that the roads in Wyoming were the best yet due to their smooth surfaces, wide open plains, and beautiful long, winding turns.
The following day they ventured out to Mount Rushmore, purposefully finding themselves back up and down Needles Highway several times because it made for such a fun ride.
After the Indian was serviced, they were able to pick it up a few days later and gave it a true road test. They saw 140 MPH on it to ensure it was fully broken in, even taking it to Montana and back.
They also discovered that their fuel gauges were highly accurate while also realizing that fuel stops were far and few between in Montana. Thankfully, no one ended up on the side of the road and they were able to scoot to a station before anyone’s supply was fully depleted.
The day they went to the Badlands National Park they put quite a few miles and memories in the books. They paid a visit to the Wounded Knee Memorial and found the mass grave a particularly moving experience.
Following their visit to Wounded Knee, they traveled to the Pine Ridge Reservation where they observed an Indian Pow-Wow and what a party it was!
In their commutes in and out of Sturgis, they made frequent trips through the quite, quaint town of Deadwood. They were fortunate to have only been pulled over once, given their aforementioned speeds, and are happy to report they were let go with only a warning! The cop was kind and oddly enough had grown up in Canal Winchester, Ohio.
During their stay, they made several stops in and out of Sturgis, but their visit at weeks end was one of the most memorable. They visited the Full Throttle Saloon, and John was thoroughly impressed with their eclectic collection of metal sculptures and industrial equipment.
They watched endless hours of parades and John jokes that he “counted one and a half million bikes- and then quit counting!”. It seemed as though there were not two identical bikes despite the staggering number in attendance. One of the most striking observations he made was the heavy influence of Indian and Polaris, versus the seemingly isolated Harley-Davidson crowd when he’d visited years ago.
Despite those changes, the vibration and mood of Sturgis hadn’t. The palpable energy of that many bikers sharing the same passion in such close quarters is the intangible but significant feeling that makes Sturgis the extraordinary experience that it is.
