The Numbers

When we travel we try to keep good records. June typically takes the data whenever we stop for fuel or for the night. She will record our location, the weather, and our odometer reading. At fuel stops she records the gallons used and the price. When we get home I crunch the data. 

We traveled I90/I80 west but took a more northern route home that is less highway. I used the RV Life Trip Wizard for planning and initially used it to navigate. However, it lacks a few essential tools for navigation, like the speed limits and being able to quickly search along your way. I gave up on it and went back to google maps. I still do like it for planning since it allows unlimited stops (google maps only allows 10). RV Life Trip Wizard also does a good job at predicting fuel usage and expenses if you feed it the parameters. For example, it predicted my fuel usage within 10 gallons of what I actually consumed, I planned for 13 mpg and an average diesel cost of $3.60 per gallon. The actual was 13.4mpg and the average diesel price was $3.66 per gallon. Interestingly, with the exchange rate of the CAD at 0.73 USD, fuel was not really that much more expensive in CA, $3.82 per gallon. 

Addison, VT - Sturgis, SD

We traveled 3794 miles round trip, it was only 100 miles farther going through Minnesota and Canada on the way home. However it took 5 more hours of driving, this is primarily due to the speed limits in Canada, which are typically 90kph or about 61mph, and the fact that the Trans-Canadian highway goes through many towns and small cities. 

States/Prov

We passed through 11 states and 2 Canadian provinces. 

I generally traveled at 65mph when I could, towing that was fast enough. My cargo trailer weights around 1200#, the Harley 900#, Honda Genny 50#, June's ebike 65#, trailer spare tire 50#, Serenity spare tire 75# and other crap 100#.  All together, I was hauling about 2500#. The Serenity Falcon weighs a bit over 11000#.  Without a load it gets around 16.5 mpg. On this trip it averaged, 13.4 mpg, hauling all that stuff cost about 3 mpg.  We used 283 gallons of fuel for a total expense of $1037.60. 

Milage Log

We were on the road for 12 night and only paid for camping 5 nights, 4 nights in Sturgis was $528, but this included the bus pass downtown, which we did use every night and one night in a MN state campground on the way home for $25.

We ate most of our meals in the RV when on the move (one stop at Tim Hortons) but ate out in Sturgis, which was not terribly expensive, similar prices to home. Overall it was a relatively inexpensive vacation. 

Of course there is more data if anyone wants it. 

Day 13, 10Aug2025 - Home

Sunday got up took showers and had breakfast in the Cabela's parking lot, it was a nice quiet night. 

We left Ottawa around 08:30 and headed for the Ogdensburg, NY border crossing. The crossing was easy, but they did sniff every auto with a dog, by the end of the day, that dog must be tired. 

SUNY at Canton, AKA Canton ATC

We stopped in Canton and drove through Suny at Canton. June and I both attended what was then Canton ATC (Agriculture and Technical College) on that campus graduating in 1979.  It was a two year technical college then, now it is a SUNY location offering four year degrees. We even drove Pine Street where we had our first apartment together, but to be honest, I could not be sure which house it was. 

We then stopped at our friends house in Potsdam, John and Kathy Ames.  They are doing well, both retired, I a still 'working' on that. We had a nice visit with them catching up on all the kids.  Their granddaughter Lauren was there too, she is a college girl and seems to have her act together, great kid that loves her grandparents. 

We needed to find lunch, so I called sister Maryann and said "What is for lunch"? We stopped at her place in Saranac Lake and had pizza.  Thanks Sis!

We did a drive through the marina when we passed through Port Henry just to let them know that I am reporting to work on Monday...ugh. 

We arrived home around 16:00, Matt, Erica and the kids were at our house...but gone in our boat.  

Boating with the kids

We called them and they came to the dock to pick us up...the fun was not quite over. 

Darlin

Kevin Haynes, a friend and Marina customer, was out on his boat, we invited him to stop in Potash Bay for dinner. 

Kevin and Erica

We grilled on the patio and neighbor Tom also came to dinner, it was such a nice evening it could not be wasted unpacking.

Sunset on Potash Bay

The sun did finally set, and we called our little vacation over. Monday is back to work at the marina while June does the bulk of the work unpacking...as usual. 

We had a great time at Sturgis and getting to visit our relatives in South Dakota and Minnesota was a bonus. I am not sure we will get to Sturgis again, but we are not ruling it out, it never disappoints. 

I will do one final post with the Data...I know everyone loves data as much as me...NOT!

Day 12, 09 August 2025 - O Canada

Saturday morning we got up early and hit the road, we hoped to do about 600 miles, crossing into Canada at Sault Ste Marie and make our way to Ottawa via the Trans-Canadian Highway. 

Sunrise at End of the Road Winery

As we departed the End of the Road Winery at about 06:30 we were treated to a beautiful Sunrise.

Sault Ste Marie Bridge to Canada

It cost us $10.35 to cross the Sault Ste Marie bridge to Canada and the wait at customs on the Canadian side was about 10 mins, not bad. 

We got on Rte 17B, then 17 headed east, this is called the Trans-Canadian Highway but in reality it is 90% a two-way road that is limited to 90kmh (61.5mph). Most of it is OK, but there are definitely rough patches. 

We drove just short of 600 miles, arriving at our destination of Cabela's outside Ottawa about 19:00, it was not a hard drive and we did take two breaks to just take a quick nap and of course lunch.  

Cabela's Ottawa

The Cabela's has plenty of space, we initially parked in the RV section and walked to Tim Hortons for sammiches, they make good chicken wraps. We brought our sammiches back to the Serenity to eat but the guy next to us was running a noisy generator...some people...so we just moved to an open lot.  

Sunday we plan to cross back into the USA in Ogdensburg, NY and stop in Potsdam to visit our friends John and Kathy. We should be home by evening. 

Day 11, 08August2025 - Sprinting Home

We need to be back home on Monday at the latest to get back to the Marina. Gabe will be gone for a week starting on the 12th, so we need to be back to help brother Don at Bridgeview Harbour. In addition, Emily and Travis are buying a farm, closing is on the 12th, we don't need to be there but would like to be. 

Steiner to Jaquish

So, with about 1300 miles to get there we are doing three long driving days to get home. Since we were already in northern MN, we decided to take the northern route through Canada; it avoids I90/I80 and the Chicago area which always seems to be a problem. The only major city we need to skirt is Ottawa.  

Friday morning we said our goodbyes and pulled out of Kris and Mike's lake house about 08:30, it was pouring with lots of thunder and lightning. By the time we reached Duluth the rain had pretty much subsided. As we passed through Wisconsin the weather continued to improve, and as we entered Michigan, we had very nice views of Lake Superior. We passed through Ashland, Marquette and many small Michigan towns and stopped for the night at a Harvest Host. It is easy to see why people from Michigan that we meet at home often say Vermont and Northern NY remind them of home.  Rural Michigan has similar landscape, sans the mountains, it is a very scenic countryside. 

We stayed at the "End of the Road Winery". Unfortunately, we arrived around 19:00 and they closed at 17:30, so we could not patronize their business.  We did message them around mid day and they graciously said, come and stay anyway; there are nice people in this world. 

End of the Road Winery

It was at the end of a dirt road, but a very nice place. 

Parking at the End of the Road Winery

They had 4 RV spots that had nice gravel parking, there were two other RV;s on the property but we each had our own space. 

We were sitting outside enjoying the breeze when our friends we met in Germany, Lisa and Nate, called because they saw on FB we were in Michigan.  They have a condo on Lake Huron and happened to be there for the weekend, unfortunately we have to get home, so could not swing by...maybe next time. 

The Winery is quiet and peaceful, but we turned in early because our longest driving day is tomorrow, roughly 600 miles and we are unsure how the roads will be in Canada. 10 years ago when we did this, they were not great. We will pass into Canada at Sault Ste Marie and we did not bring our passports, Doh!  I checked online and it says an enhanced drivers license is good enough, we will see.  

Day 10, 07August2025 - Chillaxing at the lake

Thursday, we hung at the lake.  It was foggy in the morning, but it quickly lifted. 

Uncle Earle had appointments in the morning, so we decided to go for a bike ride. We loaded the bikes and took a short drive up to the Cuyuna recreation area, Sagamore unit. Lucky for me, Mike had an extra bike, since we only brought June's ebike on this trip. 

The Cuyuna Recreation area is a good example of how an old industrial area can be repurposed. Iron ore was mined in this area from the early 1900s through the 1960s. Twenty to thirty mines operated in the area during the mining boom of World Wars I and II. Like the mines at home, they shut down in the 70s, the mining pits filled with water and are now pristine lakes. Through the efforts of the state of Minnesota and local volunteer groups, the area has become an outdoor recreation attraction and officially became a Minnesota State Recreation Area in 1993.

Cuyuna, Sagamore Unit

This lake was once a mining pit. 

Cuyuna Biking

The riding was great, we took some easy trails and logged about 6.5 miles without much effort.  The trails are very well maintained. 

This is our route, lots of twisties. 

After biking we just hung out at the lake, 

Kris and June

Uncle Earle came back to the lake and the girls floated around a bit. 

I flew my drone and took some video of the lakes, when I get home I will try to edit it into something that flows better.  

Black Bear Lake

This is Black Bear Lake from about 1000'. 

Kris, June and Capt. Mike

After dinner we took a relaxing ride on the pontoon boat. 

Moose

Moose knows how to enjoy a boat ride, he doesn't let Mike out of his sight;  where Mike goes, Moose goes. 

It has been great visiting with Uncle Earle, Kris and Mike, but tomorrow, Friday, we have to start the trek back east.  We are planning to take the Canadian route through Wisconsin, Michigan, Canada and enter the USA in northern New York.  The fun part of our trip is done, we hope to be home by Monday at the latest. 

  

Day 9, 06August2025 - Minnesota Family

On Wednesday we left our campground around 9AM. 

Camden State Campground, Lynd, MN

It was a nice campground but pretty much deserted. We never even saw a worker bee. 

The drive to the Steiner's Lake house in Crosby, MN was pretty easy and without the strong winds of the day before. 

Mike and Kris's Lake House

We arrived around 15:00 and were accommodated with a prime parking spot looking at Black Bear Lake, they even have a power post for us...sweet. 

Kris, Uncle Earle and Uncle Earle's youngest cousin, Shelly and her twins, Liam and Elizabeth, were at the Lake house. 

Fred, Uncle Earle, Kris and June

Uncle Earle looks good, it was great to see him in good health. 

Black Bear Lake

Mike was still at work, so we took his pontoon boat for a spin on Black Bear Lake, it was very relaxing. I managed to put it back on the lift without damaging his new boat, whew. 

June, Elizabeth, Shelly, Kris

After Uncle Earle headed home, Mike took everyone out on the Pontoon boat for tubing, the girls had a great time. 

June, Shelly, Elizabeth

We spent the evening around the campfire catching up, it is amazing that even though it has been years, when you get together with family it is like you were together yesterday. 

Thursday we will probably be lazy. 

Day 8, 05Aug2025 - Leaving Sturgis, visiting relatives and moving east.

Tuesday morning was a bit lazy/hazy, we were up by 06:00 despite getting in close to midnight,. We did not want it to end, it is kind of one of those times when you know if you turn in, the party is over. 

We had a great time in Sturgis, the riding is second to none and the weather was nearly perfect. We logged just short of 500 miles in our three days of riding.  We are glad we made the last minute decision to come to the 85th rally. 

At Sturgis, there is such a fun vibe during rally week. Everyone we met was just happy to be in Sturgis and many, many, take great pride in their yearly pilgrimage to Sturgis. 

John Keaty's vest

This is the back of John's vest, the badges on the left indicate the rally's in which he arrived (from Texas) on his bike, those on the right indicate attendance.  He ran out of room and had to put the 2025 on the very top.  Pretty impressive.

If I had a vest...it would have only 3 badges, 2014, 2015 and 2025.

We were all loaded, tanks dumped and ready to pull out about 09:00. We planned to visit June's sister in law and her husband near Rapid City on the way out;  it was a bit of a diversion, but we had not seen them in 10 years. 

Steve, June and Helen

We had a nice visit with Helen and Steve, it was good to find them in good health and enjoying life.

Steve has a wood craft business, Bent Pine Woodcraft LLC, and makes all kinds of interesting, beautiful art that is functional.

Bent Pine Woodcraft LLC

He gave us this as a gift, I will leave it up to the reader to figure out its function, it took me a minute. June guessed a muddler...she was wrong..

If you want to check out his work and products, here is a link to his FB page. 

Bent Pine Woodcraft, LLC

We departed Steve and Helen's a little before 11:00 and headed towards Minnesota.  We debated our route but ultimately jumped on I90 East, it was probably a poor choice, the wind was out of the South East at 20mph or more. The Mercedes Adaptive Electronic Stability Program (ESP®), a safety feature designed to help drivers maintain control of the vehicle, bailed out on me twice due to the overly challenging conditions, brilliant!  This means you lose Cruise until you pull over turn off the vehicle and restart.....then you just hope it will not happen again.  

View of the Missouri River

We stopped at the Lewis and Clark Missouri River visitor center to allow the MB to reset ESP. 

DIGNITY of Earth and Sky

We did find a statue that was not here when we were here in 2015. 

Other than the wind, it was an uneventful drive of about 500 miles. 

We booked a site at Camden State Park in Lynd, MN. We arrived about 20:30, the site cheap enough $25 and the campground pretty much empty.  

June made a nice dinner of Chicken burgers, veggies and Suddenly Salad! It was yummy. 

Wednesday we plan to make our way to visit our relatives in Minnesota, north of the twin cites. 

Day 7, 04Aug2025 - 200+ miles, Buffalo and Wind Caves National Park

 Monday was our last day riding, so we rode!  We made a plan with John and Terry to meet them at the visitor center of Custer State Park, from there our plan was to ride the wildlife loop then continue to Wind Caves National Park. 

June and I left camp a bit after 09:00 and rode the less traveled roads, avoiding anything that resembled a highway. We rode Vanocker canyon and a few roads I don't remember. We even found a few roads John "may" not have been over. The road to Rockerville and the Greyhound Gulch-Playhouse road were really fun with beautiful scenery and lots of turns. 

South Rockerville Rd

The views were very nice on the South Rockerville Road.

After a very nice ride of about 100 miles, we met John and Terry around 11:20 and set off on the wildlife route.  We completed the route seeing only a few deer, some mules and a single buffalo in the distance.

Custer State Park Wildlife Loop

Even without wildlife it is still a beautiful ride. 

While on the loop my HD turned 40,000 miles, it is a 2010 and has been pretty much trouble free. It has been a good ride.

Wind Caves National Park

After the loop we turned south towards Wind Caves National Park. We had not gone very far when we ran into a huge herd of buffalo. They were on both sides of the road, we had to wait for some of them to cross the road.  

Waiting for them to get out of the road

They were a bit smelly, but being that close was cool. 

We continued towards Wind Caves and ran into a second herd, it appears they are thriving between Custer State Park and the Wind Caves National Park. 

We arrived at the Wind Caves National Park around 12:45. We found that to see the caves it is by tour only, and the best tickets we could get were at 15:20 Fairgrounds tour. We decided to wait and had Buffalo hot dogs for lunch from a food cart.  The proprietor said the buffalo was local. 

While waiting for our tour we walked up to what is called the original entrance, you can still feel the wind coming out of the caves. June used it to cool off. It was pretty hot and the air from the caves is 54F. 

June and I have toured a few caves, Mammoth, Luray, Howe, Carlsbad and Nikau (New Zealand). The Wind Caves are very different; it is hard to describe but they are more of a labyrinth with lots of very narrow passages. 

They have some very unique structures called Box Work that are not found in other caves. Interestingly, they have found them on Mars....

I did not take many pictures because the caves seldom open into an area that wows one, but they are still very interesting. 

They have some formations that seem to light up when hit with another light. These are called frost works, it does look like frost. 

This is Ranger Jack, he was quite the nerd, but we liked him. He had his spiel, and it did not matter if people were talking or kids screaming he delivered it!

Fairgrounds Tour

The Fairgrounds tour had 450 stair steps, a mix of up and down, it leaves you breathless in more ways than one!. 

The other thing different from other caves we have toured was the lack of Stalagmites and Stalactites, I asked Ranger Jack and he said it is because due to the arid climate there is little water that drips through the caves....Like Mars? 

As we finished the tour, we are a bit chilly, 1 1/2 hours at 54F will chill you. It felt good to step out into the 90F heat...at least for a little while. 

It was about 100 miles back to Sturgis from the caves, so we took the main route, arriving at camp about 19:30.  We put in about 250 miles on the bike, it was a great day! I had a beer while repairing a broken exhaust hanger on the Serenity, it was a good wind down. 

We met John and Terry at the Iron Horse Saloon for dinner, I had Mac & Cheese with Brisket...it was awesome. 

Terry Allen focusing on the prize

We walked back to the boyz' cabin and did a taste test with Woodford Reserve Double Oak Bourbon vs Whistle Pig 10 year old Rye.  We disagreed on the winner, so it is kind of irrelevant, but it was a fun debate. 

June and I made it back to Hog Heaven around midnight, it was our last night, all good fun things must come to an end. We are so glad we made the trip to Sturgis for the 85th, it was great to see John and meet Terry.  The weather has been fabulous, the gods were certainty in our favor. 

Tuesday we will depart for Minnesota to visit my Uncle Earle and my cousins. 

Day 6, 03Aug2025 - A short ride, Full Throttle and Buffalo Chip

On Sunday the weather forecast called for rain in the afternoon so we planned a short ride in the morning followed by a visit to some of the saloons on the east side of Sturgis by car.  Terry was nice enough to be our chauffer. 

We left about 09:15 from the downtown RV Park and did a short ride that took us through Spearfish Canyon, Lead and Deadwood; classic Black Hills historic towns. 

The riding is scenic, and really has to be experienced to appreciate. 

We did not stop in any of the towns, we just wanted to get a quick ride in before the rain hit. We were surprised that the town of Deadwood streets were all under construction, no motor cycle parking downtown. Deadwood is normally swamped with bikes, I can't imagine how much business they lost due to the construction...seems like poor planning for the 85th event?

After the ride we returned to the downtown RV park and got in Terry's truck to visit the eastern saloons. 

Sturgis from Bear Butte Road

Of course John knew the back way out of town that avoided all the traffic, Bear Butte Rd. It was dirt but took us to a high point that overlooked Sturgis for a nice view of the town.

The Full Throttle Saloon burned down in September of 2015, right after we had visited in August.  They have since took over the Broken Spoke location and rebuilt the saloon. It is similar to the old one, but it has better shaded seating and a concert venue that can be viewed from the three bridges, which are still under construction. 

Arriving at FTS.

Full Throttle Saloon

Some of the iconic symbols the FTS are still there, there is no mistaking where you are. 

FTS Entrance

FTS

The inside of the FTS has an industrial theme now. 

We enjoyed a drink in the shaded courtyard and moved on to the Buffalo Chip. 

Buffalo Chip

As you arrive at Buffalo Chip they have a huge field of flags to honor our armed service.  It is quite spectacular. 

Bear Butte from BC

The view of Bear Butte from inside BC is moving, unfortunately when I took this picture, the big flag had been taken down. 

BC Bike Wash

From the bar you can watch your bike get washed...damn it, I forgot my bike!

BC Entertainment

We watched the bike show, burnouts, wheelies and jumps from the elevated balcony, what a view. 

BC Burnout

At the end of the show they burn the tires until they blow, it makes some smoke. 

BC V-Twin

Before we left we had to get the classic photo in front of the big V-Twin.

After BC we returned to town and tried to get food at the Oasis, but it wasn't going to happen so we went back to the Knuckle and had a good meal, despite a limited menu. It seems the restaurants poorly planned for 700K visitors, they are running out of food. They were out of Brisket, Shrimp and Chicken...hmm. 

By the way, it seems the weather forecasters here went to the same college as those back home. It never rained, it was beautiful all day.  We could have ridden, oh well. It was good to visit FTS and BC on 4 wheels. :)

Today, Monday, is our last day here, we are going to ride, but we are still trying to decide what ride we want to do.