Day 9, 6August2025 - 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. 

Day 5, 02Aug2025 - Riding the Black Hills

We come to Sturgis mostly to ride.  The riding in the Black Hills is just amazing, the Sturgis area welcomes motorcycles and during the annual rally, many towns dedicate their streets to motorcycles only. It is estimated that 700,000 motorcycles will visit Sturgis for the 85th rally.  There are bikes of all kinds here but clearly Harley Davidson dominates the other manufacturers with about 2/3s of the bikes being Harleys. We are seeing a lot of Indians this year, they are definitely on the rise, June thinks they are more pretty than the HD. 

Official Sturgis Riding Map

Here is the official Sturgis riding map, I bring it along but since we have John with us, it really is not needed. John knows all the good rides.

Saturday we rode about 162 miles, it was some of the finest riding we have ever done. The weather was perfect, the scenery was spectacular and traffic was remarkably light. We only ran into one slow down and we were told it was because the cops were doing a sobriety check, but we never saw a cop when it cleared...go figure. 

We rode a couple of the classic routes, the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain. This ride has some of the best views with tunnels, switchbacks, tight curves and pigtail bridges, it is just awesome. 

Sylvan Lake

We stopped at Sylvan Lake, it is a very pretty place.

Sylvan Lake

Perfect weather. 

Needles Eye Tunnel

It is just beautiful as you enter the Needles Eye Tunnel. 

After Needles we rode Iron Mountain, it has some serious switchbacks and pigtails, as you exit the tunnels you can see Mount Rushmore.

Spokane Creek

We stopped at Spokane Creek to stretch our legs, this sign says it all about Iron Mountain Road. 

John, with Rushmore in the background

Everyone revs their engines in the tunnel....mine is meek compared to others. 

After the twisities we rode the highways to Rapid City for lunch, it was nearing 14:00, I was really hungry.  

We ate at the famous Fire House Brewing Company, it was very tasty

We took I90 back to Sturgis, and had a siesta before going downtown for drinks and dinner. 

We met John and Terry at One Eyed Jack's, they had nice seats for us on the balcony of the second floor, in the shade with a view of the town. 

Sturgis from One Eyed Jack's

This picture even captured the Sturgis sign on the hill across the valley

We had dinner at the Loud American Bar, it was inside seating and had AC...but the music was loud. 

Sturgis from Loud American

We did get a nice table by the window with a good view of the street.  People watching is high entertainment in Sturgis. 

June nearly got taken by an Eagle on the street. 

After dinner we went across the street and had another drink on the Knuckle second floor balcony watching people. A bit after 21:00, June and I headed for DaBus and this time nailed it, no wait...straight back to camp and it was not hailing...

Sunday we are planning a morning ride since rain is forecast in the afternoon. 

Day 4, 1Aug2025 - We have arrived at Sturgis

Friday we left the Sioux Falls CB around 08:00, only 400 miles to Sturgis. 

Sunflowers in SD

We drove through sections of the country where there were sunflower fields as far as the eye could see. 

The Missouri River

We crossed the longest river in the USA, the Missouri, about 10:30, it always makes us think about Lewis and Clark when we cross this river. 

We have been pretty lucky with the weather and wind up to this point, but today it ran out.  We had a quartering wind that required about 1/8 turn of the wheel to stay in our lane. The motorcycle traffic became heavy and you could see the bikes leaning into the wind.  At least it was not raining, but our MPGs took a pretty big hit. 

We had plenty of time so we decided to swing through the Badlands National Park on the way to Sturgis.  

Badlands National Park

We have been to the Badlands before and have the pictures, but seeing it in person is the only way to really appreciate its beauty, it truly is breath taking.

Window Trail

We took a few minutes to take the short hike on the Window Trail, the park has done a great job making things pretty. This is June in her Adventure Hat. 

Since this is our 3rd or 4th time through the Badlands, we did not stop and take a zillion pictures like we have in the past, we just enjoyed the scenery, it is a spectacular place. 

The Badlands loop ends in Wall, SD, where Wall Drug is located.  We did not stop this time, on to Sturgis. 

We arrived in Sturgis about 15:30, it was in the low 80's and nice. 

We went to Hog Heaven, where camping reservations are not required as long as you don't mind dry camping, which is what we do. 

Camping at Hog Heaven

Our campsite is a parking spot in the field, but it is pretty level and has easy access.  

John and his son-in-law's father, Terry, arrived at their campground about the same time. They are renting a cabin, John usually tents, so this is luxury camping for him. We arranged to meet for dinner at the Knuckle Saloon downtown. 

Terry Allen and John Keaty

It was great to see John and meet Terry since we have heard his name many times from John, they do a fair amount of things together. 

We had a nice dinner and then decided to find our brick.

This summer John purchased a memorial brick to forever record our trip to the 75th Sturgis Rally.  Our brick is in the sidewalk near city hall on Harley Davidson Way. 

Our Brick

We had a map and easily found our brick, how cool is that...Thank you John!

2015 Memorial Brick

Our brick is directly across from City Hall (Library).  

We walked the streets and found another brick that John did to commemorate the 2017 rally, he was here with his son, Terry and Terry's son. Kool. 

Iron Horse Saloon

We made our way to the Iron Horse Saloon which has second floor balcony seating which gives a great view of Sturgis downtown. 

Downtown Sturgis

Downtown Sturgis from the Iron Horse Saloon.

We could see rain clouds, so about 20:30 we left for the DaBus pickup point, hoping to catch the 21:00 shuttle. If June did not have to stop to pee, I think we would have made it, but we missed it and that was not a good thing.  By the time the 21:30 shuttle arrived, it was raining hard, we hoped it would pass before we were dropped at Hog Heaven, it didn't. It was pouring and we had to hike about 1/4 mile to our RV.  Getting soaked was bad enough, then the hail started and it hurts.  

The hail was the size of large peas but it is like getting hit in the head with a rock, we broke into a run and got to the RV just as it got very heavy.  The noise in the camper was deafening. We were soaked and it was all June's fault, but it was time for bed anyway. We have never been to Sturgis when we did not get hail. 

We are lucky to have a dry place to sleep and dry clothes ....Fred! Another adventure.

Today, Saturday, we plan to ride the Needles highway, we are meeting John around 09:00. Terry is not riding, he drove his pickup and will do his own thing.  The forecast has only 30% chance of rain, may the weather gods forever be in our favor.