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.