Sturgis, 2015, Day 3

Day 2 started with a little exercise…seriously.  I woke up at 6am and couldn’t go back to sleep so I went walking and did a little workout in the exercise room before showering and hitting the road.  I opted to skip the Harley dealership in Grand Island for a change because I wanted to get on the road.

My route was to take me west on Nebraska State Hwy 2 and then at some point turn north to hit I-90.  Hwy 2 was interesting…mostly a two lane highway that ran through miles and miles of farm land.  When it came time to turn north, I opted to stay on Hwy 2.  About 200 miles further west in the little town of Alliance, NE, I turned north onto Hwy 385, which took me into South Dakota.  This highway was also a two lane road most of the way into Rapid City.

One of the interesting things along Hwy 2, besides all the small towns I kept going through, was the large number of marshy, swamp areas alongside the road.  I would never have expected that.  The other interesting thing I saw was a sign announcing I was entering the Nebraska National Forest.  As you can tell from the picture, it’s not much of a forest.

Once on Hwy 385, I drove through the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands…now this made sense based on the scenery…and several historic sites, like Wounded Knee.  I was about 70 miles south of my final destination for the day and did not know how far off the road the site was…might be something I look into on the return trip, IF I go back the same way.

While driving west on Hwy 2…it felt like I drove the entire length of the state…I didn’t see many motorcycles or RV’s pulling trailers like I anticipated.  However, once I arrived in Alliance and turned north the numbers increased dramatically…at least I knew I was on the correct highway.

Rapid City, along with every hotel and RV campsite I saw, was filled with motorcycles of all types and RV’s of all types.  Even though we’re still 25 or so miles away from Sturgis, this area is a great jumping off location for touring the area.  I guessed correctly when I chose Rapid City.

Tomorrow I plan to ride the Devil’s Tower Loop and check out Downtown Sturgis, if everything goes as planned.

Sturgis, 2015

Welcome back.  It has been about a year since I posted anything…guess I haven’t been anywhere too exciting…at least on the motorcycle.  I have wanted to go to Sturgis for a long time but never really had the time, until now.  This year, being the 75^th anniversary of Sturgis, I decided it was now or never.  Sharon wasn’t too sure I should go alone, especially riding all the way, so we compromised…thus I am driving up pulling a trailer.  Better than nothing and at age 66 probably better than riding all the way.

I also decided to break the trip up into three days…6-7 hours of driving a day, just in case I had any problems or came upon interesting sites where I might want to spend some time.

Day 1 was from College Station to Edmond and since I have driven that particular route often enough, I didn’t see anything interesting that I wanted to see again.  Mostly, the drive was spent getting used to pulling a new trailer with the motorcycle tied down in it.

Thanks to the hospitality of the Ogle Hotel in Edmond, I had a nice night’s rest after trying a new hamburger place nearby.  In case anyone is interested, the name of the place is Ron’s…not too exciting a name, but the burger was good.  Recommended by my Brother-in-Law, I tried the “Buster”, ½ pound hamburger meat, ½ pound sausage, a slice of ham, bacon and cheese.  Needless to say, it’s a large burger and I couldn’t finish it.

 

After a few adjustments to the trailer and tie downs, Day 2 started about 9am.  For most of the day, I headed north of I-35 and then I-135 without incident, other than a nice rain shower that lasted about an hour or so.  Once the rain passed, the sky cleared and the day warmed up. 

Kansas and Nebraska aren’t much to look at, unless you like to look at hundreds mile after mile of farms and fields of unidentified crops.  I thought about stopping and seeing if I could pick something to see what it was but I eventually thought better of that idea.

Conveniently located at my first gas stop in Wichita, KS, was a Harley dealership so of course I had to stop…didn’t buy a t-shirt!  Next stop was lunch in Salina, KS, at a hamburger joint recognized by USA Today as the best in the State of Kansas…The Cozy Inn…serving little burgers for 93 years!

After lunch, I had to drive by the Harley dealership in Salina…it was on the way to Grand Island.  As I left Salina I initially missed the turn north because I-135 ended and Hwy 81 started.  I drove west a couple of miles until I could turn around and got on the right highway.

Hwy 81 is a divided 4-lane highway that goes north through the farmland of Kansas and eventually intercepted I-80 where I turned west.  I drove through three or four construction zones where the speed limit dropped from 65 to 55 but the traffic was light.

The most interesting thing I saw was the road signs along this stretch of highway…about 100 miles.  Here’s one example, but the roads would start with “A” at the county line and, depending on how wide the county was, the signs would go all the way through the alphabet and even start over with “AA”.  I guess the folks in Kansas didn’t want to come up with names for all the roads between farms…can’t say I blame them.

One thing they did spend some time on was naming creeks and rivers.  I crossed several of them, some you’ve heard of…like the Red River, Arkansas River and Platte River…but most of them you probably haven’t…like the Cimmaron River, Saline River, Little Blue River and West Fork of the Big Blue River.  Creeks were too numerous to remember.

Between Wichita and Grand Island, the numbers of motorcycles and RV’s pulling trailers with motorcycles increased substantially.  I assume that the closer I get to Sturgis on Day 3 the more I will see.  There are several riders staying in the same hotel I’m in here in Grand Island.  i definitely need one of these....

Day 3 will be another 6-7 hour day…all things being equal.  I’ve never been in this part of the country so I don’t know what to expect to see, however, the closer I get to Rapid City the closer I will get to the Badlands…I think I go right by that area on the way in to town…we’ll see.

Come back in a day or so and hopefully I’ll have some pictures of the craziness that is Sturgis.