Statistics

From Home to Sturgis we drove 1918 miles, we took I90 and I80 to the Badlands and then to Sturgis.

From Sturgis to Home we drove 1917 miles, we took I90, then turned north to Canada, crossing in Sault Ste Marie and returning via the Cornwall crossing in New York.

3,835 miles Total.

In total we touched 13 states and 2 provinces of Canada.

Vermont
New York
Pennsylvania
Ohio
Indiana
Illinois
Iowa

South Dakota

Wyoming

Montana

Minnesota

Wisconsin

Michigan

Ontario

Quebec

I burned 233 gallons of diesel at an average cost of $2.74/gal for a total of $638.49. We made this same trip in 2014, we burned 236 gals of diesel at an average price of $4.01. That is 31% cheaper than last year or 45% more expensive than this year....wow. 

I averaged 16.50 miles per gallon overall, slightly better than last year, but I drove a bit slower.

It was good!

Day 14 & 15, August 8th and 9th - Canada and Home Sweet Home

On Saturday we got up early at the J. W. Wells Sate Park in Cedar River Michigan, cooked a good breakfast and loaded up for another long day of driving. Our goal was to get at least 600 of the 900 miles behind us by the end of the day, so we could be home by mid day on Sunday.

Not far from Sault Ste Marie we had a bear run across the road in front of us, this happened last year too, only in Mn.  Very cool.

We made our way to Sault Ste Marie, MI, fueled up with the cheaper US gas and crossed the bridge with about a 15min wait to get thru the checkpoint, not bad. How they calculate the bridge tolls is a mystery.  My van with single axle trailer was $9.00, Ed's truck pulling a much larger dual axle trailer was $7.25, how annoying is that!

We took the Trans-Canadian Highway,  also know as Rt 17. This is not what we consider a highway in the USA, it is mostly a two way road with passing zones every so often.  Speed limits are 100 kpm max, and it passes through small towns with lower speed limits, so averaging 60mph is about the best one can do.  That being said, it is a pretty relaxing road to drive, with little traffic. We drove until about midnight and pulled into a Walmart parking lot in Renfrew, Ontario for a few hours of sleep. We had traveled about 640 miles, which left about 250 for the Sunday drive.

Sunday we got up at 5AM and went to the local Tim Horton's for coffee and muffins, and were back on the road by 06:30.  We headed for the Cornwall border crossing thinking that it would be less busy and quicker to cross, we were right, there was no line. Once in the states again, we took Rt 11 to Plattsburg and I87 home arriving at Ed and Jean's around 11AM .

After leaving Ed and Jean in Moriah and stopping to let the Rents know we were home safely, we continued onto home, Addison, Vermont.  Our house sitters, John and Liz, were there to greet us and of course everything was in order.

 It was great to be home.

Day 13, Friday August 7th - I90 or Canada?

Today we opened the Cracker Barrel at 6AM for breakfast.  After a good breakfast we hit the road about 07:30 and headed east on I90.

We had to stop in Blue Earth, Mn to see the Jolly Green Giant Statue. It is just off I90 and we needed a break.


















We did make the decision that rather than take I90 past Chicago we would turn north and return through Canada.

This route takes I90 until just east of the Mississippi then to Oshkosh, WI, Green Bay, WI, north to Sault Ste Marie, MI and across the St. Mary's river into Canada. The distance is roughly the same, but the highways are typically 60mph (90-100kph) and do pass through towns, so it is a bit longer drive time.

We wanted to be in MI before stopping so we picked out J.W. Wells state campground as our stop point for the night.

We pulled in about 8PM just after the office closed, but we had called ahead and they post open sites on the door.  It was challenging to locate and get parked in the sites but we managed.  We covered about 582 miles today, 900ish to go.

Day 12, Thursday August 6th – Pack up and point east

Today we got up and had a good breakfast at camp then started packing up for our long drive home.

John and Bill were also packing up and planned to leave early. When John went to load his bike it would not start, it had been sitting all week and we suspect it took on some water in the rain and hailstorm on Monday. We checked the obvious, battery, fuses, etc., but ended up pushing it onto his trailer. John will try to get it fixed on his way home, he is headed for Yellowstone and a few other parks with cuz Bill.

We had been here at Hog Heaven for 7 days and really have had no issues, they do a pretty good job of managing to their capacity and try to make it a pleasant stay.

We camped near some of the same people we did last year, it was good to see them again and hopefully our paths will cross again in the future.

We pulled out of Hog Heaven about 10AM and jumped onto I90 with 1000's of others going east, traffic was pretty heavy but kept moving. 



 We drove to Sioux City, SD and pulled into the Cracker Barrel to use their parking lot for the night. We drove 376 miles in about 8 hours, not that great of time, but we did have stop and go traffic a few times. We are parked in Cracker Barrel but all craved pizza. Ed and I walked to the store for beer, while June and Jean walked to Domino's for Pizza and we met back at the RVs...it was the best Domino's ever!

Tomorrow we will press on east and are thinking that we might take the route back through Canada versus the droning I80/I90 route. If nothing else, it will be a change in scenery.  About 1500 miles to go….

Day 11, Wednesday August 5th – Ham Sammich and Devil's Tower

Today we set out about 9AM for the Devil's Tower Loop.

This is a beautiful ride that heads northwest from Sturgis into Wyoming.

Along the way you pass several very remote saloons that pop up just for the Sturgis event. We passed them by, it was still morning and we are on two wheels....

Our first stop was Hulett, Wy where each year they cook up about 1000 pounds of pork and give out a free lunch to all the bikers who get there early enough, we arrived right on time at 11AM.

The line was about 20 mins long, but it was a good lunch with live music in Capt'n Ron's Rodeo Bar.

Hulett is a fun little town that gets just swamped with bikers on 'no panties Wednesday'. The no panties must have been from years past, now it is just a place everyone stops for a free sammich, listen to music and hang with the masses of bikers.

After seeing the sites in Hulett we moved onto Devil's tower, along with a few thousand of our biker friends.

The weather was perfect other than a bit warm and the tower is just amazing.

We were even able to pick out a few climbers on the tower...no thanks. They looked like small ants to the naked eye, it gives you some idea of scale, the tower really is huge.

As we exited the park we stopped at the 'Sacred Circle of Smoke Sculpture' and were amazed we were the only visitors. I think it is one of the very best places to view the Tower.

The three Amigos 

From Devil's Tower we rode toward Sundance, Wy, but as you leave you can see what one of the rangers referred to as the 'Spielberg Money Shot' from 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind'

Sundance is famous for the Sundance film festival and its association with Robert Redford.

We arrived just in time to grab some ice cream and watch the 'Burnout Contest'. For the price of a new tire contestants can ride their bike up onto a stand where the crowd can watch them burn the tire until it blows, with a loud bang. Winners are selected based upon crowd reaction.

The burnout is followed by a wet T-shirt contest, which the guys enjoyed, almost as much as the burn out contest. The girls not so much...

We left Sundance a bit after 5PM and headed back, John had to get his rental back to Rapid City by 7:30PM. The loop was about 170 miles.

 We came to Sturgis to be part of the 75^th annual rally, and it was great, but the real experience here is the riding. The roads are well maintained and to say the scenery is breath taking is not an over statement. The trip meter on the Harley says we have ridden 1075 miles since unloading in the Badlands and it was just awesome.

For our last evening we decided to meet John and Bill in Rapid City for a good dinner out. We ate at the Fire House Restaurant on Main Street. It is a cool place that was once an actual Firehouse. Good Food and good company.

Tomorrow we will pack up, say our goodbyes and head East, no set plan on where we might get to...we will see.

Day 10, Tuesday August 4th - Three States

Tuesday was forecast to be rainy so we planned a shorter ride. Just for a place to go, we picked Alzada, MT.  They have an annual 'Topless Tuesday' and the girls said we just have to go...NOT. It is a good ride that takes you from South Dakota, through the corner of Wyoming and just into Montana.

Along the way is Bear Butte State Park and one of the locals downtown said it is an often missed local jewel worth visiting. She was right.

It is a beautiful park that is formed by a volcano.

Crazy Horse spent a lot of time here, he considered it sacred.

It has great views.

It also has a herd of resident buffalo which were really close to the road. Someone from the low end of the gene pool got off his bike and started to get too close. The ranger came by in a SUV and told him to go back to his bike, when he didn't he chased away the buffalo with his SUV.

It was cool to see a herd run but there was an 'oh shit' moment when they headed for the road, but they turned away and crossed the road just behind us. I don't think it went quite like the ranger was planning but no one was stampeded.



From Bear Butte we blasted north on open highway with big sky views. It was a pretty ride except for the strong cross winds but we got those behind us when we turned west towards Belle Fourche, SD.

From Belle Fourche it was about 35 miles to Alzada, MT, passing through Wyoming and into  Montana.

We did not know what to expect there since it is at least 75 miles from Sturgis and in the middle of no where. It was a crazy scene, 1000's show up, the place is overwhelmed, with bikes down both sides of the road.

The event is sponsored by the Stoneville Saloon, their motto is "Cheap Beer, Lousy Food".

It was 'Topless Tueday' so one of our group had to do it....I did not pick John!













We were hungry but getting to any lousy food was impossible, so after 'taking in the sights', we decided to head back to Belle Fourche for lunch.

We had lunch at the Cowboy Back Bar, a bit of a dive, but good burgers and brats.

The whole time we were on the road, the skies to the south were dark and we continually checked the radar. To the south they were getting it however it seemed to be staying south, but it did make us decide to run for camp after lunch. We got back to camp around 15:30 and dry after about a 160 mile ride.

We had intentions of going to the Leonard Skynyrd concert at the Buffalo Chip, but the weather was just too iffy. If you pay $75 a ticket to get in and it rains like it did the last night, you are SOL.

So we did some chillaxing, took showers and had dinner at camp while Bill and John headed down town for dinner.

We eventually decided to take Dabus down town, which is an experience in itself.

It is like riding the bus to school, only all the kids can drink....on the bus.













We strolled the streets a bit before finding our way to Easyriders where we found Bill and John up on the 3rd rail people watching...imagine that.

We found a real 'Steel Horse'














The people watching from the bars is very entertaining, you see some very interesting sights, crazy people getting arrested and amazing machines from bikes to motorhomes.

All and all it was another pretty darn nice day.














We returned to camp and after a night cap we turned in and plan to be up early to head for Devil's Tower tomorrow.  The weather forecast is a bit iffy, we hope we are as lucky as we were today.

Day 9, Monday August 3rd - Spearfish Canyon, Downtown and FTS

We woke to another beautiful morning but the forecast was for the weather to deteriorate, with rain on Tuesday, so we thought it would be good to get in Spearfish Canyon early.

We ate a quick breakfast, mounted our steel horses and headed out about 9AM.

It was just one of those glorious mornings to be on a motorcycle in such a beautiful setting.

We stopped at Bridal Veil Falls for a photo, but since we were so early in the morning the sun was in our lenses, so they aren't great photos.












After a spectacular ride through Spearfish, we pulled into the historic town of Deadwood and walked the street.

There were quite a few more bikes than we saw last year but we still found a place to park.

We were all hungry so strolled on into Saloon #10.

Saloon#10 is where Wild Bill Hickok got shot in the back while playing Poker. He had black aces over eights in his hand..now called 'the dead man's hand', but no one messed with the 'Wild Bunch' as John named us.







We had a nice ride back from Spearfish and went to camp for a quick break, then headed into town for some strolling and shopping.

We had a great time looking at all the sights and just goofing off.

















From downtown we decided to do a quick tour of some 'outside of town' saloons before returning to camp. John took us on a 10 mile dirt road short cut (I asked him if he knew Kim Kilmartin) but there was no traffic..imagine that...our bikes are sorely in need of a 'bikini wash' now.

Our first stop was the Broken Spoke Saloon, where when you arrive by motorcycle, you drive into the saloon and past the bar, crank the engine and the people more or less grade your performance.  I have to admit, this is one time when I wished my pipes were as loud as Ed's.

We had a good time strolling around, everyone always seems in a great mood and having a good time.

From the Broken Spoke we moved onto The Buffalo Chip, we toured the outside venue where they were having some Custom Bike contests, we will likely go to a concert there tomorrow.

I am thinking of selling the house and building one of these...NOT.

Jean even took Ed for a spin.














We all decided we would like to go to the Full Throttle Saloon after dinner so we headed back to camp for a quick bite and then all loaded into the Truck (Fred was the DD) and headed off to FTS.

The sculpture outside says it all about the FTS, 'over the top' is an understatement.

Again it is a party atmosphere, we had fun strolling the grounds.

They have a live stage and fill in between acts with various performances, like the motorcycle on a wire act.

Jean found a new friend, I think she might dump Ed for this guy.

The main act at FTS this night was Bret Michaels,  but he did not come on until nearly 11PM..and they filled the time with some pretty lame stuff, the venue is amazing, the acts not so much.










By the time Michaels came on, the weather was looking iffy, we saw his opening act with a few drops falling, so we headed for the truck.  We barely made it, in fact Bill and John got a bit wet, when the skies just opened, the good news was no bikes on road back to camp.

We arrived at camp and it was raining so hard we stood for sometime under the bike canopy before we finally sprinted for the Campers. Then it started hailing, it was so loud in the Van it was deafening.  But we had ice for Martini's.















Tomorrow we have no real plans other than going to the Buffalo Chip for a concert....we will see.

Day 8, August 2nd – Custer State Park, The Needles and Iron Mountain with Jenn and Joe Temple

Today we met up with Joe and Jenn at their house in Black Hawk around 10AM and set out for the Custer State Park wildlife loop. With Joe as our guide we can just follow and not worry about getting lost or making a wrong turn. 

Joe showed us some of the lesser traveled roads and we covered the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain roads that are just perfect motorcycle roads, bridges, tunnels and pig tails.

 

We also took a stop at Sylvan Lake, it was made by damning between two huge rocks.

It made a very nice lake that has short walks around it and behind the damn.

 Trail behind Sylvan Damn, rocks stuck between huge rocks above.

Back side of Sylvan Damn














From Sylvan we all decided we were a bit hungry so stopped and had Buffalo Burgers.  We then moved onto Custer State Park for the wildlife loop.  It is a great ride even if you don't see wildlife. 

We did come upon some one making an ass of himself in the road.  Jenn straightened him out.











We did eventually find several herds of Buffalo, they were not close but close enough.

We took the short route home since we all were getting a bit fried in the sun. 

We said our goodbyes to Joe and Jenn between Rapid City and Black Hawk.













It was another day of perfect weather and great riding, we clocked around 180 miles in the day and are over 500 miles of biking since our arrival. We have not made plans for Monday yet, but we have rain coming on Tuesday, so we will likely go for a ride.