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The invading hordes are encamped all around the area, the gates of Sturgis have been breached and the town over run with some of the world’s most interesting looking people!  Exhibit “A” is pictured above, we can label him “Hun”.  Besides the hundreds of thousands of participants, there is also a huge influx of tattoo artists, mechanics, vendors and service help that all come here to make a lot of money in a short period of time.  Some of the bartenders not only open beers at a frantic pace, but will occasionally dance on the top of the bar to shake things up.  As if this place needs additional shaking.  Exhibit “B” to the right we can label her  “Hon”. 

This is now my third year in a row coming to the Sturgis Rally and it hasn’t gotten old yet.  It’s the same food, it’s the same bars, it’s very much the same things for sale just with a different year printed on them noting this years rally, same basic format.  What is really the draw for me is the moving, living landscape of people and machines that are here.  And of course the motorcycle riding. It’s difficult to sum up this trip and this place at rally time, there’s so much going on.  I could easily write a post every day or two. 

To quickly sum up the riding experience, there are a lot of scenic roads and places to go in this area.  Devil’s Tower, Mount Rushmore, The Black Hills, Badlands, Deadwood, and you get to do the rides with a bunch of the half a million of your new closest friends each outing.  A huge factor for me is the conditions of the roads.  They are excellent and no doubt kept in good shape for the yearly rally that brings lots of money into the state.  I have ridden my Fat Boy in more scenic and inspirational places, but here I never really worry about the road conditions.  I typically feel the need to be much more observant as most places aren’t catering to mostly folks on two wheels.  When the rally is on, the town of Sturgis which is normally under 7,000 people, swells to around 500,000 people or there about.  I believe during rally week the town is the most populated city in South Dakota.  No doubt that the roads are kept in A-1 condition around here for the good of the economy.

Back to the Sturgis experience.  It is a great party and everyone that makes the trip here is a motorcycle enthusiast.  So it seems that most all these folks are on the same page in their feelings about the biking culture.  It’s a big wonderful, fun loving kind of weird community.  I saw a woman riding her motorcycle the other day down the Main Street and she was looking good, had cut off sleeves showing some nice tasteful tattoos, and basically was sporting a very together biker chic look.  The front of her tee shirt summed it up perfectly, it said “I WILL punch you in the face”. Oh, no,no, wait, that was another woman.  This woman had a shirt that read “It’s not a fashion statement, it’s a lifestyle”.  People are here to be seen and be a little, or a lot outrageous, hang out with the tribe and belong to this community.  Trying to explain this whole collection of of folks is difficult.  It sort of looks like a gathering of residents from the land of broken toys, the Huns gathering at the gates of Rome getting ready to sack the city and the bar scene from a Star Wars movie punctuated by young women serving a lot of beer.  The musical back drop all around town is basically a lot of pipped in Ozzie, AC/DC, Guns and Roses, and other hard driving Rock & Roll.  Once the afternoon starts, you can surely find some live music in numerous places in town until the wee hours.  From morning until late at night there is a constant rumble of motorcycles.  Traffic is heavy and every street corner near the center of town is a four way stop where everyone revs their bikes before crawling to the next stop sign.  

There are so many things here that would cause “outrage” in most of America, I think.  I don’t really understand the “outrage” thing, but it seems to me there would be plenty of triggers to set it off here.  I’m not sure where else on the planet shop keepers can wear tee shirts that say “F**K YOU, I think you Suck” (without the asterisks).  Some vendors put up simple but direct signage like the one on this mannequin that says “Don’t F**King Touch”!  And just this morning I went to a church sponsored breakfast and when I came out there was a gentleman across the street who was barefoot and had long white unkempt hair and matching beard looking around in the bushes for something.  He looked like a lawn camper, so maybe he was just trying to find his boots.  Anyway he had on jeans and a black shirt with large white lettering with the message “F**K YOU (again no asterisks ). He kind of looked like Moses, but instead of ten commandments, he just had this one on his shirt.  It’s just kind of just the way some folks around here like to say “howdy partner”.  By the way lawn camping is a thing here because the residents of Sturgis will let you pitch a tent and sleep in their yards for some extra income.  On the flip side, the vast majority of people here are really polite, very approachable and striking up a conversation is easy.  It’s all one big tribe, so if you have a bike, some type of leather or denim on and/or a tattoo(s), you belong.  Speaking of, I joined the club and got inked this year, but more on that on another post.

One of the more interesting people I met was in a supermarket parking lot in Rapid City one evening.  I was adjusting the straps that hold my bike securely on the trailer and a guy in a wheel chair rolled up and told me he like my bike.  I thanked him and asked him where he was from.  To tell you the truth I was having a bit of a hard time understanding him because he was having some issues with his speech and seemed to have an accent, but I do believe he said Australia. I carried on and asked him if he was here for the rally.  He said he was and it was his first time.  He then followed up with telling me he rode for about 20 years and then 5 years ago he crashed and this wheelchair is now his ride.  He said that he dreamed of coming to Sturgis ever since he started riding and 20 years later here he was.  Some relatives were waiting in a van nearby and helping him along with this trip.  We talked a little more, wished each other well, and I told him to enjoy the rally.  I wanted to give this guy a hug, but that wouldn’t look very biker-ly I guess, plus he just wanted to enjoy the rally and I’m thinking not feel special, so much as blend in with everyone else.  Although he really seems to be a special individual.  Talk about a guy that’s still stirring up some air, or not giving up on his dream of getting here after having this life changing event and from half way around the world.  I think he’s going to have a great time here, because it really is kind of the land of broken toys.  I don’t mean that in a demeaning way.  Most people are physically whole but there are vets that are on bikes that have side cars that are shuttling around other more seriously wounded vets so they can come and enjoy the rally.  I’ve passed numerous people on bikes that have a prosthetic leg, I saw this bike that was outfitted so the driver can pull their wheel chair right into a cockpit like area and ride just like everyone else.  I’ve seen a couple of guys that have wheelchairs strapped to the back of their bikes and a stick shift to change gears and other alterations depending on the physical challenge they need to deal with.  Physically a lot of these folks aren’t whole, but they certainly seem mentally tough and together.  It’s inspiring to see people overcoming their physical obstacles so they can ride and be a part of this community.  I’m hoping my parking lot friend sees these things too and figures out a way to come back to Sturgis one day and ride just like everyone else.  This is the kind of great stuff that makes my journey and some of my goals seem insignificant, but it gives me huge encouragement that there is so much more to see and learn out here.

Sturgis surely deserves at least another post, so for now I’ll wrap this one up.  I’m getting back on the road today heading east.  It might take a few days to figure out how much this stretched my boundaries and see where my new normal is.

So for now….  This is the End!