I woke up last night about 4ish because the air was completely still and lightening was flashing everywhere. From my days of living in Chicago, it felt like tornado weather. I jumped out of the top bunk, ran outside and grabbed all our towels, bathing suits, etc. When I crawled back on top, I woke up Ned and said, “Weather is coming, time to batten down the hatches.” No sooner had I said that then the winds came roaring through. And I mean roaring! We knew the top needed to come down so we both jumped off (I came crashing down, owie...). Off came the sheets and pillows, down came the pop-up. Ned ran outside to roll up the awning. Then we sat in the van, being blown about, and waited her out. About 5ish we climbed back upstairs and went to sleep being lulled off by the sound of hail hitting our van. We woke at 9 to sunny skies. Gotta love the Midwest.
Driving out of town this morning there were signs saying “Hail Repair, Free Estimates.”
We did lose a couple of things in the storm. My chair was blown under the table, but Ned’s was nowhere to be found. I eventually located it in the lake. Ned got the pleasure of retrieving it. Ned’s floatie? We think is probably floating down the Missouri River. It had a good life.
Traveling thru South Dakota prairies. (I didn’t enhance this photo. It looks exactly like this!) We took highway 34 and for 3 hours we counted 20 cars. Definitely beats the interstate.
Our big destination today was Sturgis, SD - home of the world’s largest motorcycle rally. We’ve been to the Black Hills on several of our trips, but always headed towards Custer Park. (One of the BEST parks in the country btw). This time we wanted to see what Sturgis and the motorcycle hype was all about. You know, me being such a badass Vespa rider and all...The interesting thing about Sturgis is that there is a two or three block downtown and then several streets are just lined with GIGANTIC vacant barn-like bars (some with chain link fence around them). Basically, half the town is vacant except for the annual one week motorcycle rally. There’s somewhere between 500,000 to 700,000 riders that descend upon this town. Wowza.
The highlight of Sturgis was visiting the Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame. I loved it!! So many cool motorcycles, dating as far back as 1903. The museum has a motorcycle owned by Charlie Chaplin (the red one in the top corner) who apparently was a cycle fanatic. Also, Liz Taylor’s jacket when she would ride with Forbes. But the cycles...OMG so cool.
This motorcycle was made entirely out of wood! There was also the 1949 Indian Papoose. (Lower corner). It was developed during WWII by the British Army for use by British paratroopers. The seat and handlebars could be folded down so that it could be packed into a steel cannister and tossed out of an airplane. It never caught on in the US. If you’re into cycles this museum is definitely worth a stop.
Tonight’s campsite is still prairie camping, but at least we’ve got a bucolic spot near the lake. Everything has been flooded in this part of the country, which is evident by the overflowing lake. There’s a sweet little canoe next to our campsite. It looks so inviting...Tonight’s activities: bike, swim - you know the drill.
