This year I had made up my mind to attend the Sturgis Biker Rally. I've been to just about all major biker events, but had never done Sturgis since it is a 24 hour drive (without any stops), one way. This year, I didn't care. I only had a few days so I had to make the best of them. I was headed to accomplish 3 things; (1) Go pick up my Quigley E350 4x4 from Colorado Camper Van, (2) attend the Sturis Biker Rally, and (3) drop off the van to Chris Steuber with UJoint Offroad in Fletcher, NC. I had only 5 days to accomplish this. I depart by plane heading to Denver, CO on Wednesday afternoon. I arrive in Denver late and pick up the van from Derek Weber with Colorado Camper Van. I go ahead and do my Walmart shopping, purchasing select groceries, a $2.00 styrofoam cooler and a cheap propane skillet plate. By the time I got through, it was about midnight. I made up my mind to make it at least half way to Sturgis before I caught some sleep. Made it to Glendo, Wyoming where I camped at the state park for a few hours. When I woke up, there were deer all around the van. As I was leaving the sun was rising and it made a beautiful scene over the large lake.
I arrived in Sturgis on Thursday morning. Caught up with a bunch of my biker buds and headed to the Buffalo Chip Campground. They actually had hot showers there. I was very impressed. Sturgis was packed and had thousands of bikers.
There were plenty of hogs amuch in Sturgis...and I'm also talking about the four legged kind. This particular hog has her own Facebook page apparently. She eats bottle caps, cigarette butts, paper, rocks, etc. Her little hooves are painted purple to match her outfit. Hey, I guess everybodies got to do something!
Not ony was there hogs, but there were also dogs. Okay, I'm talking about the four legged kind again. They had their own outfits and everything.
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The Buffalo Chip Campground has tons of great musicians every night. On Thurday night, they had Sugarland and Lynard Skynard. It was a great concert that went into the wee hours of the night. Both bands were awesome.
The next morning (Friday), nobody was stirring. I got up hit the hot shower and took in the sunrise. It was a great view.
It was great getting to see and hang out with my bikers friends. It's not often we see each other so we make the most of it.
On Friday I knew it was my last day, so I wanted to at least get to see Mount Rushmore and visit an area they call The Needles. This took me up until around 2:00 p.m. Mount Rushmore was very impressive to me. This was my first sighting of it and I was really amazed at it all.
The Needles is an area where there are many mountains, lakes and rock formations. Often times to continue, you have to navigate through rock carved single lane tunnels that are about the width of a van. Seriously, I was creeping through a couple of them where there was literally only one or two inches on each side of the mirrors. Bikers were loving it. They would watch as I traversed these narrow corridors and would take pictures and clap on occasion as I made it through the narrow rock formation.
The lakes just added that much more to the scenery. It certainly had my mind wandering about wetting a line and grilling some fish. Maybe next trip when I only have a few days.
While on the trip I saw all types of wildlife. I saw hundreds of antelope, I saw flocks of turkey and little ones tagging along, deer, coyotes, goats, etc. The only thing I didn't see was buffalo. But hey, there's always next time!
By the end of the day I decided if I was going to get to Fletcher,NC where Chris Steuber (UJoint Offroad) is located, I better get with it. I wanted to travel 24 hours straight and end up in the Smokey Mountains to camp. So off I go headed to Chris' place. 24 hours later, I'm camped in the Smokey Mountains with great weather and high 50's temps. It was awesome. And did I tell you how well I ate. Funny, I lost weight yet ate like a horse! lol
I met Chris at his shop at 7:30 a.m. Monday morning. We planned our attack on the Mud Hippy (that's the name of my van as reflected on it's tag....God love it). Within weeks, it will be sporting 8 inch lift and 37's all the way around. Okay, I know....what the heck....but it's a toy and I want to play high!
By 11:00 a.m. I was on a plane back to Gulfport, Mississippi.
It was an awesome trip that seemed to last only moments, but the memories will last a lifetime.