John and I went into Sturgis to do our shopping. We walked up and down the streets, shopped, and people watched. We walked over to the Post Office and mailed our purchases home. We took a short break in the Civic Center, and we met a couple of guys from New Zealand. They had shipped their bikes from home to the west coast, then they flew in and picked them up. They rode all the way to the rally, and found camping on a little old lady's front lawn, just a block from rally headquarters. They were going to tour the USA on their 5 week vacation.
At 1200 we met Lee and Gabi, Lyle, Larrie and Garth, for lunch at the Loud American Roadhouse.
Lee and Gabi
After lunch, John and I went back to the campground. We went back to Sturgis just before sundown, because I wanted to try and get a few night life pictures.
It was a very slow night. The temps have been a lot cooler this year compared to past years.
Day 8. Thursday the 11th.
This morning John and I packed up and headed west. We're still not sure where we're going, but it will be somewhere west.
We left Belle Fourche and headed west on SD-34. In Aladdin, WY we dropped down onto I-90 from WY-111.
We stopped for gas in Gillette. That's when John noticed that his front tire had a really bad cupping problem. He decided to go back an exit to the Harley-Davidson dealer we'd just passed. We walked into the the service area and John spoke to the service writer. The dealership wanted almost $400.00 to mount a new Dunlop D-408f on his bike. John told them he'd have to think about it. I got out my netbook and Googled his old tire, D-407f. I found out about a recall on that tire. So John called his dealer in Rice Lake, WI. Their service manager told him about a service bulletin, M1258C. John went back into the service department and the writer looked up the bulletin and they ended up replacing his tire for free. We were back on the road about 3 and a half hours later.
We got off I-90 at Buffalo, and crossed over the Big Horn Mountain on hwy 16. I had been over the Big Horns before, but on hwy 14. I think that 16 is a much more scenic highway and is perfect for a motorcycle. There are nice 50 MPH sweepers and even a few 25 MPH tight hairpin curves.
I tried to get some pictures on the west side, but I was shooting into the setting sun.
We had really good dinner at the Ten Sleep Saloon. I had the chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and John had the beef roladen with mini dumplings and brown gravy. Both the food and the waitress were GREAT!
We stopped for the night in Worland, WY at the Days Inn.
