Sunday, September 16, 2018

Day 5, More Riding and Racing...

Saturday, 9-8-18. John and I started the day with another ride down Spearfish Canyon, then a loop around Lead, Central City, and Deadwood.


We rode down 385, over to Nemo road, then a spirited ride up Vanocker Canyon which took us to Sturgis.

We were too early to watch the races, so we went north of town to check out the new Full Throttle Saloon. The place is huge! Inside the main bar building there are several huge industrial machines... old milling and boring machines, a large hole punch... Big stuff! There are cars and motorcycles on the walls, a collection of welding helmets... The bar top is made of old sprockets, gears, chain, bearings, and sockets... all welded together. The bar stool bass are iron pipe with gears welded to them...



We watched the races from several locations around the track. Another perfect day for racing.


After the races we went back to camp and parked the bikes, as it looked like it might rain. The four of us rode to Spearfish in Kathy's car. We had a great dinner at the Guadalajara restaurant then went back for another night around the camp fire.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Day 4. Canyon Rides and Supermoto Races...

Friday, 9-7-18. John's friend, Kathy, wanted a ride up and down Spearfish Canyon. So we left camp early and would meet up with Dean at a late breakfast. The temps in Spearfish Canyon are always much cooler than in town, and this morning was no exception. Early in the day there was little traffic so it made for a nice ride.

Pics shot on the fly...


We took the back roads from Spearfish to Whitewood and met up with Dean at the Mill Iron. After breakfast, John, Kathy, and Dean went up to Deadwood to play in the casinos, and I went back to riding the canyons.

Bridal Veil Falls, Spearfish Creek along side the roadway.


We all met up in Sturgis to watch the races. Last year we were freezing and wet, this year the weather was perfect!!


We got back to camp shortly after dark. John built a camp fire in the fire ring and sat around and enjoyed the beautiful evening.







Day 3, Down to Hot Springs.

Thursday, 9-6-18. We started the day with breakfast at the Mill Iron restaurant in Whitewood.


We both had one of their specialties, a pastie, or as it's more commonly spelled around here, pasty. It's pastry dough wrapped around a filling of meat and potatoes. There are breakfast versions filled with ham, cheese, potato, and egg.

Here's a picture, not mine but found on the net.


After breakfast we drove to Sturgis to see if there had been any work done building the track for the races on Friday and Saturday. We didn't notice anything, so we took to the hills. We rode Vanocker Canyon, Nemo road to Johnson Siding, over to 385 and down to the Pactola Lake reservoir.
There was someone swimming in the lake.


John wanted to visit some friends of his in Hot Springs, the Whitakers. They used to have a jewelry store in Hill City, but they closed it and moved down to Hot Springs. They still do some gold and silver jewelry, but have expanded their line to include antiques, rocks, minerals, and gems. They're an interesting couple, they live off the power grid and power their shop and home with solar.


We had a late lunch/early dinner in Hot Springs, then we headed back north on 79 and cut west on 36. We took 16A, aka Iron Mountain Road, north bound. I think that's the most scenic way to travel it. You get to see Mt. Rushmore ahead of you as you drive through two of the tunnels. There's also less traffic as everyone seems to ride from Keystone south.

A few pics from 16A. Sorry about the out of frame shot of the Presidents, but it was a long way off and I couldn't see to frame it...


We made it back to camp and waited for John's friends, Kathy and Dean, to arrive. They stayed in the cabin next to us.