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Off the Mark
by Mark Spensley Express co-publisher |
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111 E. Grand St. P.O. Box 191, Monticello, Iowa 52310 • 319-465-3555 • mexpress@n-connect.net
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Sports Report |
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Off the Mark
by Mark Spensley Express co-publisher |
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| Sturgis or bust! |
| Part three of a series:
Sturgis The best advice I received before departing for Sturgis was: Don’t be in a hurry to get anywhere. Boy was that an understatement. I knew there would be a lot of people but I really had no idea just how many bikers would be there! Exiting off of I-90 into Sturgis felt like a big relief. Two days and almost 800 miles and we were finally here. Not knowing where the Buffalo Chip Campground was located, we asked and were given pretty simple directions. The only problem was the route took us through the heart of downtown Sturgis. An hour later (normally a five-minute drive) we arrived at the Chip, checked in and found a place to pitch our tents, still not sure of what we got ourselves into. After a bit, a young couple, Joe and Jennifer, came over an introduced themselves. They must have sensed Musky and I looked lost. We found out Joe had been to Sturgis before and knew his way around. So we tagged along with them into the concert area for The Guess Who, CCR and some cold beverages, which were much needed by now! As we got to know Joe and Jennifer a bit better, we found out they both were now living in Iowa, transplanted from Arkansas and Michigan. And I will be the first to tell you, stumbling onto Joe was a godsend. When we mentioned our plans for a ride through Custer State Park and the Mount Rushmore area the next day, Joe and Jennifer offered to tag along. And it was a good thing they did. I’m guessing Musky and I would still be trying to find our way out of Custer State Park if Joe wouldn’t had been there leading our trip. After about an eight-hour day of riding, it was time to get back to the Chip for Buck Cherry and ZZ Top. I’m not going to lie, I had no idea who Buck Cherry was but they were high on Jennifer’s list so we scampered back as fast as we could. Joe knew some shortcuts through Sturgis so getting to the Chip became a 20-minute ordeal, instead of an hour. Buck Cherry was pretty good, but ZZ Top was even better. We called it an early night, tuckered out from a fun-filled day of riding the Needles Highway and its many curves. The next morning, after a shower and an encounter in the showers with actor Lorenzo Lamas (that’s another story), we decided to ride the Spearfish Canyon area. We had another beautiful day of weather and again, Joe and Jennifer offered to accompany us, or should I say lead us on our adventure. Spearfish Canyon was my favorite part of the trip. The two days we spent riding in the Sturgis area was thrilling. I have never seen so many bikes. Seeing hundreds of bikes coming at you as you are winding through some pretty narrow and extremely winding roads was a challenge. Trying not to miss a curve or drop off a shoulder made me dizzy at times. We ended that day’s ride in Deadwood, which was my favorite stop. I wished we could have spent more time there but Sturgis was calling. We made our way to downtown Sturgis, finally. We spent some time walking around, visited Sara Like and Renee Siebels at the J&P Cycles location and got a bite to eat. A few hours was no way near enough time to see everything in the downtown area. Before we got back to the Chip, we stopped at a venue called Monkey Rocks. This place also featured some big time entertainment. While there I stumbled across a guy who was doing custom pin striping on the grounds. I had seen this guy, Tex, on TV, as he was a pretty famous airbrush artist. After a short conversation, I worked out a deal to get some custom flames painted on my bike. After some tense negotiations on what color to go with, and lots of input from Musky, Joe and Jennifer, I left the bike in Tex’s hands. We were pinched for time, as Kid Rock was calling, but Tex thought he would be done in time for us to get to the concert. We hung out, grabbed some food and a cold one or two. After about two hours my bike was done. It looked awesome. We headed back to the Chip, pretty exhausted from another full day of riding. Musky decided to pass on Kid Rock so Joe, Jennifer and I made our way into the concert area. I think every biker in Sturgis showed up at the Chip for this event. We couldn’t get anywhere near the stage so we watched him perform from afar. After about an hour of his songs, we had enough and called it a night. Tomorrow we were leaving and I needed some sleep. Sturgis was fun but three days there was enough for both Musky and I. But to really see everything we probably needed a few more days. Would I go back? Most definitely but I’d trailer out the bikes and stay in a different area, like the Deadwood or Lead areas. And I would hope we would run into an extremely nice and helpful couple like Joe and Jennifer. They helped two Sturgis rookies have a really great time! |
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