DarthRider
09-04-2006, 03:13 PM
Sorry again about the false starts...I've been working on this for most of two days and I'm getting tired. That's my excuse anyway...
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409768-L.jpg
This was my second trip to Sturgis; the first was about 11 years ago when Betty & I took the R100"SS" up with another couple for a week. Well, it was *supposed* to be a week, but it doesn't take me that long to look at 500,000 black t-shirts and listen to 1,000,000 million straight pipes, so we split after two days for Devil's Tower, the Tetons, Jackson Hole, and points West, including a haunted B&B. But that's another story.
I highly recommend a trip to Sturgis and the Black Hills area, but do it a month before or a month after the Rally! But if you have certain things on your motorcyclist "punch list", do include the Sturgis Rally with Daytona and Bonneville.
This trip was a "working vacation" that spanned 14 days, 5 states and 3400 miles. My traveling companions were a co-worker Scott, his 11 year old son, Roy, one of our Sales Reps from Florida, Tim and his wife Brenda. Scott & Roy rode on one Harley, Tim & Brenda each rode theirs. This was Roy's first real road trip. He's a good kid and was named for Roy Orbison, a Texan who could sing a bit. Brenda is a RN who runs the hyperbaric chamber in Orlando to treat divers with the "bends", and old folks who are a quart low on oxygen. She is a very competent, experienced rider, but mostly on Harleys and in a "straight-line" state. This was her first time ever West of the Mississippi. Scott & Tim are experienced, hard core riders, all Harley.
Scotty & Roy..."One and a Half Good Men"
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409710-L.jpg
Brenda...a real trooper and stone sweetie!
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92659582-L.jpg
Brenda & Tim...a real good guy who lucked out (like a few of us!) and got a damned good woman.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409601-L.jpg
I didn't get many pics at "scenic stops". One of the Harleys has a run-out range of 124 miles, and we had a woman and 11 year old, so we stopped a lot but generally only for gas and pee-breaks.
Here's what I did get and some short narrative:
We left well before daylight to avoid the North Texas heat and get above the Texas Caprock (3000 ft. elevation rise) and be out of the humidity before the hottest part of the day.
We stopped in Raton, NM the first night. We had rain the last 20 miles and 10 miles out, we went through a construction zone where there was slick, red mud over the highway and a solid white area where they were spraying lime onto the new dirt roadbed. It got all over us and the bikes and, naturally stopped raining before it washed it off. It was encrusted on the bikes and had to be washed off ASAP as it is corrosive. No pics, too bust washing!
After lunch the next day in Cheyenne, WY, we encountered a HELL of a wind, rain, and then dust storm. The only pic was when we were trying to get our rain gear on. I missed the pic when 2 pair of rain pants were inflated and standing straight out like 4 wind-socks! We estimated the wind at a steady 40 MPH from direct right, with gusts to 50+. It's pretty funny to see 3 Harley Dees going down the road at 70, leaning 15 degrees to the right!
Wind, then short, hard rain, followed by dust so thick we would have pulled over but for fear of getting run over by a truck. Dirt was swirling inside my Arai face shield so hard it hurt. The dirt only lasted about 1 minute, then it cleared and we were 5 mudballs!
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409599-L.jpg
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92659585-L.jpg
The second morning, we left Newcastle, WY for Sturgis, SD.
This was along the way...more than made up for the mudstorm.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409603-L.jpg
We went to Sturgis via Spearfish Canyon, SD...Incredible!
Here's where we stopped for a tasty breakfast (sorry DJ, no food pics).
The river was to my right, a big waterfall behind me.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92663451-L.jpg
Three Bros (The one on the right rides a...WHAT?!)
Right after this was snapped, a guy ripped by on a new Super Duke! Man, was he in the right place.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409604-L.jpg
Ohmigod, here we are at work! 8 days (1 day off) of standing here, talking to people, showing them our latest & greatest. We can't sell direct to consumers, so we send them to any nearby dealers.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409608-L.jpg
We were set up in the LARGE parking area of J&P Cycles store on Lazelle St. in Sturgis.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409612-L.jpg
Man, can you believe I get paid for this kind of thing? Designing this was the most fun small project I've had with Biker's Choice! I was teamed with Robert Opel, the graphic artist who did The Cafe' logos. We were giving away these bandannas and this big poster was also a full page mag ad to bring people in...it worked! We made the 4 Prezes smile a bit, since they are having fun! If we hadn't run out of time we were going to make them all smile a lot more; Teddy R. was going to have a big handlebar biker moustache & biker goggles instead of specs; and Honest Abe was going to have Willie Nelson braids! I hope they do that next year after I'm gone...
Before:
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409703-L.jpg
After:
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409768-L.jpg
Some street action. We were quite a way from the HEAVY stuff downtown and none of this was "rush hour"...just during slow times at the booth.
"Yoo-Hoo! Could any of you fellows please tell me where the Arai booth is?"
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409628-L.jpg
Whoa!!
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409627-L.jpg
"Hey buddy! Check out www.TheMotorcyclistCafe.com!!"
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409629-L.jpg
"Sir, could I interest you in one of our new heavy-duty air-ride suspension kits?
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409626-L.jpg
Nice couple...
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409661-L.jpg
Coupla flamers.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409660-L.jpg
A lotta trouble for nothing?
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409659-L.jpg
A lotta trouble for something.
This is really hard core...Ride on buddy, ride on.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409677-L.jpg
"Hey Bones! It's me, Darth!"
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409681-L.jpg
Wish I had gotten pics of this! These shots are at a 4-way stop. I saw a guy on a late model Sporty who had a “frozen” clutch that would not disengage. He rolled up to the stop sign dragging both tennis shoes, they wuz almost smokin’! He blew on through that stop, furiously cycling the clutch lever, burning the outriggers, and heading right into a l-o-n-g line of stopped bikes, 4-abreast. I couldn’t see what happened up there but I bet it was a hoot! Would someone *please* tell this guy how to ride a bike without disengaging the clutch.
End Part I.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409768-L.jpg
This was my second trip to Sturgis; the first was about 11 years ago when Betty & I took the R100"SS" up with another couple for a week. Well, it was *supposed* to be a week, but it doesn't take me that long to look at 500,000 black t-shirts and listen to 1,000,000 million straight pipes, so we split after two days for Devil's Tower, the Tetons, Jackson Hole, and points West, including a haunted B&B. But that's another story.
I highly recommend a trip to Sturgis and the Black Hills area, but do it a month before or a month after the Rally! But if you have certain things on your motorcyclist "punch list", do include the Sturgis Rally with Daytona and Bonneville.
This trip was a "working vacation" that spanned 14 days, 5 states and 3400 miles. My traveling companions were a co-worker Scott, his 11 year old son, Roy, one of our Sales Reps from Florida, Tim and his wife Brenda. Scott & Roy rode on one Harley, Tim & Brenda each rode theirs. This was Roy's first real road trip. He's a good kid and was named for Roy Orbison, a Texan who could sing a bit. Brenda is a RN who runs the hyperbaric chamber in Orlando to treat divers with the "bends", and old folks who are a quart low on oxygen. She is a very competent, experienced rider, but mostly on Harleys and in a "straight-line" state. This was her first time ever West of the Mississippi. Scott & Tim are experienced, hard core riders, all Harley.
Scotty & Roy..."One and a Half Good Men"
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409710-L.jpg
Brenda...a real trooper and stone sweetie!
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92659582-L.jpg
Brenda & Tim...a real good guy who lucked out (like a few of us!) and got a damned good woman.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409601-L.jpg
I didn't get many pics at "scenic stops". One of the Harleys has a run-out range of 124 miles, and we had a woman and 11 year old, so we stopped a lot but generally only for gas and pee-breaks.
Here's what I did get and some short narrative:
We left well before daylight to avoid the North Texas heat and get above the Texas Caprock (3000 ft. elevation rise) and be out of the humidity before the hottest part of the day.
We stopped in Raton, NM the first night. We had rain the last 20 miles and 10 miles out, we went through a construction zone where there was slick, red mud over the highway and a solid white area where they were spraying lime onto the new dirt roadbed. It got all over us and the bikes and, naturally stopped raining before it washed it off. It was encrusted on the bikes and had to be washed off ASAP as it is corrosive. No pics, too bust washing!
After lunch the next day in Cheyenne, WY, we encountered a HELL of a wind, rain, and then dust storm. The only pic was when we were trying to get our rain gear on. I missed the pic when 2 pair of rain pants were inflated and standing straight out like 4 wind-socks! We estimated the wind at a steady 40 MPH from direct right, with gusts to 50+. It's pretty funny to see 3 Harley Dees going down the road at 70, leaning 15 degrees to the right!
Wind, then short, hard rain, followed by dust so thick we would have pulled over but for fear of getting run over by a truck. Dirt was swirling inside my Arai face shield so hard it hurt. The dirt only lasted about 1 minute, then it cleared and we were 5 mudballs!
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409599-L.jpg
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92659585-L.jpg
The second morning, we left Newcastle, WY for Sturgis, SD.
This was along the way...more than made up for the mudstorm.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409603-L.jpg
We went to Sturgis via Spearfish Canyon, SD...Incredible!
Here's where we stopped for a tasty breakfast (sorry DJ, no food pics).
The river was to my right, a big waterfall behind me.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92663451-L.jpg
Three Bros (The one on the right rides a...WHAT?!)
Right after this was snapped, a guy ripped by on a new Super Duke! Man, was he in the right place.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409604-L.jpg
Ohmigod, here we are at work! 8 days (1 day off) of standing here, talking to people, showing them our latest & greatest. We can't sell direct to consumers, so we send them to any nearby dealers.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409608-L.jpg
We were set up in the LARGE parking area of J&P Cycles store on Lazelle St. in Sturgis.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409612-L.jpg
Man, can you believe I get paid for this kind of thing? Designing this was the most fun small project I've had with Biker's Choice! I was teamed with Robert Opel, the graphic artist who did The Cafe' logos. We were giving away these bandannas and this big poster was also a full page mag ad to bring people in...it worked! We made the 4 Prezes smile a bit, since they are having fun! If we hadn't run out of time we were going to make them all smile a lot more; Teddy R. was going to have a big handlebar biker moustache & biker goggles instead of specs; and Honest Abe was going to have Willie Nelson braids! I hope they do that next year after I'm gone...
Before:
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409703-L.jpg
After:
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409768-L.jpg
Some street action. We were quite a way from the HEAVY stuff downtown and none of this was "rush hour"...just during slow times at the booth.
"Yoo-Hoo! Could any of you fellows please tell me where the Arai booth is?"
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409628-L.jpg
Whoa!!
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409627-L.jpg
"Hey buddy! Check out www.TheMotorcyclistCafe.com!!"
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409629-L.jpg
"Sir, could I interest you in one of our new heavy-duty air-ride suspension kits?
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409626-L.jpg
Nice couple...
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409661-L.jpg
Coupla flamers.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409660-L.jpg
A lotta trouble for nothing?
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409659-L.jpg
A lotta trouble for something.
This is really hard core...Ride on buddy, ride on.
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409677-L.jpg
"Hey Bones! It's me, Darth!"
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/92409681-L.jpg
Wish I had gotten pics of this! These shots are at a 4-way stop. I saw a guy on a late model Sporty who had a “frozen” clutch that would not disengage. He rolled up to the stop sign dragging both tennis shoes, they wuz almost smokin’! He blew on through that stop, furiously cycling the clutch lever, burning the outriggers, and heading right into a l-o-n-g line of stopped bikes, 4-abreast. I couldn’t see what happened up there but I bet it was a hoot! Would someone *please* tell this guy how to ride a bike without disengaging the clutch.
End Part I.