Day 4 It's a Great Day to Visit a National Treasure

Because of the time change I would wake up every morning around 4 a.m. I think Dan was digging it because he really never had to wait for me to get ready in the morning. I was usually showered up and downstairs packing up my saddlebag for that day's journey. Tuesday the 5th was Mt. Rushmore Day. I was excited to go on a scenic cruise that morning. Feeling the wind in my face makes me oh so happy. So we hit the road early on our adventure to Rushmore.
The view from our room in Rapid City.

On the way to Rushmore there was one cloud looming over us. There are no other clouds in the sky...just this cloud. It begins to sprinkle and I say to Dan...Just keep going we will ride out of it. WRONG...it starts pouring so we pull over and throw on our rain gear...the only problem with that is now our seats are all wet so I now have a wet ass because I didn't put on my rain pants. LOL We finally ride out of the rain when we get to Keystone. Keystone is a tiny little town with the population of around 311.





I remember visiting Mt. Rushmore as a child. I didn't appreciate the greatness of what I was seeing. I didn't realize how lucky we are to have such a wonderful monument until I revisited Rushmore back in 2004. One thing to remember is that it does cost to enter Mt. Rushmore.($5 a person) I forgot to see how much it was so when we got up to the gate to pay I only had $7.00 out. I had to do some pretty tricky maneuvering to get the saddlebag open and my money out of my purse but damn, I must say, I have talent! :)

When we walked in toward the monument we heard beautiful music and discovered a family musical group called Airo & Brule'. They were playing the most beautiful contemporary Native American music that I've ever heard.

At one point I had to walk away because their music was bringing huge tears to my eyes and I kept thinking how much the United States has wronged the Native American people.

Look...it's the Iowa flag!!!
I think these guys might be a British rock group called the What? Not sure...they really had everyone watching them though and we saw them again in Keystone.

After taking in the whole Rushmore experience we decided to head back into Keystone for lunch.

2nd to the Harley is the Indian...LOVE EM!
And I couldn't pass up another cheesy photo opp! LOL

After we looked around a little in Keystone we hopped back on Zippy P and headed back to guess where??? You'll never guess???? Give up yet???? LOL Ok...it was back to STURGIS!!!! LOL

Day 3 Sturgis Continued...

After we had blazed around South Dakota a little we headed back into Sturgis. We figured we better get back into town early because Monday night was the night that Kiss played at Glencoe. Traffic was insane getting into town so being the smarties that we are we turned off on a side street and headed over to downtown. I was seriously excited because tonight was the night we were headed to the Broken Spoke to listen to and watch the Jasmine Cain Band! We walked around downtown a little because JCB didn't perform until 8 pm. Here are some more photos of the day.





We head on over to the Broken Spoke so that we could find a table up close.


Jasmine Cain and her band took the stage around 8 pm. Jasmine was wearing a bra, tiny panties, stockings, and a long black coat. She looked HOT! She's so tiny but her voice is a powerhouse. Her and her band rocked. If you make it to Sturgis next year you have to go and see this band. I wish she would have played more of her original songs because they are amazing but I understand that she has to keep the crowd entertained with cover songs too. Not everyone there knew who she was like obsessed fan IHG. LOL!



After the show was over there was a Miller Lite Girl contest. Thanks to Dan we have pictures of that event. LOL!




While the Miller Lite girl contest was going on I spent some time talking to Jasmine. I thanked her for doing the interview and told her how much I loved hearing her play. I didn't realize until later in the evening that Dan had bought me the new CD Locks and Keys and had it autographed. Too Cool! Next up that night were the Kentucky Headhunters. Remember the song "Feed Jake"? So we are hanging out waiting for them to set up the stage for the KHH show and I look over and OMG it's Sasha Mullins. Sasha has the blog Down the Road a Peace...she's been in a Discovery Channel Documentary about Women Riders...She is a singer/songwriter...and she wrote the book Biker Lady Living and Riding Free. She also has a new book coming out the middle of August. I head over right away to say hi. I remember saying to her...Hi Sasha I'm IowaHarleyGirl...I'm the chick that posts comments on your blog all the time. She totally knew who I was which was so awesome. She gave me a big hug and we talked for quite some time. She hadn't decided until the last minute to travel to Sturgis but Jasmine talked her into it, so they loaded up Tiger Lily...her Sporty...and headed to Sturgis from Tennessee. D-Day...I hope you get to meet her in Milwaukee! She totally rocks and is sooooooooo genuinely nice.


Finally about 10:30 or so the Kentucky Headhunters hit the stage. They were great...I have a story about them later that was kinda cool. :)



About 12:30 or so we decide that it was time to head back to Rapid City and hit the sack. It was probably good we were leaving because I think I was going to be going on my 5th beer...I'm not used to drinking like that...lol.

I need a writing break but keep checking back...there is more to come...

Day 3...Sturgis

Monday morning I'm up at the crack of dawn...showered and ready to get on the road. Where are we headed? Well to Sturgis of course. I can feel the excitement in my belly. We are motoring down the interstate with hundreds of other bikes and we are all going to the mecca of all rallies. When I finally see the Sturgis Next 2 Exits sign I throw up my arms again. My entire body gets chill bumps and I have the hugest smile on my face. I'm sure if you were following the stats of this years rally at all you have heard that attendance was down. I believe that it was somewhat because it was pretty easy to enter town that morning and we were able to ride down Main Street with ease. I'm going to post pictures from that day so that you can check it all out. It's hard to explain the feeling you get when you are an obsessed motorcycle addict like me. I truly felt at home again there in Sturgis with all of the thousands of other bikers who love the lifestyle as much as I do.








After we walked around downtown we decided to head out to Thunder Road and the Full Throttle Saloon. Progressive Motorcycle Insurance did an excellent job finding people places to park out at Thunder Road. They gave out silver bells for your bike and if you had your coupon you could get your free Sucker Punch Sally's t-shirt. Here are a few photos from Thunder Road.




We left Thunder Road and headed across the street to the Full Throttle Saloon. It was pretty early in the morning when we got there so there wasn't a lot going on.




We left Sturgis for a little while and just road through the beautiful country of South Dakota. More to come on Day 3...including Jasmine Cain and Sasha Mullins!

Day 2...Making Our Way to Rapid City

I was up early on Sunday morning ready to get back on the road so that we could get to Rapid City and do a few things around town. We had our coffee, headed over and fueled up at a gas station down the street and got on our way down I -90. The weather was chilly and it was sprinkling but not enough to justify rain gear. As we worked our way west the sky started looking wicked and there was the most insane looking Wall Cloud in front of us. The closer we got the more the wind picked up and the darker it became. Before we knew what was happening we were riding through the cloud. I can't even imagine how many mph the wind gusts were. There were moments when I thought that the bike was going to blow over but Dan kept her straight and steady and on the road. Thank God! I of course didn't get a photo of it so I found something similar on the Internet so you could see what it looks like.After making it through the Wall Cloud it began to rain so we pulled off the road and put on our gear. Other people were pulling over too and commenting on how wild the whole Wall Cloud experience was.

Back on the road we made a couple more stops for fuel and to relieve our aching butts a little. We both agreed that we probably won't be able to do the Iron Butt ride any time soon.

The closer you get to Rapid City the more beautiful the landscape becomes and em no...I have no photos of it...why? Who knows. But let me tell you it was beautiful. There was one moment that took my breathe away and Dan told me when we got to Wall that there was a moment when he got a little disoriented because of the beauty of what was in front of him. You come up over this hill and before you is the beginning of the Badlands and a beautiful river. It was a breathtaking view. I remember thinking to myself...is this Heaven? No it's South Dakota!

I'm sure everyone has heard of Wall Drug and if you have not there is something wrong with you. All along the interstate are billboards enticing you to stop at Wall Drug. The ones that make me smile are Free Ice Cold Water at Wall Drug and 5 Cent Coffee at Wall Drug. And you know what...both signs are still true even today! Well we of course stopped in Wall and found Wall Drug. It was fun and there were so many bikes and bikers there. It's really funny to observe the common folk who forgot to do a little research and didn't find out that the week they were going on their Badlands/Black Hills Family vacation was the same week as the Sturgis Rally. We had lunch in the Wall Cafe and enjoyed our free ice cold water and 5 cent coffee. We ventured through the rest of Wall Drug and hit some of the other shops. It's a fun place and I'm glad we stopped. I hadn't been there since I was a kid.

Back on the road, finally headed to Rapid City. In no time we are there...we found our hotel with ease...checked in...got unloaded and headed on over to Black Hills Harley Davidson. And once again...no camera. DUH! It's a huge dealership and they give you your first taste of rally fun. They had vendors everywhere...Drag Specialties, Vance and Hines, Kuryakyn, and Dunlap Tire Corp to name a few. We both spun the wheel at the Bud Booth and got a fun prize. I got Bud Beads(and I didn't even have to show anything) and Dan got a cap. We were there about a hour and decided to go down to the Convention Center to the Harley Davidson show. We got our HOG pins at the HOG Hospitality suite and looked around the show. There were some damn beautiful 2009 Harleys there.

We went back and forth on if we wanted to head into Sturgis and decided that we would save it for Monday. We were both seriously pooped and hungry so we rode around Rapid City...found some dinner and then headed back to the hotel for some much needed sleep.

Here are a few pictures that Dan took at Wall Drug on Day 2.