Mount Rushmore

August 12, 2005

We headed out Thursday morning at a reasonably early hour. I'd like to think that was a good excuse for having left my disk brake lock engaged on the bike. The lock is a piece of metal that wraps around your rear brake and prevents the rear wheel from turning a full revolution. We were all ready to go, bikes started and Sonny, Smitty and Jaybo had already started moving. I put the bike in gear and start moving - then the engine dies. I try again - same result. Everyone stops to see that I am apparently having bike trouble. I'm thinking there is some serious problem with my bike. I eventually got my head clear enough to figure it out. Duh. The worst part is that the lock comes with an orange bungie cord to be used as a reminder that the lock is engaged. Sonny had just bought the same lock and put it on his bike the night before. When he put it on, he asked me where I wrap the bungie cord. I proudly told him that I had never used the bungie and didn't need it because I never forget my disk lock is there. Payback.

First stop was a brief one at Main Street in Sturgis to take our first look and pick up a few trinkets. Even at nine in the morning there was little parking to be had. Seeing so many bikes lined up from one end of the street to the other is really something else. There were bikes of nearly every conceivable shape, make and color. Although Harleys make up the bulk of the bikes at Sturgis, there were plenty of Hondas, Yamahas, Triumphs and custom choppers too. The amazing thing is that out of a reported 400,000 bikes, I don't know that you would find any two that were exactly alike.

We then rolled out back through Deadwood and down towards Mount Rushmore. The sky was fairly cloudy and the air was cool. After a few miles, we pulled over and put on some warmer riding gear. As now seems to be routine, the scenery was beautiful - winding roads through mountains and canyons, lakes tucked away by the side of the road and trees towering alongside us.

After stopping for a quick bite in Hill City, we pressed on. The approach to Mount Rushmore was a good run. I don't really know how to describe Rushmore, and although pictures can show you something, it really cannot possibly capture the majesty and scale of this monument. As a human endeavor, Rushmore is simply mind boggling. It is one thing for a sculptor to carve something out of a block of stone, but I just do not understand how someone sees that in a mountain and then makes it come to life. Rushmore is truly magnificent and a reminder of our history and what it means to be an American in a truly historical sense.

Rain threatened our departure from Rushmore, so we paused a bit before striking out. We, however, are no weathermen. We rolled east to take Iron Mountain Road down towards Crazy Horse and through some tunnels. The road was narrow, steep and winding with switchbacks over bridges and through tunnels barely 12 feet wide. We stopped to take a picture through one tunnel that framed Mount Rushmore in the distance. At that time we saw a bunch of folks coming the opposite way in full rain gear, so we donned our gear and soldiered on. The rain came down pretty heavily as we crested the mountain and now had to do even tighter switchbacks, downhill, in the rain. Progress was made in small increments - perhaps ten miles an hour or less at times. Lovely. If it had not been raining, the ride would have been technically challenging with enjoyable vistas across the plains. As it was though, it was a little nerve wracking.

After we got through the mountain, we stopped in front of Custer State Park and decided to head back north to Rapid City rather than west towards Crazy Horse - which we figured could wait until another day when the weather was a little better and we could better enjoy the ride on Needles Highway to Crazy Horse. The sky had cleared and the sun had come out, so we took off our rain gear for the 25 mile or so ride to Rapid City and planned to stop at the Harley Davidson display at the convention center there. As it turns out, the removal of the rain gear was a not the best idea.

As we got closer to Rapid City, it started to rain, but it was light. We stopped briefly under a bridge and Sonny threw on his rain jacket. I figured that we were close to the Center and we could ride through it. We were further than I thought. Then it started coming down in buckets, then in barrels. We were drenched. I got the worst of it. When we got to the convention center, the Harley exhibits were closing for the day (5:00 p.m.). This seems awfully early given the fact that most people seem to spend the day out riding. In any event, we stayed until we dried off a bit and the rain appeared to have passed.

Rapid City is about 27 miles from Sturgis, and we rolled out on Interstate 90 only to find even heavier rain. It was hailing. That's right folks, it was raining rocks and we were on our bikes. We stopped and took umbrage under an overpass and then watching the weather figured it wouldn't get any better for a while, so we got back on the bikes. The rain stopped almost immediately. Go figure. Interstate speeds helped dry us off a little bit. We got back into Sturgis and crawled our way through the heavy traffic to get to the campground. We watched one woman take a wide left turn on a custom chopper and front end a parked car. Nice. She was fine. I can't say as much for her ride.

We only clocked about 150 miles, but were exhausted from the ride. We cooked some burgers, had a few beers and wandered over to the beer tent to listen to some live music and watch people. Good times.