I'm HERE!

I've seen a great deal of things that are unusualo to me but not to the people who live here.  I forgot to mention that on Thursday, two days ago, I saw at least six crop dusters flying low over the soybean fileds.  I stopped to watch one of them.  I know it's work but it must really be cool to fly like that.  The last one was ending one run, doing his steep turn and beginning the next right over I-90.  I could smell the pesticide.  I t reminded me of the smell of the stuff they used to spray to kill mosquuitoes when I was a kid.  A sort of petrochemical smell that was not pleasant.

I stayed overnight Thursday in Sioux City, just inside the SD border with Minnesota.  A guy approached my me and introduced himself as 'Dave' who used to live in Nanaimo and used to hang with the Angels there.  He apparently got into some trouble with the law in Bc and now lives in Alabama.  The reason he talked to me was that he saw the Canadian flag on the back of my vest and he was blown away that I was from just up the road from where he used to live.  He was riding with his son and wife.  She's from Alabama, and rides a Sportster while he had his son, who had a brain injury from a car crash, and his walker on his bike.  They were going to Sturgis.

When I stopped at one rest stop I met two groups of riders from New York state.  I took their pictures and they took mine.  They left whern they had finished their beers.

Me at the entrance to the Badlands.

Riders from Massena, NY on their way to Sturgis.

Riders from Tennessee at the entrance to the Badlands National Park, SD.

When I started out yesterday morning there was trickle of bikes just a bit heavier than the day before.  By the afternoon it became a flood.  I stopped for gas in a place called Murdo, about 200 miles from Sturgis.  There was a group of about 10 Bandidos from Texas and Oklahoma, and one of them came over to talk to me while I was waiting to get gas.  He commented on my bike then went back.  Right after I had gassed up and was getting some bottled water about 15 more of them roleed in.  They were all wearing their colours, and some even had gym bags with their logo on them.  Their helmets and bikes were stickered up as well.  They sure don't hide it.  I was told that if I was in a place in Sturgis that had Bandidos and Hell's Angels, it might be a good idea to find another place to be.  Apparently they're all packing which is legal here in SD.

I met two good old boys from Illinois and got to talking with them.  when I mentioned that I had no idea where I was going to stay they told me about a place called the Elk Creek Campground and gave me directions.  That at least gave me an option for the night and took a bit of a load off my mind.  And since I've toted my tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping pad with me for almost 10 000 km. it seemed like a good idea to use them.

How the Parks Service keeps people on the trails!

Badlands scene

I took a side trip into the Badlands National Park, just outside of Wall, a small town that has a complex of stores, restaurants and the original small drug store that was established in 1931.  The scenery here is almost surrealistic.  The landscape looks like it could be the background for a movie about an alien planet.  And around every corner the landscapes were more incredible than the ones before.  I met a group of riders from Tennessee at the entrance to the park and we rode for a bit until I dropped off to take more pictures.  At one of the stops there were three bikes that looked a bit ratty from being on the road.  when i waled by the guys one of them started to talk about the ride.  they were part of the larger group of Bandidos who had broken off to take a side trip through the Badlands.  They told me they were from Beaumont Texas.We chatted for about five minutes then I took my photos and left.  I was really surprised that twice in one day, Bandidos, whom I'd only heard about, started conversations with me.  They were really friendly and just enjoying their ride.

Badlands scene

Me in the Badlands

Yellow Mounds section of the Badlands.

Storm cloud over the Badlands.

As I got toward the end of my ride through the Badlands I could see two huge black clouds, one to the west and the other to the northwest.  Both were dropping rain and the colours were really ominous.  The horizon is so big here that you can see forever and I was able to keep an eye on both storms.  I was able to avoid the one to the west but the one to the northwest was right in front of me.  Even though it was probably fifteen to twenty miles away, I could see almost continuous lightning flashes.  I've never seen anything like that before. It was beautiful and ominous at the same time. 

As I rode into Wall, the storm was getting closer.  I stopped for a burger hoping it would rain & get it over with.  I met a guy who was riding an Indian who said he'd heard that there were hailstones the size of golf balls from that storm.  that was along with rain & lightning.  We both decided to clear out before it hit Wall. Just as we were getting ready to pull out we heard a number of sirens and saw an ambulance leaving town. 

As we hit the I-90 again we were hit by some drops of rain and some of the most vicious sdiewinds I have ever experienced.  I was riding leaned over at times and at other times my bike was pushed across half a lane of the highway.  I slowed to 55 mph from the 75 mph speed limit and I was still hanging on.  About ten miles out of Wall as we entered a downhill right hand curve we were slowed by a flagman.  The ambulances and firetrucks we had heard leaving town were set up and traffic was funnelled into one lane.  As I passed the scene I saw about seven or eight bikes down some in the median and others on theor sides on the shoulder.  I haven't heard if anyone was killed, and I cann only hope not, but it looked serious.  All the bikes were Bandidos and two of them looked like the bikes of the guys I had talked to earlier in the Badlands.  We haven't heard anything about it on the news yet.

I stopped at the next rest stop and some other people were talking about the crash.  I was told twice that those guys really ride tight.  One guy said he's seen twenty of them riding inn the space a tractor-trailer would take up and from what I saw earlier, those guys don't ride the speed limit either, so it they were hit by those heavy sidewinds they probably didn't have much room for error.

As is the case with these sudden prairie storms, it was over about fifteen minutes later and The ride into Rapid City and to the campground was easy.  When I got there I met the two guys who had told me about the campground and we had a good time BSing about riding.  They've been to Sturgis every year since 1995.  They take the week and do it together each year.

Right after I post this I'm hitting the road to Mt. Rushmore to see the presidents who were carved into the mountain, then it will be back to the motorcycle display in Rapid City before I finally ride into Sturgis.