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Finally the day we arrived
in the Black Hills!
But first a couple hundred miles of desolate, but beautiful South Dakota territory to see. Right along in here, I got tired of whatever had been scratching my right arm for the last hundred miles, so at a gas stop, I reached into the arm of my jacket and pulled out an entire dragonfly. The whole damn thing; dead, but intact. Weird.
You know, I hear the Dakotas and Nebraska Territories are buckin' for statehood. That's ALL we need is more states! I think the flag looks fine with the 36 stars its got, we don't need three more on there clutterin' up the field and usin' up expensive cotton thread.
Somewhere along the route, the group got separated -- for a good long while! We lost EZ for some time and couldn't figure out if he was ahead of us or behind us. While screwing around at a rest stop, EZ comes rolling up! Great, now we're back together -- and got separated again almost immediately. Marje was leading and though both of us believed the other three were following, we couldn't really tell with our vibrating mirrors. Long story short, I believe that by the time Marje and I took a wrong turn (my fault) and didn't see them turn with us, I think they'd been separated from us for a good long while.
Marje and
I headed through the twisties to Custer anyway, knowing the others knew
the general route and the name of the hotel.
A couple members of Marje's MC had gotten a place at a hotel there, separate from the other rooms. Almost like a cabin, it had two bedrooms, living room, kitchen, washer/dryer, etc. All the amenities. Well, Marje and I rolled up there about an hour later, after riding through some of the simply most beautiful riding of the entire trip! In fact, Marje and I got to see a herd of buffalo! Not just a couple, mind you, but an entire HERD crossing along the face of a hill in front of the road. All traffic stopped to get a look; it was just so mesmerizing. You see buffalo in pictures and taste their steaks and burgers, but until you see a heard of them only 50 feet away and with no fences or anything to separate you, you can't appreciate their majesty.
After arriving in Custer,
we first took care of bike washing, as they badly needed it! The two guys
already there, Lucky Leo and Neil, offered up bike-washing rags, soapy
water, even leather dressing. I took the tour-pak off for the time being
and went over the bike very carefully washing, drying, and polishing what
I could. Roxie hasn't looked that good in months! Marje got lucky -- she
took a shower first and while she did, the
guys washed her bike for her.
Then I got my own shower. Man I needed that.
The day ended with the others eventually rolling up, too. They had stopped for some beers (we'd figured) and they, too, washed their bikes, then themselves, then we all went to a pig-roast at a local bar. I didn't realize how hungry I actually was, but ended up downing two large plates of smoked pig sandwiches, baked beans, and potato salad.
Finally, Rod joined us. He is also in Marje's MC and had had car trouble on the way over. Due to his health, trailering was necessary. He also is the only one of the now eight of us who doesn't ride a Harley, but rather a Honda. Seemed like a reliable, comfortable bike though.
I have to say I was already impressed with the sheer number of bikes, even if the variety was somewhat predictable. We vastly outnumbered cars -- and the proportions were to get even better in the coming days!
I also have to say this about the first four days: I learned a lot about group riding. I'd read about the "rules" of it, but had never done so. Now I understand that our group was loose and informal, but it was easy to spot good examples and bad examples within our group of how to go as a group. I was a little amused with Marje's exasperation at Al's habit of hugging the center stripe, for which she dubbed him Centerline -- very apt. I found that Marje, Nathan, and I tended to ride tighter than Al or EZ. EZ tended to kinda circle/follow the group like a misguided satellite. Maybe "comet" is a better comparison, as he sometimes went streaking by us so as to get far ahead enough to stop and have a smoke. We got used to this.
Next: pictures with the reports! Devil's Tower! Hulett!
