My USA & UK Trip It is Sunday morning and an absolutely beautiful sunny day, I have been down to the bathroom and had a really good shower, and those who know me well will know that two of the top ten most important really good things in my life are a good night’s sleep and a really nice hot shower, and so far today I have had both. There was also some interesting talk in the bathroom and it turned out that some fellow had found a big rattle snake in his tent around 9.30 pm the night before, and one thing I soon realized about these fellows is that they do not like no rattler, no siree. I am not sure what had happened to the rattler but it was dead certain it had come to a sticky end. The night before I had been down to the Knuckle Saloon in downtown Sturgis where they had a four piece country and western band singing songs I have never heard before, and after finding a nice ice cold beer I had spent a few hours standing at a small bar on the one side, having a beer or two and just enjoying watching the people dance and listening to the music. One thing I have observed is that these folk really like to dance, and as an outside observer it seems to me that the dancing they do is much like our South African sakkie sakkie, but they have a little extra kick out the back every now and then, but for the most part I find it interesting and entertaining to watch, there are lots of turns and twirls and I just know that any boeramusic and sakki sakki would go down really well with this crowd. Eventually it is well after 1 am in the morning and I make my way back to the camp and fall into a really good sleep almost instantly. Who would ever have believed that sleeping on a mattress which is 25 mm thick in a sleeping bag could be so good? During the night it rained a bit but by morning it was just slightly overcast and the sun soon melted the clouds away to leave a wonderful perfect day. Want to ride on over the hill to the fire brigade to get some breakfast my neighbor and by now friend Rob asks, I think about it for a few seconds and decide, what the hell, sounds like a good idea. I had planned to spend the day in town as per my original idea to ride one day and then spend one day in town, but this sounds good and so I quickly finish dressing and after a short while we are heading out of the camp. Rob stops at the camp gate entrance and asks, have you got your helmet, no I reply do I need it, well you either need a helmet or riding glasses he replies, it’s the law. He explains that if you have a really big wind shield you may ride without glasses but he was not sure if the screen on the BMW would qualify. So I headed back to the tent and quickly get my helmet and off we go, I realize that I could have been stopped because I have not had glasses or used my helmet since arriving in Sturgis. I might add that I am probably the only person in the entire Black Hills area wearing a helmet, but in reality I am glad because by now my bald patch is starting to take some strain and my face is also starting to look a little leathery and feel the same way. During the night before I had sat and chatted to a fellow who was removing the cylinder head from his Harley after it had blown a head gasket, anyhow while we were doing this, another fellow came up and also started chatting to us, and he had such bad wind and sun burn the top of his nose had actually cracked open and the flesh was sticking out, it looked like a baked potato after it had been squashed open just before you put the butter on. The rest of his face was so burnt and dried out he looked like he was wearing a mask which was glowing. I contemplated his predicament at some length and decided he must be in absolute agony, but he seemed to not notice at all, at least third degree burns I decided. Some of these fellows look really tough, I think they have some of that residual Wild West blood still flowing in their veins and I would not like to piss any of them off. For the most part they all have at least a moustache and a lot have big beards or side burns and it reminds me a lot of the seventies, also a lot of them have long hair, I think I must look a bit different to the rest. Anyhow, having a beard or side burns is not going to stop the sun and wind from burning and there are a lot of fellows who have ridden more than a thousand miles with no head protection except the compulsory glasses, so when they take their glasses of and sit around talking, they look a bit like a group of raccoons staring at you. Rob and I ride up through Vanocker Canyon and eventually pull over at the eating place he intended for breakfast, we park the bikes and there are just bikes and people everywhere, the place is packed, anyhow we amble around to the side of the building and make our way towards the entrance, on the way we pass a really big fellow getting oxygen and the paramedics are checking his vitals and doing the normal rescue thing, looking him over I decide he might have gotten a bit over excited and fainted or something because there is no evidence of a fall or an accident. A bit further on we suddenly see the queue to get into the building and I figure there must be around about a hundred or more people waiting to get in, perhaps the fellow with the medical attention collapsed due to starvation I think. With that Rob suggests that this might not be the answer but he knows a better place a bit further on up the road, so we saddle up and hit the road again. Eventually pulling over at a place called Johnson Siding. Here too, there are just bikes parked everywhere and people all over, but we make our way to the restaurant and it is almost empty and we order a coffee and a bun with some brisket. It is really good and most enjoyable. After our meal and chatting a little with the waitress who was planning to make her way to the Buffalo Chip later on after work to watch ZZ Top who was performing there for the evening show, we saddle up again and set off further down the road, Rob has been riding these roads every year for the last thirty years and so I soon realize he knows every little bump and bend and watering hole there is to know. In the end we spend a very interesting day of just riding and stopping here and there and just having fun, Rob rides an old BMW and he is a really capable rider, the bike runs like a Swiss watch and there is not a rattle in the motor and I immediately recognized that it has been well maintained and is kept in perfect running condition, he handles the bike well on tar and dirt and as we all know, a nice BMW is no match for most Harley riders, so he complains often about the Milwaukee Tractors which keep on holding us up. At first I am confused not remembering having passed any tractors, but eventually I realize he is referring to the Harley riders who thunder and scrape their way up and down the roads. But I must also add that there are some really capable Harley riders as well and I have seen some of them coming around the sharp almost hairpin bends with the pegs down on the tar and the throttle wide open. It is eventually starting to get dark as we finally make our way back into camp, we have covered a total distance of 215 miles on some of the best bike roads I have ever ridden and it has been a really wonderful day. This surely must fulfill the purpose of my life; if it does not then it most certainly feels like it does
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 01:41:18 +0000
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