2023: A Girl, a Motorcycle, and a Gypsy Soul

Since the Victory bike was temporarily out of commission due to a stripped drain plug, it was time to take the dirtbike out to play! I rarely ride it, so it was fun to toole around 200ish miles and see some old lands that I forgot about and check out some new places Id never been to. How I had never been to the Falls is beyond me... it was literally in my 'back yard' growing up!! It was a great day of sightseeing and riding and with my dad!  (Minus the millions of horseflies..)! Leather and dirtbiking…. it matches, right? Rock climbing in cowboy boots and a leather vest... classy broad.                                        Hi Dad! Once the Victory was up and running, we made a test run to the Soudan Underground Mine. All runs great! And we even convinced my mom to ride along!! It was a good weekend despite the Victory being ill and out of commission for a few days!

Last year, my dad and I went on a riding trip to Arkansas. It was a blast!!! We rode twisty roads, dodged storms, took detours that looked cool, spent some time riding Route 66, and explored the area of MO and AR. We haven't traveled, just the two of us, for I don't remember how long, so it was long overdue and such a great experience! I got to show him around my favorite place ever - Eureka Springs, AR - and he got to experience all the area had to offer. We had a great trip and decided to do an annual riding trip. So this year, we were both coming back from a SD adventure - me, riding with the girls, and him (and my mom) taking the grandkids out there for a week. Needless to say, there was little time to prepare for a turn-around adventure and since we are both 'last minute' people, we talked briefly 2 days prior to our set departure date and had no plans and no destination in mind. We threw a few ideas back and forth, but in the end, we decided to wait t

Deadwood has always been a fun town to stop in, but this is the first time I have stayed there and it was a good time! There was a rodeo going on in town, but traffic wasn't all that bad. Our hotel was right at the top of the hill as you come into town from Sturgis. The road between the two towns is one of my favorites (lets be honest, I have a lot of favorite roads in the area!). Once we rolled into town and settled in a bit, we went out downtown Deadwood a couple of the nights - checked out the local scene and tried some of the local flavors. Of all the casinos in the area, I don't know that any of us actually gambled... I hit 77,777 miles on the bike and had big goals of playing slot machines that night, but completely forgot about it.   We did a lot of riding in the hills - I found a few new roads to tackle, but my over eagerness got the best of me right on the first day by thinking this was a gravel road that would lead us to fun things - which I am sure it wou

 Awhile ago I threw out the idea of a long weekend ride to the girls - as they all have bdays in June. Then we all kind of forgot about the idea until it popped up on my calendar 2 weeks ago. Oh the decisions on where to ride... I had Friday-Monday off... so while the possibilities weren't endless, they were pretty wide!!! I love riding in the Black Hills of SD. The roads are twisty and scenic and if I cross my fingers and hope, the traffic will be light. I throw the idea out to the girls and its a GO! A couple days later my parents called to say they were bringing all three grandkids to the Black Hills for a week.. the same time that I would be out there!! It turned into a double duty trip - ride and play, then play and hang! I planned the meeting point based on where we were all coming from - we met in Eden Prairie at a gas station. Shelly was laughing and pointing at the truck gassing up - I laughed, but I was laughing at the driver - this little scrawny 'kid