Sturgis Bound - early morning giggles, rain, bugs, and arrival!

I never learn to plan ahead or make good use of time management skills and this adventure is just like the others. The night before I leave for an 11 hour ride west, I am up playing bags at the local bar league until way too late, then packing until 1am and then not sleeping until 3:30 - and getting up at 5am to roll out. I am usually wide awake no matter what I am running on - when it comes to vacation anyways. That was not so much the case this morning - it was a slow, groggy, foggy minded start. Met the crew at the gas station and I was surprisingly the FIRST ONE THERE! This never happens.... progress. Meanwhile I have time to look around and in my groggy mind, a little of everything was VERY funny. So I partook in some dorky funny (to me) photos to entertain myself (and likely those around me).

The crew rolls in just as groggy minded as I am and

we head out for 660 miles in 61 degrees with fog. A very brisk start in comparison to recent riding! Then we hit some rain.. COLD rain. Boo.

Thinking it would warm up quickly, I forgo the chaps... and about 34 miles down the road already regret this decision. But, too stubborn to pull aside and gear up, I suck it up and keep on trucking. (the crew was smart and thought this through ahead of time).

We head west, passing semi after semi after slow driver after slow driver. Weaving our way through tons of construction... then we finally make it to the 4 lane and life is good again. It wasn't until 400 miles in that it finally warmed up enough to strip off some gear... and then another 50 miles later we were all sweltering. Much better!!! The drive west is long, boring, and uneventful for the most part.

We roll into SD and managed to find one road with curves in it and just as I was getting my curve groove on, I was looking through the corner when something to the side caught my eye - I look to my right and HOLY DEER! The thing was maybe 10' away and literally as big as my bike. We make awkward eye contact and I just hoped that he wanted to run the other way, which after an awkward pause he did. WHEW.

My annual T Shirt Cruiser look

We got assaulted by IDK what kind of bugs maybe 2 hours out of camp - it literally looked and felt like it was raining and took me a second to realize this was not RAIN.. it was BUGS. I suddenly cannot see out of my windshield and can feel bugs sliding down my sweaty legs that were barely showing as I rolled my pant legs up just over my boots to get a little fresh air in there. DISGUSTING. We make it into Sturgis and theres a low rumble in the air from all the bikes. Theres also a haze over the hills as its 103 degrees and HUMID. We get to camp, meet up with our boy Salty and set up our tents... while battling mosquitoes and dripping sweat. LIFE. IS. GOOD! Off to enjoy the nightlife and see what crazy things people are up to next door! (Photos not appropriate to share here...but google "Glencoe + Alley" and well, that will give you a vision you cannot undo!