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Cooter does a road trip
{ring, ring}
Hey Buddy! Long time...
"Hey Coot, I'll be in Sturgis during the rally with my RV, and I'm towing 2 Buells. Wanna go?.... Hello?... Hello?"
Hold on a minute, I'm booking my flight for tomorrow.
So just like that, I'm standing outside the tiny airport in Pierre, SD. "Pear" in local-ese, NOT "PEE-air" (the French don't count for much up here I guess) I'm holding my saddlebags, wearing my helmet, getting strange looks from the kid in the smoking section, waiting for an RV to swoop me up. I had no idea of the breakdowns, EPIC scenery, encounters with locals, wildlife, cops, family, old friends, and even new friends that I would see in the next 5 states, 2 countries, and about 3400 miles. All in three weeks.
Personally I'm not much for crowds, or festivals, or the drunken public. "But it's STUUUURGIS maaaannn". Ya I know. As a bike guy, you just have too. As rumor has it, there was 400,000 people there this year. I have no idea if thats even close to true but I'd agree with it. With the current population at just over 800,000 in the entire state of South Dakota you still have to see it to believe.
IMG_1084 by Cooter!, on Flickr
Not just Main St, but EVERY side street, parking lot, grocery store, park, hotel, campground, lawn....
Deadwood:
IMG_1064 by Cooter!, on Flickr
Seriously.
IMG_1063 by Cooter!, on Flickr
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I'd been through the Black Hills before in an RV and what sucks in an RV is perfect for a bike. To say I was excited about riding around there does not even cover it.
My buddy brought a cool XB Café project bike, and his Yellow '99 Cyclone M-2 that he had bought in Rapid City just before the rally in 2000. My steed for the Black Hills would be the Café than switch over to the M-2 when we got to the RV destination of Spokane and started doing some serious distance on the bikes.
IMG_1053 by Cooter!, on Flickr
The M-2 has a 1250 kit, big carb, D&D exhaust thats loud as Hell, and a 6-speed (thankfully!). He had just completed an XB suspension, brakes, and wheel conversion on it so why not run it at full speed in the middle of nowhere! I didn't know that much about tubers before, but let me be a spoiler and say 
They got a bit of attention from the packed campground, but Harley guys are funny. They'll look! as long as you aren't watching them It's hilarious. Post up a little ways away and watch as every one that passes checks them out. Get near the Buells and its right back to apathetic guy on a black Bagger. I did have one guy come right up:
"Hey nice Buells! My kid has one with an electrical problem the dealer can't fix, what do you think it is?"
Exactly like that, zero info
. Doesn't even know me.
Of course I was able to diagnose the problem instantly.
"Well... electrical issues on Buell's are always caused by electrons, always. Make sure the electrons are getting where they need to go".
He says "Ok, cool! thanks, I'll tell the dealer."
I can't wait for that
Out first dirt road happened quite unexpectedly, the first day, within 5 miles of camp 
It happened again, the next day, very far from camp.
Gotta keep 'em clean for the honeys:
IMG_1058 by Cooter!, on Flickr
Last edited by Cooter; 09-02-2017 at 04:20 PM.
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Ok so Sturgis. There is this:
IMG_1072 by Cooter!, on Flickr
This:
IMG_1074 by Cooter!, on Flickr
This:
IMG_1076 by Cooter!, on Flickr
Of course this!
IMG_1148 by Cooter!, on Flickr
and This:
IMG_1079 by Cooter!, on Flickr
Now that that's all settled, lets go ride!
There are however, impatient locals to deal with. Here's a good story:
We are riding into Deadwood, blazing 5 over the 35mph speed limit, when Mr. Skinny Impatient Douchebag in a beat up Jeep Cherokee just has to get into town right NOW. Did I mention there's 400,000 people there for the rally? Did you know theres 100 stop signs and lights in Deadwood?Nothing is happening quickly. Sit back, chill out and go with the flow. Do NOT tailgate the crap out of a motorcycle, you aren't going anywhere anyway.
I made room in the lane next to me so he could get the extra 5 feet closer to town and the guy lets me know he appreciates me getting out of his way by showing me I'm number 1, disparaging my mothers body parts, and now he's tailgating my buddy. At the first stop sign (of 100) my friend lets him know how he feels about getting tailgated by a truck. Mr. Skinny Impatient Douchebag now thinks its a good idea to open his door an threaten(!?) a 6' 240lb man wearing full armored leather
In one swift single motion, my friend has his bike off, kickstand down, and is now standing 3" from the guys face. I can't even find the little tab on my stand that fast! But it's gets worse when Mr. Skinny Impatient Douchebag now has the time to fish out a Walmart croquet mallet.... yes, a croquet mallet, a balsa wood skinny thing that you could never, ever, effectively swing inside of a Jeep Cherokee... I give up on the kick stand and burst into laughter, My buddy reacts instantly by saying "Give me that!" yanks it out of his hand and tosses it up on the bank. There is a round of applause and laughter from every biker there.
My Skinny Impatient Douchbag looks around, and is now Mr. Terrified. He shuts his door and "speeds" off.
Oh, were not done yet
He still has to go through town, so we get to pull up next to him. at 15mph, for the next 99 stop signs.
It's difficult to wipe tears of laughter inside a full face helmet
Last edited by Cooter; 09-01-2017 at 11:07 PM.
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Picking the curvy road blindly on the map has it's advantages.
And surprises:
IMG_1098 by Cooter!, on Flickr
We got to a town. Is it a "town" with a population of 8? Anyway, we stopped to check the map and sweetheart "Dolores" was so excited she got a hitch in her knee rushing across the road to meet us. "Oh, no" she says "the only paved road is right back the way you came", "but get about 20-25 miles up and hit the highway over if you want". No thanks Dolores, we'll hit the fire road 30 miles to the next 'town'. But she has no idea if the town has gas, or even if it's still there. "Oh MY!, I haven't been there in 20 years!" she says.
Them are cows and theres a deer thing way in the back. Nature n' stuff:
IMG_1096 by Cooter!, on Flickr
With the bikes off, the quietness actually felt heavy.
IMG_1091 by Cooter!, on Flickr
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He got to see Ozzy play, we both got free tickets to Vince Neil (worth every penny), missed Jackyl (Lumberjack baby!) and missed his favorite band Alter Bridge. so much to do there! But time to go.
With "The Rally" in the rearview of the RV we need a new destination on the way to Spokane. My buddy makes a call. He went to school with a girl. Ya we all did, I know. But this girl married Miles Kennedy. He currently sings in Alter Bridge. They are playing that night in Three Forks Montana, JUST perfectly the right distance between Spokane and Sturgis!
It's called Rockin' the Rivers. "The largest festival in the Pacific Northwest" How about yes??
IMG_1152 by Cooter!, on Flickr
IMG_1154 by Cooter!, on Flickr
I'll edit in some drone footage later, holy JEEZ!! what a party!!
IMG_1165 by Cooter!, on Flickr
As the nice lady is putting on our VIP bracelets, she mentions they include free beer. Free Beer. She just said, "Free." "Beer.". I might have replied I love you, but things got dizzy fast.
Once the Angels stopped singing, We get led to our VIP camp spot, a personal shuttle ride to the VIP area, and ya know? They had free beer there!
Alter Bridge is pretty good on the radio, but I can tell you the ROCK the crap out of a stage! As if it couldn't get better I find out a small band that I really like is playing on the other stage next. "We're BOBAFLEX and don't you forget it M@ther F@@kers!"
FF to 2am, ears ringing, neck sore, and starving. The fried noodle lunch truck looks legit, and IS!! Apparently the lead guitar of Bobaflex agrees. He turns out to be quite the foodie at home and a really nice dude.
Theres hazy memories (Mammories?) of nip slips, endless beers, and drunken acoustic karaoke on the shuttle ride back to the RV, but if you weren't there I'm denying everything!
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Senior Member
Nice trip, good times, lots of fun and, good pictures !
I love going camping on my bike, always have, always will.
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) Thank the Lord I'm a good boy and only blew what was left of one beer at lunch 9 hours earlier.
haha
