Day 11, Saturday, July 19, 2008 - 133 miles
Today was LAUNDRY DAY! I didn’t take pictures because that
just wouldn’t be right… After LAUNDRY DAY we headed down
14A through beautiful Spearfish Canyon. There was a Corvette convention in the
area so we saw quite a few of them along the
way. Unfortunately, one decided to do Spearfish Canyon at 30 mph and there was
just no way to pass. Needless to say, it kind
of ruined the twisties but didn’t diminish the views. They finally dropped off
and we rode on through to STURGIS! It’s still two
weeks until Bike Week aka the Black Hills Motor Classic which has grown from
the Jackpine Gypsies original 12 to over
500,000 attending during the week. Many vendors were all ready there selling
rally stuff.
Unfortunately, one long revered icon will not be doing
business. The original Road Kill Café is for sale which also changed our
lunch plans. We had to cross the street! (One Eyed Jack’s Saloon if you can’t
guess from the picture.)
Inside décor is very Sturgis / Biker oriented. The bar
stools are all Sturgis edition Corbin seats! The food was good and the
service great! Our servers Holly (left) and Mikelyn took good care of us. Holly
has a couple of days to get trained and then she
will solo. She needs to be ready for the BIG crowds! Mikelyn said they have a
webcam on their website and we could wave to
our families. The URL is: www.OneEyedJacksSaloon.com but I didn’t link direct
as it is kind of ‘PG’ rated.
After lunch, we went to the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. Here is a great example of a 1938 H-D Knucklehead
My next hair-brained idea was to leave Stugis and blast 77
miles up North to the “Center of the Nation” marker. After all, it
was on the map so it had to be cool, right? I almost missed the sign pointing
it out. (Shown here actual size, almost.) Well,
after 77 miles, I’m not going to let 7.8 miles of gravel in the middle of
nowhere stop me! No Sir! We slip, slided the 7.8 miles
to the marker and about all we really get were bragging rights. The little blur
above Cathy’s shoulder is an American flag
blowing in the breeze on the other side of the fence. I assume it is the actual
center. After 7.8 miles of gravel back, (faster
this time because I was practiced up) we got back on the New Highway 85 and
shot back to Spearfish. There is a Center of the
Nation Information and Visitor Center in Belle Forche but that’s for people
that need to ask directions….
Challenge: Any GoldWinger that shows me a picture of their
bike at the Center of the Nation, I will buy them ice cream.
We took a little afternoon break and our KOA Hostess Erin served up Cathy a
Diet Coke. We did the Web page and then went
for Mexican Food. I’m thinking that now I need to talk to my friend Levi about
the Ice Cream Social tonight.
(Cathy says she isn’t having any…but that doesn’t mean I can’t!)
Since I gave you two Kabin pictures last night, you’ll have to understand why there isn’t one tonight. See you in the morning!