Day 5 - Butte, MT to Sturgis Baby!!!

Today's trip - 825 miles - 14 hours

This was the longest day on the trip. I took a detour up through North Dakota into the Southwest corner so that I could add another state to the list for the trip. I also took a 25 diversion when I got back to I-90 to travel into Wyoming to check off another one. I was in four states today ending up in South Dakota.

The head winds were fairly stiff today and reduced my gas mileage from 37-39 down to 27-29. It seemed like I was always stopping for gas every 125 miles or so. Obviously, that made the day even longer. When traveling by car you can get in and out in 5-10 minutes. On a motorcycle it seems to be a minimum of 15 minutes because you have to take off some of your gear, pump 5 gallons of gas, clean your glasses, drink/refill the water bottle, and then secure everything before putting your gear back on.

Most of the day was open interstate highways running on cruise control. I spent most of the day following the Yellowstone River valley so the road was not straight and boring. At the end it was a battle against the sun as I took a little side trip into Wyoming.

I arrived in Sturgis shortly after sunset. The major event "Bike Week" is actually next week but a fairly large number of people are starting to come into town. All of the tents where vendors peddle their goods were closed for the evening and the streets were pretty clear. My wife and drove here last year and were four days later and it was pretty jammed.

I went to the Full Throttle Saloon which is about 3 miles east of downtown. I was able to park by the front door. Only the front portion of the place was opened and the main areas were fenced off. They were doing some renovations and expanding some of the areas so there was the smell of sawdust in the air. They claim to be the biggest Biker Bar in the world and they do all of their business for the year starting this weekend running for a total of 8-10 days. The place was pretty quiet with just the front bar being open.

I decided to have dinner in town because I was hungry for a good steak. A couple I met at the Full Throttle recommended the place. I was the last customer to leave the restaurant just before 10PM. I rode another 40 miles to Rapid City to spend the night. On Tuesday, I plan on catch up on some paperwork and go shopping. For those of you how know me, I absolutely HATE shopping, but get me around Harley gear and accessories and it is a different story. I got to buy a tee shirt to show that I was here.