The Girls of Sturgis

Deadwood Rain Storm

     We took a ride to Deadwood.  The weather was nice and we left the rain gear behind.  I thought that if a thundershower came through, we would just wait till it passed.

     We enjoyed the warm sun on Deadwood's brick sidewalks.  We people watched and be bike watched.  We went to Saloon No. 10, where Wild Bill Hickok was shot while playing cards.

Then some weather blew in.








   
     The rainfall set records and it didn't blow over.  It rained for hours.  We holed up and I kept an eye on the Weather Channel Radar Map.  It has a unique feature that projects what the weather will be in the near future.  The map showed that there would a small break at 8:00 PM.      

     At 8:00 PM we were ready.  We scored a couple of large black trash bags from the kitchen staff at a hotel, poked our heads and arms through and we were ready.  Sure enough at the appointed time, the rain quit and we took off.  We made it back to Nemo and didn't get wet.

     We asked someone in the parking lot if they would snap a photo,
the photo came out a little blurry, but you get the idea.

Famous Road Signs, Novak, South Dakota

     Novak is a ghost town now. It was a mining town. The mining began in Novak around 1903 and by 1907 the mine began to turn a profit. The mining company built some houses and a school. The Black Hills & Fort Pierre Railroad built a spur to the town.

     Unlike Deadwood the town of Novak had no saloons or dance halls. When the mine petered out people left Novak. Novak is about 3 miles northwest of Nemo on the way to Deadwood.

     Novak is only one of many ghost towns in Lawrence County, South Dakota. Some of the other abandoned towns are Blacktail, Carbonate, Crook City, Flatiron, Greenwood, Maitland, Ragged Top, Tinton and Trojan are all there. Maybe next year when I go to Sturgis I'll ride out and have a look at a them. 

Sturgis, The Horse Magazine Bike Show

     My favorite event at Sturgis is The Horse, Backstreet Choppers magazine bike show, at The Full Throttle Saloon.

     My favorite part of the bike show is checking out the details.  I love to see things re purposed as bike parts. These builders are so sharp and subtle that I'm sure I missed most of the really great stuff.

 
 

     Some Stampeders came to Sturgis for the show. (left to right) Mr. Miyagi (Steff Brooks), Stampeder and owner of 86 Customs, Grampaw (David Gooden), senior Stampeder and Gary "Smoke" Forberg who started his first Stampede this year.

     Charlie Davis, El Nomad, writes for The Horse magazine (left) was a judge at the show. Grampaw brought his family who scored some swag at the show's raffle. It was really nice to see everyone there.

     But bike shows are all about bikes...