Sturgis

is a zoo. I pulled into the area Tuesday afternoon, and wandered over to see Badlands National Park. Tons of bikers, or so I thought at the time. From there I headed over towards Mt. Rushmore, and grabbed a campsite in a small national forest campground. I got my tent up just before the rains came, and spent the evening hanging out, reading, and relaxing in the comfort of my tent. I think I finally crashed about 8pm. Of course, this meant I was awake at 5:30. Given that, I got up, broke camp, and hit the road by 6:30 am. I was only a couple miles from Mt. Rushmore, and got there before 7am. Almost no one was around. Niiiice.

From there I headed south, and toured the scenic backroads south of Sturgis. I headed down to Custer State Park, up to Deadwood via the Needles Highway, then over to the Spearfish Canyon. By then it was closing on noon, and all the bikers were awake and flooding the road. THe only yhing that goes slower than RVs on those twisty roads is herds of bikers. 45 mph in a 55 zone was typical. Ugggggh.

From there I headed over to Sturgis itself. My intention was to hang out a bit, and try to find a sorta cousin that I've never met. Geoffery is my mother's partner's nephew, and Dee just found out that he'd be in Sturgis when I was headed through. Camp 2 or something. However, it only took minutes on the roads of Sturgis to make me head for the nearest exit. Wall to wall people, and stuff for sale everwhere. It was an amazing monument to capitalism, with everything you could possible need or want for a harley for sale someplace. I swear, I think there must have been a t-shirt booth for every person. I couldn't take it, and left as soon as I could find a road leading out of town. I didn't even get a picture!

From there I headed to Devil's Tower National Monument. Prettyu cool, despite the herds of roaming bikers. From there I headed west. I'm now in "Java Joe's" in Gillette, WY, and I'll head a couple hours west of here to try to find a campsite for the night. Tomorrow I'll probably head towards Montana, to see some friends. That is, if I can ever get any cell phone reception, and be able to call for directions....

Well, time to hit the road again.