Backroads cruising to Badlands Nat'l Park:

Taking the road less travelled?

Interstate 90 will get you to the Badlands, quickly, efficiently, but is that what a cool ride is all about?  If you like wide open spaces, and few cages, head from Sturgis/Rapid City the back way!


From Sturgis, head for Rapid City.  Beware the "urban" deer.  Last Sturgis, ABM's group of five bikes was "jumped" by an equal number of deer.  Yes, in the city.  They bounded out from behind a car wash, near a fast food joint, likely working off a hamburger-gut-bomb-gas attack.  This wasn't one of those far away deals..we slid to a halt, brakes locked to the max. 


On the east side Rapid, on I-90, exit south onto N Elk Vale Road.  This takes you up over a domed ridge, and to the intersect of rt 16/79 and rt 44.  Take a left onto rt 44, and head east until you reach "Scenic", a tiny speck of a town.  Scenic is your jumping off point for southern entry to the Badlands National Park.  For a libation, and perhaps a freshly ground buffalo burger to go with it, drop into the little bar on the right side of rt 44.  The roof is adorned with skulls, you can't miss it.  Across the street, and down a bit, is the only gas station for miles.  You may have to wait a bit in a motorcycle lineup, and the gas is anything but primo.  Don't expect anything over 87 or maybe 89 octane. 


Blow thru Scenic, and keep on rt 44 until it branches off to the left on rt 387, which leads into the park.  Although there are several days each year when entrance to the park is free, bike week isn't one of them.  Bikers over the age of 62 can purchase a lifetime national park pass for a one time charge of ten bucks.  For the rest of the biker nation not wanting a yearly pass, it's ten bucks a bike, and should you wish to return, it's good for a week.  Now that you have your money out, look for the town of "Interior", then you'll see 387.  Once inside the park, many make the mistake of taking 240 back up to the I-90, and miss 90% of the park.  Hang a left onto 240 west at the fork, and it will take you all the way back on the highest ridges overlooking the spires, canyons, and bluffs.  Keep going, and eventually, you'll end up in Wall, SD, home of a famous biker-tourist trap, "Wall Drugs".  It's a huge drug store with cheesy souvenirs too numerous to count.  If riding two up, it may take some time to extricate from the joint.. it's like fly paper to the fairer sex!


When in the park, please show some respect.  Candy wrappers, cig butts, riding your bike on the trails, speeding, all possibly come with a price to pay. 


Badlands National Park is home to nearly a quarter million acres of mixed grass prairie, spires, and pinnacles.  Keep your eye open as you cruise, looking for the occasional sharply eroded bluff for a perfect photo opportunity!   

Warning: 



Last August, the meadows surrounding rt 44 were awash in grasshoppers.  Bikes were absolutely covered in a weird smear of green and yellow, which for lack of a local car wash, baked into a powdercoat.  Clouds of the suckers, and if you don't own a windshield, it's like being shot over and over with rubber bullets..  To be fair, it's the first time in our ten trips to the Black Hills that this ever happened. 

Getting Hitched in Sturgis?? ABM makes it easy to give up half of everything you own..

(1)  What's it going to cost us?  $40.00

(2)  Where?  Sturgis-1425 Sherman St (next 2 the library). 605-347-3930
                   (valid id required, no blood test)
(3)  Why?  Because we bikers have every right to be as miserable as non bikers!
                (it's a joke..ha ha..)

(4)  Pop the top on a bottle of cheap champagne, stick a candle in a donut,
      consumate.. 

...Now pronounce you...Mr. and Mrs.. (fill in the blank!)

Each August, we see happy, (nervous) couples wanting a marriage license.  They're usually with vendors, and people who've been issued a ticket or two.  Is marriage in your immediate future?  Why not do the dirty deed, done dirt cheap, in Meade county, and avoid the florist, photographer, dj/band, and expensive country club?  Cash saved can pay for the trip out and back, and have enough left over for a used HD Sportster!  (trust me, I know!)

Hot-Cold-Middlin' Temps: Sturgis has them all!

107 high, 34 low?

Headed for a week or two in the Black Hills, and you're unsure of what gear to drag along?  Take our advice.  Pack a set for 107 degrees, and a set for 34 degrees. 

"But Jeff", she said.. "It's August, we don't need two changes of stuff." 

Oh, what a difference ten years makes.  In those ten, we've been pelted with torrential rain, sleet, baseball size hail, and had it so hot, the main street sausage 'n' onions vendors could have turned off the gas and let that pile of food cook in the sun. 

2004:  We're camped, primitive style (no electricity or water), I'm making coffee at sunrise.  It's pretty chilly, but I figure that's from not being used to sleeping in a tent.  What looks like falling ash from a distant fire is recognized as snow flakes.  Yes, snow.  In August.  In South Dakota.  Four or so years later, we're on main in Sturgis, 2pm, and it's 107.  Forget this is your brain on motorcycles ad, you coulda cooked an egg in a drinking fountain.

What have we learned here today?  In a week or ten days of enjoying all the Black Hills has to offer, it's likely you will be rained on, sleeted on, get cold enough so that your teeth chatter, and maybe see the temp land somewhere between 100 and 107. 

Oh, and Sturgis will be basked in a balmy 100 degrees of sun tomorrow.

Sturgis 2011: Lots to see, lots to do!

Backstreet Chopper Show:

Monday, Aug 8, Full Throttle Saloon.  Free admission.  No registration or entry fee.  For those who seek hand made parts and do-dads of every sort and description.  Must see for those who enjoy Willie's in Daytona.

Many Sturgis events are listed at this link. www.sturgis.com

If you venture into the Buffalo Chip to camp, or drop by for one of the many shows, make sure your stop includes a visit to see Michael Lichter's art, along with some outstanding iron.  http://www.buffalochip.com/

Unhappy Campers? 

Fed bickering could shut down fed owned campgrounds as soon as Aug 2: 

Some of the surrounding Black Hills parks provide free tent camping for bikers so long as we're no further than 300 feet from the road, and/or 100 feet from any stream or body of water.  Washington DC bickering may well close our national parks if a budget agreement is not reached by August 2nd.  Our advice is to put in place a solid backup plan just in case neither side blinks.  A trend in place, recently seen, involves chasing hard working Americans who've saved all year in order to enjoy a week or two in the wilderness, only to be driven out as our outstanding state and perhaps, now, federal government closes parks and recreation areas.  As we said, have a backup plan in place just in case..

Hoka-Hey Extends Registration Deadline:

Hoka-Hey exec Beth Durham informs ABM that the registration deadline for it's Phoenix to Nova Scotia run has been extended.  This year, partcipants will be tracked via USFleet Tracking GPS.  HH informs us that if you register for the run after July 25, or are having problems installing your tracking device on the bike, no sweat, they'll provide reps from the company at Chester's HD/Phoenix starting point right up to the green flag.  www.hokaheychallenge.com  ABM is planning interviews as the participants lay over in Sturgis, but there are a few hoops to shoot through this year.