Featured Sturgis 2023: Taking The Long Way ' Round In The American Southwest

Yes, we were disappointed in the weather but we get what we get when our favorite activities are of the outdoors type. As you well know! Holy moly, you certainly got drenched enough on your big trip! It made our trip seems dry by comparison, @Bikerman.

 

Hi, @Vulpes! Good to hear from you. I miss you. Glad you enjoyed my write-up. I'm so glad to get the link to yours and can't wait to read it this weekend. Thanks for posting the link! Hi to Mrs V, too!

 

Thanks, @Vulpes! More fun reading for my weekend. Can't wait to see not only what you've been up to but Mrs. V and that adorable wee dog of yours!

 

Day #7: Time in Deadwood with my Minnesota brother and sister-in-law

After saying goodbye to the nephews, Tammi picked the rest of us up in her SUV in the pouring rain and we headed to Deadwood. Pete and Tammi were eager to spend some time there and Steve, Ron, and I can always spend more time there. What was really nice was that by the time we drove the short 12 miles from Sturgis to Deadwood and parked the SUV, the rain had stopped and the weather was quite pleasant for wandering up and down Deadwood's Main Street.



One one slows down and looks up in Deadwood, there can be some very "interesting" sights to see!



And there are a lot of old (for the U.S. of course) buildings with interesting history on Main Street, too.

The Bullock Hotel named for Seth Bullock



The current U.S. Post Office in Deadwood--not sure what this was prior to that if anything



And the post office is kitty corner from that cool reimagined filling station that is now a hip coffee shop and glass blowing studio. It was closed when we went by today but my bro and sis-in-law thought it was pretty neat. And yes, those big wheelers are still around though not as much a "thing" as they were several years back.



This seemed to be a popular parking spot one block off Main Street and convenient to most everything. It was more full when we were here yesterday but then the weather was better yesterday, too.











Day #7: Deadwood with my Minnesota brother and sister-in-law continued (and concluded) in my next post

 

Day #7 concluded: Deadwood with my Minnesota brother and sister-in-law
The last of Deadwood for this Sturgis Rally trip

There are a number of wonderful art galleries in the little town of Deadwood and one of our favorites is the Scott Jacobs Gallery located, where else, on Main Street. Steve and I went there back in 2019 and loved it. And Steve, Ron, and I had take a quick pass through it yesterday. But I thought Pete and Tammi would enjoy it...and they did!





This is Scott Jacobs' favorite bike in his collection. And it was my favorite in the gallery.





All of our walking and gawking made us hungry. Earlier we'd scoped out a cool old building near where we had parked. It was called Jacobs Brewhouse and Grocer and is actually owned by Scott Jacobs. A man of many interests and talents, evidently. And many dollars, I'd guess, too.



These guitars adorn one of the exterior walls near the restaurant entrance. A number of them had a story behind them and why they were on display in this restaurant.



The restaurant bar and a peek at the atmosphere of the place



Last but not least, a fitting end to a great day spent in Sturgis and Deadwood--a martini and a great meal!

Steve's dinner (and tattooed forearm)



And mine. I'm typically not a salad kinda girl but this one was outstanding! And after five days on the road, it was something my system thanked me for later.



Tomorrow, Day #8 in the Black Hills.......with an unexpected twist!

 

Day #8: Lead, South Dakota to Laramie, Wyoming -- An unplanned "Plan B"
Total miles for the day: 300



We awoke on Saturday morning on what was to be our last full day in the Black Hills. We'd made tentative plans to spend time again with my brother and sister-in-law, Pete and Tammi. But when I looked out the window I saw only fog and rain. Tammi and I texted and agreed to wait a couple of hours to see what happened with Mother Nature before making plans.

So Steve and I went down to the Blackstone Inn's cozy breakfast room for some coffee, eggs, and perhaps a waffle with maple syrup. The others in our group who were here at the hotel were also having breakfast so we joined them.

I was about halfway through my waffle when the "fun" started. The fire alarms went off and, boy, were they ever loud! We waited to see what the hotel staff had to say but no one walked over from the lobby, I'm sure because they didn't yet know what was going on either. But no one told us to go outside so we plugged our ears and kept eating. Steve decided to go up to our 2nd floor room to get something and when he returned he said that there was water pouring forth from one of the guest bedrooms about 4 doors down from our room. It was completely flooding the hallway and the occupants were soaking wet and trying to get their belongings out. The fire alarm was still blaring so I went upstairs via an alternate route to see what was going on because by now the water was starting to come over the second floor balcony into the hotel's front entrance and lobby and leaks were starting in the breakfast room. The hallway was in chaos with staff trying to wet vac up several inches of water in the hallway and throwing down as many towels as they could get their hands on. All to no avail. Soon the fire department and police officers showed up and we were told we'd have to leave the vicinity. So we went upstairs and thought it best to start packing up. In short order there were hotel staff and firefighters and police knocking on everyone's door instructing us to evacuate. As in "hit the road, Jack, and don't ya come back". ! So, feeling rather stunned at this news, we began packing up to get on the road. And that meant packing up in a strong rain just to top off the "fun".

Our group of four bikes and one Prius got on the road quite quickly under the circumstances and we agreed we'd figure out at our first gas stop where we'd stay for the night. We'd find a hotel that was somewhere between Lead and Dillon, Colorado, our original Plan A for the day we'd head out of the Black Hills (which would have been tomorrow--Sunday). We didn't want to just ride all the way to Dillon since it was the longest day in our trip planning, was on small backroads, and we would have had to be on the road by 7am to get to Dillon at a decent hour. Plus we didn't have a reservation for that night at our Dillion Best Western Hotel so we could stay anywhere.

It absolutely poured all the way out of the Black Hills until we were nearly to the Wyoming town of Newcastle, a distance of about 50 miles. It was disappointing that it was raining so hard that we didn't get to enjoy the beauty of our last ride out of the Black Hills. When we arrived in Newcastle, we stopped for gas, caught our breath, and made a plan. We'd ride today to the town of Laramie, Wyoming which would put our days miles a little under 300.

The rain ceased right about when we crossed the border from South Dakota into Wyoming and when the landscape changed from low, wooded hills and mountains to this...

Google Image

We were still in our rain gear when we got to the gas station so we took that off, gassed up our bikes and downed some water and huddled to see what was on the agenda. Just prior to getting o on the bikes, we said that Laramie might be a good place to spend the night so Roseanne, the Prius driver, said she'd make calls and reserve rooms for us from her cell phone when we got back on the road.

By now it was sunny and dry but the winds were picking up. There were many, many (did I say MANY?) bikers heading towards the Black Hills which made sense because the rally had only officially started the day before and was scheduled to go on for eight more days. We were just happy to be dry and warm!

Steve was leading our group and when we reached the edge of another small Wyoming town called Lusk, he said we should look for a place to stop for lunch. The first place we saw was this local joint so in we went.



The "missing" bike of the four on the road today was parked over on the main drag. We found this wide open side road just across from the saloon entrance.There were a number of other bikes parked across the street from us, too.



I love the black banner at the back left of the bar! There's always a silver lining.



Our waitress was a hoot and the whole vibe of this place was really pleasant. There were clearly a lot of regulars and it had the vibe of a real "hangout".






While here we kept trying to get ahold of our friends who were still back in the Black Hills at their campground. They hadn't been evacuated so had no reason to leave until tomorrow like we'd originally planned. They were safe and sound--though quite wet. We learned later that this year's Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was to be the wettest rally in 25 years!

The rest of our ride to Laramie was through vast stretches of windswept yellow hills and plains. this is a Google Image near the small town of Wheatland, one of several small towns we passed through today. The photos gives you a bit of a sense of what the landscape looked like for about 200 miles. And the winds just kept getting stronger and the day got longer.



Up next, Day #8: Lead, South Dakota to Laramie, Wyoming---"Plan B", continued

 

Day #8: Lead, South Dakota to Laramie, Wyoming -- "Plan B" continued

None of us had ever been to Laramie so it was fun to see a totally new town. Laramie has the only university in the state of Wyoming and, at about 32,000 people, it's actually the 3rd largest "city" in the state! The only two that are larger are Casper (the state capitol) and Cheyenne. Wyoming is the least populated state of all 50 in the United States. The population of the entire state of Wyoming is 578,000. The population of just my city of Tucson is 543,000!

And a few facts about Laramie in particular compliments of Wikipedia and Google:




Roseanne had secured three rooms for our group at a Hilton Garden Inn, a beautiful hotel right next to the University of Wyoming. It was rather expensive but about the same price as our night would have been at the Blackstone Lodge had we been there tonight because of "rally rates". The manager of the Blackstone assured us that we would receive a full refund for the night we missed and, sure enough, it showed up on our account as a credit a few days after we returned home.

Main Street in the older part of Laramie is considered one of the best "main streets" in America. We had pulled into Laramie with enough time to unpack a bit, hang up some things to dry a bit, and shower up. Next up on our agenda was food--and beer--but not really sight seeing. But the brewpub recommended to us happened to be right on Main Street to that was a bonus.



Altitude was recommended by a hotel staff person and was also highly rated on TripAdvisor so off we went in search of food--and beer! Roseanne's car is small but mighty so the five of us piled in and headed out.



One of the things I read about Wyoming's Main Street is that public art and murals are a big deal and we were greeted with these two murals right near the area where we parked.





The inside of Altitude was comfortable and hip at the same time and had a sort of urban Western feel. We didn't have a reservation but they could seat us right away in the bar area which was our preference anyway. But the real key was that the food--and beer--were excellent!





After eating and drinking to our hearts content and debriefing our crazy day and planning for tomorrow, we headed back to our hotel, tummies full and happy to be warm, dry, and safe.

Up next, Day #9: Laramie, Wyoming to Dillon, Colorado

 

Day #9: Laramie, Wyoming to Dillon, Colorado
Miles for the day: 175

Today we enjoyed a leisurely 175 mile ride from Laramie to Dillon rather than the 450 mile day we'd have ridden if we'd not been evacuated from our hotel on Saturday morning. There's always a silver lining, eh? Yesterday's ride to Laramie from Lead cut off about 280 miles of those 450, so it was nice to split that long day we'd planned for a Sunday Black Hills departure for two shorter ones. Today we took all backroads through tiny little towns, so that made our shorter ride even more leisurely and enjoyable.



For our Sturgis ride this year we took a completely different route as our previous Sturgis trip in 2019 to get to the rally but our route to get home from Sturgis was the same . Well, it was the same except for one pretty major change. In 2019 we rode through Wyoming then got onto Interstate 25 in Colorado and rode south and then right through the heart of the Denver metro area. Then we took Interstate 70 through the Eisenhower Tunnel. Let me just say-------that was the WORST day of my entire riding career! We all felt as if every driver was aiming to kill--or at least maim--us as we rode through Denver. And the person leading that part of the ride (not Steve) rode as if he was not with a group at all. And then it got worse. Before I say why, here's a little info from our friend, Wikipedia, for those of you who might be interested how a tunnel can be so "problematic".

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eisenhower–Johnson
Memorial Tunnel
Location Approx. 60 miles (100 km) west of Denver, Colorado
Crosses Continental Divide
Vehicles per day 32,260 vehicles (2007) I wonder what this number would be today! I'm sure significantly higher.
Length 1.693 mi (2.72 km) westbound
1.697 mi (2.73 km) eastbound

The Eisenhower Tunnel, officially the Eisenhower–Edwin C. Johnson Memorial Tunnel,[1] is a dual-bore, four-lane vehicular tunnel in the western United States, approximately 60 miles (97 km) west of Denver, Colorado. The tunnel carries Interstate 70 (I-70) under the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. With a maximum elevation of 11,158 feet (3,401 m) above sea level, it is one of the highest vehicular tunnels in the world. The tunnel is the longest mountain tunnel and highest point on the Interstate Highway System. Opened in 1973, the westbound bore is named after Dwight D. Eisenhower, the U.S. President for whom the Interstate system is also named. The eastbound bore was completed in 1979 and is named for Edwin C. Johnson, a governor and U.S. Senator who lobbied for an Interstate Highway to be built across Colorado.

Sounds pretty cool, huh? I thought so, too, until we got out of Denver and nearer the tunnel. The challenges of taking the tunnel by motorcycle, at least on the day we rode it, is that you are in the mountains and I-70 is pretty much either rising or falling very steeply. There are three lanes each direction and on the day we were there, the traffic was bumper to bumper and going about zero to three or four miles an hour for what seemed like an eternity but was probably "only" 30-45 minutes. I was on my Road Glide Special, a bike weighing 830 without any luggage. I truly thought that either my hand or my clutch was bound to give out. I was about to park on the minuscule shoulder of the road, get off my bike, and start crying. But I made it to and through that tunnel then vowed to never do it again.

I later learned that the issue with this tunnel and the terrible traffic is that there is no pull-off or should inside the actual tunnel. So there is a metering system in place to keep traffic in the tunnel moving enough that an emergency vehicle could make its way in if needed. That metering didn't seem to work very well for the lead-up to the mouth of the tunnel, though! It was like one giant traffic jam.

Anyway, that's a long story about why we chose today's route. Those of us who had done Sturgis 2019 ALL agreed we had zero interest or intention for riding through Denver or that tunnel again. Today we learned that the route we did was better all the way around than the way we'd taken four years ago. Live and learn!

There were five in our ride group today. The other three in our larger group had departed from the Black Hills this morning, Sunday, rather than yesterday like we did. Of course, they didn't get evacuated from their campground! When Steve was able to contact Russell, he learned that he and the other two campers wound up on I-25 without meaning to which also led them through Denver and the tunnel. So they took what should have been a quicker route though only about 30 miles shorter. But when they arrived in Dillon around 6:00 or so, we also hear about the horrible conditions they encountered including rain, hail, sleet, and wind. Those of us who'd arrived earlier counted our blessings. And we were also glad that our friends made it safely to Dillon.

Since we'd departed Laramie at 8:00 sharp this morning, we arrived in Dillon in the early afternoon, too early even to check into our hotel rooms! But it was beautiful, cool, and dry, so we didn't really care. Dillon is a small town on Interstate 70 with a population of 1,057 (2021) and at an altitude of 9,111. It sits on the Dillon Reservoir which is often called Lake Dillon. Our hotel was just across the street from Lake Dillon. We didn't have a view from our hotel room but we didn't even need one as it took about two minutes to cross the street and take the steps down to the walking/biking path and a nearby dock.



This was the view from where Steve's and my bikes were parked right outside out hotel room.







We hadn't stopped for a proper lunch so once everyone was checked in and cleaned up we headed to the Dillon Dam Brewery--another one of those "damn" breweries. I believe we were at one of those back on our first day of the trip in Page, Arizona. This particular restaurant is the one that we went to back in 2019, too, and we thought it well worth a second visit four years later.





Throughout the trip I've been trying out the local brews, IPA's being my favorite. This time around I chose the "Here's Your Dam IPA" IPA. The description of this brew sounded delicious but mostly the name made me laugh.

The other thing I noticed on this menu was the Dam Happy Hour time frame. As I noted in the photo, we were actually early for Happy Hour. Nope, I've been late for Happy Hour many times but NEVER early! Maybe that happens when you ride with your riding group for a long, long time--which also means we've all gotten much older. I said, "My, what an early lunch we're having", and the eldest at the table countered with, "You mean an early dinner?!"



I'm not typically much of a salad person but this salad was among the best I've ever had. It, too, had a funny name. It was called Yoga Pants. I don't know about the yoga pants part but from my perspective it could have been named "Movin' Along in the Morning".



Day #9: Laramie, Wyoming to Dillon, Colorado continued in my next post:

 

Day #9: Laramie Wyoming to Dillon, Colorado continued...

After a big lunch / dinner, Roseanne (Prius driver) and I decided to go down to the lake and see what there was to see beyond the dock we'd gone to earlier.

There's a beautiful amphitheater available for concerts and performances and the audience seating area allows a beautiful view of the lake.



Evidently Dillon has quite an interesting history and here's a sliver of it along with a statue of one of Dillon's former mayor, John Baily, clearly a VIP in the town. He fought hard to relocate the town when the reservoir was created on the site of "Old Dillon".





The lake is definitely a hub of activity for this little mountain town.



The lake has a bustling marina complete with, of all things, a Tiki Bar! Just what every marina needs.



At lunch / dinner we'd all agreed that we might be in need of ice cream later. So we did a little research and decided to go the the next town over on Interstate 70, a town called Frisco. All five of us were able to squeeze into the Prius, so off we went in search of ice cream.



We didn't find actual ice cream, but we found he next best (maybe better?) thing at I Scream Gelato....gelato! Yum.



And we also found...BOXERS! Meet Summit and River, sweet four-year-old litter mates. After being away from our boxer, Ellie, for nine days, it was nice to get and give a little Boxer lovin'.



These final two photos from Day #9 are actually from the morning of Day #10. It was the first of only two days that I pulled out my leather chaps and warm gloves. But as it turned out it was well worth packing them! The mountains definitely get chilly!

This is where our group met up to head out of Dillon for our next destination, Santa Fe, New Mexico.





Next up, Day #10: Dillon, Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico

 

Day #10: Dillon, Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico

Miles for the day: 323



Yikes! Sorry for the big gap in my postings between Day #9 and Day #10. I do have good reason (well, I think it's good ). I've been in the throes of selling one of my bikes and buying a new one. More on that later......

So back to my Sturgis trip report!

Our group, now back to eight strong, met up at 8:00am in front of beautiful Lake Dillon and with the temp hovering in the mid-40'sºF. I had been eagerly looking forward to today's route because we'd done this exact route coming home from Sturgis in 2019 and I remember how beautiful it was. And I wasn't disappointed. And was also glad that I'd brought my chaps and that I'd thought to put them on before we headed out!

After heading west-southwest on Interstate 70 for about 10 miles, we turned directly south on a small route (91) that took us past Copper Mountain Ski area and then upwards to Fremont Pass. We pretty much had the road to ourselves and the skies were sunny and blue with barely a breeze (that was to change a LOT later in the day).

Fremont Pass was the highest pass that we traversed during this trip.


As the Wikipedia piece indicates, most of the pass is gentle, which is nice in that one can enjoy the views a bit more than white knuckling it over some passes we done over the years such as Independence Pass near Aspen or the passes between Durango and Ouray.

Google Image

As we descended from Fremont Pass, we rode into the old former mining town of Leadville, Colorado, which is the third highest incorporated city in the United States at 10,158 feet. There are a some famous (or perhaps more accurately stated, infamous) athletic events here including the Leadville 100 Trail Run and the Leadville Trail 100 MTB (mountain bike). With two mountain peaks flanking Leadville that are even higher than the town itself, these challenges are not for the faint of heart.




As we continued our descent out of Leadville, there were layers of mountains in the not-too-distant distance and to either side of the road were beautiful meadows and valleys. The headwaters of the Arkansas River are here and soon we were riding alongside this beautiful river that is known in this area for exceptional white water rafting.




Our first stop of the day was for gas, water, and the loo in Buena Vista, Colorado. Buena Vista sits on the Arkansas River and is a nice little town in which we've stayed before several times. You may remember Alf the Blacksmith from my summer 2022 ride report who resides in Buena Vista. Buena Vista also has amazing views of the Collegiate Peaks, which is comprised of half a dozen "14ers", mountains that exceed 14,000 feet of elevation. Colorado has 58 14ers, by far the most of any state in the United States. California comes in a distant second with 12. Here we are with some of those massive mountains in the background.



This was the point today at which our group started to splinter a bit. Our buddy, Ron, on the white beemer, said that he wanted to ride faster than the group was going so we said "Godspeed! Have fun, stay safe...and don't get a speeding ticket." He said he'd either see us in Alamosa for lunch or at our hotel in Santa Fe. It turned out to be the latter.

Our next stop was in the town of Alamosa, Colorado. Alamosa is a small town of about 10,000 people and has a small college called Adams State. The interesting thing about that (to me anyway ) is that my doctoral advisor and dissertation chair went to Adams State. We found a great parking area that fit all of our bikes and Roseanne's Prius right on Main Street. Steve was hungry so quickly found a great lunch spot just a half a block down the street from our bikes.



The San Luis Brewing Company turned out to be a terrific spot. The only down side is that they had a fantastic beer list--but I don't drink and ride so it was just a taunt and temptation. However, the consolation was that their food was quite good and the atmosphere quite hip.



Day #10 continued in my next post......

 

Day #10: Dillon, Colorado to Santa Fe, New Mexico continued

After leaving Alamosa the wind picked up a wee bit. Ha!! Nope it was actually bordering on gale force. But having ridden in winds like this in Colorado in the past, it didn't particularly come as a surprise that we'd face some stout winds at some point. The road south towards Santa Fe was fairly straight at this point so we could find the "sweet spot" in the lane to allow for the bikes to move if we were hit by an extra strong gust. It was ok if a bit tiring.

Towns were far and few between at this point and we were hoping to find a gas station. Looking quite different from the big Circle K's, 7-11's, and QT's, we found this little blast from the past two pump spot about half an hour north of Santa Fe.



At this point we were down to five bikes in our group with Ron having ridden off ahead of us back in Buena Vista. Chas and Kelly, two up on their big Harley touring bike, had been contemplating trying to get home a day earlier than originally planned. So at this stop they informed us that when we got to Santa Fe and I-25 they planned to continue on to the town of Socorro for the night then head home the next day.

Ron, Patrick & Roseanne, and Steve & I stayed at the Santa Fe Hotel & Inn. We stayed here in June, too, and fell in love with the buildings, the grounds, the staff, and the perfect location close to the Plaza. We'll definitely stay there again in the future. Russell opted for the Motel 6 half a block down the street. Really.







But we all ate together at La Choza! La Choza is one of our favorite Santa Fe restaurants and within walking distance from the hotel. We had a bit of a wait but hung out and chatted about our day over beers and margaritas. The wait was well worth it. Here's my plate of New Mexican "comfort food"--blue corn chicken and cheese enchiladas with green chile sauce and sides of posole and pinto beans. That margarita was my beer chaser.





With full bellies and a bit of a buzz, we walked back to our hotel(s) and said goodnight.

Next up, Day #11: Santa Fe, New Mexico to Show Low, Arizona