Varoom, Varoom

Today we drove the car to Sturgis, South Dakota. This is the home of the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, one of the oldest and largest motorcycle gatherings in the world.  Luckily, we will be on our way west when the 300,000 or so motorcycles scream into town during the first week of August.

The streets of Sturgis were quiet today, but there were still lots of bikers in town.  You could tell that the town was gearing up for the festivities. The T-shirt shops were ready and all the restaurants had "help wanted"signs posted.

One of the attractions here was the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame.  On display was a large collection of American and metric bikes dating back to the 1900.  In addition to all the rare, beautiful, antique, and unusual motorcycles there were historical photographs and memorabilia from the riders and rallies over the past 60 years.

Kathe and Jim selected their souvenir T-shirts and took a walk down Main Street to do a little window shopping.  One of the shops had the bike that Peter Fonda rode in the movie, "Easy Rider" in the window.  That was a highlight of the day.

On the way out of town they stopped at the Knuckle Saloon for a picture.  Jim didn't want to disturb the bikers, so they traveled down the road to the Dairy Queen for lunch.

Kathe and Jim had some luck in the Deadwood casinos last night and brought home $6.80 in winnings!

It is very smoky and sooty here in our campground tonight.  There is a fire close to us in Newcastle, Wyoming, which is burning about 60,000 acres.  The Governor has ask the citizens of Wyoming not to use fireworks this 4th of July.  We will head away from the fire tomorrow on our way to Buffalo, Wyoming for the next two nights.