Sturgis: Oh My Hail!

This morning we woke to cloudy skies and cooler temps. After a slow start (so what else is new?) we made our way to the Morningside Cafe, a local breakfast and lunch restaurant. We found that place last year, and decided to find it again. It was much less crowded this year than last, much like everywhere else.

Not long after we were seated, we heard from our friend Genevieve. She was able to take the afternoon off, so we arranged to meet her in town and go for a ride.

Despite the darkening clouds, we decided to ride for Sturgis along our original route -- through Nemo and Vanocker Canyon. We left the parking lot and headed for the road leading to Nemo. A few miles down the road, the raindrops were falling on our heads so we pulled over to don the rain gear. I loaned Genevieve my rain gear since I had worn my chaps and had my all-weather jacket with the water resistant liner.

By the time we had geared up, the rain had started in earnest. The ride from where we had stopped to don our rain gear until we reached Nemo was only about five or so miles, but I think it took us about 20 minutes to ride that five or so miles. A mile or so from where we had stopped to add clothes, the hail started.

The hail pelted us for about half mile, and of course the rain came down harder. I stayed in the lead until I couldn't see for the fog on two layers of glasses, then Donna took over. As long as I could see her, I was fine.

We stopped at the first beer garden we came to and waited out the rain. The break gave us a chance to dry out, warm up, and down a beer. The better part of an hour later, we rode out of Big Mama's beer garden and headed for the turn to Vanocker Canyon.

By that time, the rain had pretty much quit and the rest of the ride into Sturgis was beautiful. The air had a little bit of a nip since we were still damp from the rain, but it wasn't enough to pull us over to change anything.

Traffic in Sturgis was the lightest we have ever seen. In the past, the line of vehicles was almost a mile long. Today we had two bikes in front of us, and the only thing that slowed us down were the stop signs at almost every intersection. We even found places to park on the first block, all within sight of each other. That is unheard of.

After walking around and shopping for about an hour and a half, we met for a meal then headed back to Rapid City. We decided to ride back through Vanocker Canyon and Nemo since the skies had cleared and the air had warmed back up. Once we got riding up the canyon, we discovered that it hadn't warmed up that much, so on came the gear again. Not because it was raining, but because it was starting to cool off.

We dropped Genevieve off at her car and headed back to the cabin. We even managed to make it back before dark. It was a treat to get out of Sturgis during the day and under clear skies. Usually the rain chases us out and we're floating down the interstate after nighfall.

We haven't quite decided what we are going to do tomorrow. Probably go back over to the Harley shop. Lin wants to look at pipes and I'm going to see about getting mirrors mounted.