Lusk to Loveland

Friday, 13th August 2010

OMG! Friday 13th! I say a little prayer this morning - please, please, please may everyone stay safe on their bikes today - & every day, come to that. I'll be good forever, honest.
We visited Fort Laramie this morning, & I find early American history so fascinating. We learned all about day to day life in the fort from costumed re-enactors. It was never stockaded with wooden defensive walls the way we usually imagine frontier forts to be. Truth is, there were enough men & artillery housed there so the Indians would never attack; they just picked the soldiers off like snipers when they ventured out in small groups.

Ali Barber & the Cavalry!

We also learned how the settlers & cowboys left messages for eachother before emails - they'd write on bleached bones with charcoal from their campfires. 

Click on this picture to read the travellers' messages.

I loved hearing the tales of the life of a laundress back in the day; a hard life, though not without some status & benefits. But I would have preferred to be an Officer's Wife, all afternoon tea & dishing out orders! No change there, then! John enjoyed it, too. Delusions of grandeur surfaced in John, as he spied a cavalry hat he fancied - he says he'll have three stripes on his shoulder by next year to go with it!

I didn't take a photo of John's new hat, but it was nothing like these!

I'm sure we could have stayed longer at Fort Laramie, but it was getting hot, & we had a road to ride, so after grabbing a quick bottle of Sarsparilla from the Soldiers Bar, we mounted up & continued our journey.

Our destination for lunch was Laramie itself, which strangely enough is almost a hundred miles from the Fort, & afterwards we headed for Loveland, where we had scheduled a visit to Thunder Mountain H-D. They keep some great ladies clothing in there, & I was looking forward to calling in, but for some reason, my sat-nav took me straight past it to our hotel. John & all our riders stopped & shopped there, but I had dropped so far behind the group in the busy teatime traffic that I didn't see them turn off the motorway. Funny that, I must ask John how I bypassed it, as he's the one who programmes the sat-navs ...

Friday evening, Colin & Sandra, Kev & Janet, & John & Janice found a hip 'n' happnin' little pub around the corner from our hotel, where they had already sampled several glasses of the landlord's finest when who should walk in but our cheeky cockney chappies, Harry & Bob! Well, much frivolity, singing on the karaoke & dancing moves ensued, & a cracking good night was had by all! Good enough to give Kev the mother of all hangovers next morning anyway! I'll leave you with these images ...

Kev gets wiv it, large!

Sandra & Janice - at least three sheets to the wind!

John makes some shapes on the dancefloor!

And a good time was had by all!

So, Friday 13th ended well after all. Mind you, Saturday the 14th was a bit of a headache for some!!!!

Deadwood to Lusk - continued

Thursday, 12th August 2010

Leaving Crazy Horse, we were heading for Custer State Park, & a twisty, winding road called the Needles Highway. Well, I say we - that is, everyone except me in the van! Truth is, there are some extremely narrow passageways between the rocks, & I don't think the van would get through them. I just scraped (not literally!) through last year, in a smaller van, so I didn't want to risk it in the Mercedes, which was both wider & higher than the Chevvy. So, the plan was that I'd meet up with the bikes at the restaurant in Custer State Park for lunch, & that's pretty much what happened. Custer is famous for large numbers of Bison, & we saw plenty of them. Up at the front, they were on the road & the bikes had a great view, but by the time I got there with the van they had wandered over into the fields.

What's the difference between a bison & a buffalo?

We arrived at Lusk for our overnight stay in good time for a swim in the outdoor pool, but sadly there was no BBQ for us, as Tom, who owns the hotel & is chief BBQ cook on these occasions, was away at Sturgis enjoying himself. However, he was thoughtful enough to leave a little 'Goody Bag' for every room in our group instead. How very kind of him, it's little touches like these that make us want to go back each year.

Deadwood to Lusk

Thursday, 12th August 2010

We left Deadwood on the Thursday morning, anxious to resume our adventures on the road. It was great to stay in one place for a few days, but there are still a lot of wonderful places to visit, as we begin the second leg of this epic tour.

We began with a ride through Keystone - keeping an eye out for the cops - & pretty soon we were faced with Mount Rushmore. We stopped for a few photos, but carried on to Crazy Horse where we were to spend a couple of hours learning more about this mammoth task. This is much more of an achievement, when you consider it was one man's dream, with no government help or funding. The monument to Crazy Horse is a fantastic tribute to native American Indians, & will not be completed for many, many years.

Scale model of finished Crazy Horse Monument

Must go & board the plane home .... will continue later ...

Images of Sturgis

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Big Guy at Full Throttle Saloon

Wednesday, 11th August 2010

I thought I'd not ramble on too much with this page, & try to fill it with photos instead. That's me on the left with Wild Bill Hikock.

We didn't have a group ride-out today, John & I had a few things to do, & we thought we'd just let everyone do their own thing.

One of John's tasks for today was to wash the bike. Luckily for him, he found some help! Doesn't he look pleased with himself?

Well, he does like a nice clean bike!

This bike belongs to a serious Beatles fan!

Bare Bones Bike at Buffalo Chip

That's all for now, it's late & I'm tired. I'll try to write more tomorrow.

Hang 'em High at Hullet!

                                 Spearfish Canyon

Tuesday, 10th August 2010

Part of the attraction of Sturgis is the fantastic rides & wonderful scenery all around the area. The plan today was to take a ride through the beautiful Spearfish Canyon, all twists & turns, with dramatic rocky walls towering over the lush green canyon floor. I coudn't help imagining how peaceful it must be there, when there isn't a constant stream of noisy motorcycles roaring through.

The canyon receded & the landscape gradually opened up, & we carried on our ride for a while longer, until we came to a stone building on a gentle mound, slap-bang in the middle of nowhere. There were loads of bikes outside, so we decided to call in & see what was going on. It had been a while since we left Deadwood, so we we thought everyone would be ready for a 'comfort' stop about now, anyway. We turned up the long drive, & while we were parking the bikes, I noticed Harry admiring a sort of Davy Crockett-style hat worn by another biker. Now Harry has been gradually 'going native' since we began this tour. He arrived in Las Vegas in T-shirt & jeans, looking like a regular sort of guy. But, as the tour progressed, he's bought an Indian-style leather waistcoat & ditched the T-shirts, some leather chaps, (& he got some flak for those, I can tell you!)  & next time I looked he's wearing the hat, & the other guy is walking away stuffing a wad of dollars into his pocket!

                                                         We're going to Hullett next, Harry! Wear the fox hat!!

The building we had stopped at was called the Stone House - quite appropriate I thought. It's a bar/restaurant, but the best thing about it was the loos! Away from the main building, which was quite decrepit, there was an obviously brand new wooden structure, all pale pine & spotlessly clean. I went into the ladies door, & it was just wonderful! Completely open to the skies, it had no roof at all, & a new stone floor, several wooden cubicles & proper loos. There was also a row of basins, gleaming in the sunshine, lovely handwashing lotions, soft paper towels - the whole place was posher than a lot of places I've visited, & totally unexpected.  So our 'comfort' stop turned out to be quite an experience!

Next, we were headed for a little place called Hullett. Hullett is famous for 'No Panties Wednesday'! Apparrently, way back in the day, all the bikers would converge in Hullett on the Wednesday, on their way to Sturgis for the rally weekend. Spirits would get a little high, beer would flow, & the bikers would get a bit  raucous. 'Course, it's all rather more low-key & PC now - but I made sure we went on the Tuesday, just in case!

Pat & Chris decided to keep their panties on - with dire consequences!

We had lunch in Hullett, & a little look around, & we came across a couple of mean-looking cattle rustlers who paid the ultimate price for their misdeeds. Funny though, they looked strangely familiar ... 

We decided to leave Hullett while we still had some of our group left alive, & headed off towards Devil's Tower, famous rendezvous point for the aliens in Close Encounter of the Third Kind. Devil's Tower Trading Post is also famous for wonderful ice-cream (well, it is with me, anyway), & I was so looking forward to a large helping of Praline Pecan as we approached the strange mound of rock. However, when we arrived at the Trading Post, it seemed that one or two hundred other bikers were of the same mind, & we couldn't even get parked, let alone get anywhere near the ice-cream counter. With deep regret on my part, we aborted the mission, & headed instead for Sundance, home of the Sundance Kid, & site of recently opened Harley-Davidson dealership, which was to be our new goal.

Devil's Tower - & Praline Pecan - far in the background

Later that evening, John & I, & Elaine & Dave, went to the Buffalo Chip, one of Strugis' famous campgrounds, to see Bob Dylan. What an experience that was! Bob was good, no doubt about it, but it was the crowd there that was truly entertaining! I don't have any photos to put on here, (just as well, I might get arrested!) but there were girls there wearing nothing but skimpy bikinis - well, skimpy bikinis just painted on their skin - they were actually not wearing a stitch! Others wore little shorts - real ones - with bodices or corsets painted on as tops, & they all loved to be stopped by the guys to have their pictures taken. Well, you know what they say about having it & flaunting it! Speaking of which, one very large lady had a lot more than most, & she flaunted hers in a string vest -very scary!

STURGIS!!!

Monday, 9th August 2010

At last! We're actually going to Sturgis today! We met at 9am for the 10 mile ride to the small town where the 70th Sturgis Rally was taking place. It's a lovely ride from Deadwood, with long, sweeping curves through pleasant countryside, & of course those roads are teeming with motorcycles on both sides, coming from & going to Sturgis.
Riding along Lazelle Street we slowed to a snails pace, snarled up in the sheer volume of traffic, with multiple STOP signs at the junctions slowing us down even further, but giving us the chance to see the many stalls & trade stands which line both sides of the road, all vying for our attention & tempting us to buy from them.
We were baking in the heat, with the sun beating down, & the engines burning our legs as we crawled off Lazelle, & eventually turned in to Main Street. We rode slowly up the street, parked motorcycles lining both sides of the road, with a double row up the middle. Every building wore biker livery - all the usual shops & businesses move out for the rally, & rent their premises to the hundreds of t-shirt shops, food outlets, stalls selling cold drinks, leather gear, tattoo parlours, bars, pin & patch stalls - anything to make a buck from the bikers.
We continued in awe along Main Street, until we came to the end of the shops & stalls, & into the residential area. There were tents in almost every garden - some people move out of their homes for the rally & rent them to bikers, others have signs up advertising camping space in their gardens, some offer bike parking, some offer showers, some sell cold bottled water & soft drinks from coolboxes in the garden, & all along people sit on garden chairs to watch the bikes go by.

We left our group in Sturgis to wander & soak up the atmosphere, & maybe even buy a t-shirt or two, or chill out on the balcony of One Eyed Jack's Saloon with a cold drink to watch the biking world go by. Bliss!

Buffalo to Deadwood

Sunday, 8th August 2010

Nothing on the road apart from us!

8th of August is our actual anniversary, & when we came into the dining room for breakfast this morning, everyone cheered & applauded. Bob serenaded us with some old cockney song - don't give up your day-job, Bob - & we were handed a lovely card, which everyone had signed. Well, we were so overwhelmed, & I came over all emotional! Thank you everyone, for all your good wishes & kindness. What a great bunch you are! Eeeh, I'm filling up again just thinking about it!

And today's a big day in another way, too; today we hit Deadwood, where we get to stay in the same place for 4 consecutive nights, & enjoy the Sturgis Rally, & the reason for this tour. We've been seeing more & more Harleys on the road in the last few days, although you wouldn't think it from the picture above! We stop for lunch at the Buckhorn Saloon, along with a whole lot of other bikers, all heading for the same destination. Some people there like to show off a bit ...

Boss Hoss Trike - for sale at $90,000!

We passed some great placenames on today's ride; Crazy Woman Creek, Dead Horse Gulch, Sundance (where The Kid got his name from), & another, which was far more familiar!

 We called in at Deluxe H-D in Gillette for a bit of retail therapy, taking full advantage of the free coffee & help-yourself ice-cream machine. Well, it'd be rude not to, wouldn't it?  I know who came off best from our visit - collectively we boosted their sales enormously, so I s'pose a drop of coffee & a dollop of ice-cream is neither here nor there in the scale of things!

The roads began to curve gently & were filled with bikes as we swept down towards Deadwood, arriving at Cadillac Jack's, our hotel for the next four nights, around 3.30pm. Our people were like kids let loose in a candy store, barely taking the time to dump their bags in their rooms before rushing out to see as much as they could of this exciting area. The whole place was buzzing - or should that be roaring? - with thousands of bikes & bikers everywhere you looked. We agreed to meet at 8am next morning to go into Sturgis, & see what delights awaited us all there!

 

Dining in the Footsteps of Butch & Sundance

Saturday 7th August 2010

I've just discovered that you can click on the photos to enlarge them!


Our journey today took us  into the Bighorn Mountains, ziz-zagging upwards ultimately to a height of almost 9500 feet, where the air was fresh, & cool enough to preserve a small glacier a couple of hundred yards further up.

Bob decided he would climb up & bring us a small lump of ice back, & we all had to touch it as it slowly began to melt.

Malcolm, Barry & Duncan living the high life!

Dropping down on the other side of the Bighorns, the landscape changed again, with soft, rolling hills, low & green & lush, & grazing cattle scattered in the fields. We took the interstate to Buffalo, & encountered very little traffic on the way.

Buffalo is the home of the historical Occidental Hotel, lovingly restored to it's late 19th century splendour. As part of the hotel, there's also an authentic saloon, an old barber's shop, & a row of rocking chairs on the sidewalk outside, (I'm fluent in American, now!) to sit awhile & watch the world go by. That night, we dined in it's Virginian Restaurant, once frequented by Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. Part of the restaurant used to be the bank, & the only room they had for John & I was in the old vault. It turned out to be a very special evening for us. The following day was our 30th wedding anniversary, & the rest of our group had heard about this, & had been secretly plotting. We had a lovely meal, & when we asked for the bill, the waitress told us there was nothing to pay, as our group had taken care of it for our anniversary. We were so touched at their kindness.

Celebrating our Pearl Wedding in the vault. Nobody shut the door, mind ..

                                                                                    

Jackson to Cody

Friday, 6th August

We collected Colin's bike from Eaglerider early this morning, & it seemed to be running well enough. Even though we weren't convinced with their 'bad gas' theory, they had drained the tank & replaced the gas, & as long as it was running & we could be on our way, we were happy with that.
Once again we rode through the plains with the Tetons on our left, towards Yellowstone. Colin & Sandra, & Kev & Janet hed missed having their photo taken at the Yellowstone sign, so we pulled into the lay-by for them at the entrance to the park. There we met some people with interesting motorcycle & sidecar combos, & very comfortable they looked, too, with all mod cons in the sidecar, including a DVD player with drop-down screen! The one below is a Triumph.

Colin & Co also wanted to see Old Faithful as they had missed it the previous day, so we gave them directions & agreed to meet up later in the day at our Cody hotel.

We again rode through Yellowstone, but this time taking a different route, turning eastwards through Fishing Bridge, & enjoying the beautiful scenery as we followed the edge of Heart Lake for several miles. Eventually we left the park, & skirted the edge of the Shoshone Forest before dropping down the sweeping bends to our lunch stop at Pahaska Teepee Lodge, once Buffalo Bill's hunting lodge. There were a group of people on the roadside when we arrived; they had sighted a moose in the trees about 50 yards away, but he had moseyed off by the time I got my camera. Shucks!

Heavy black clouds loomed in the distance, & we could see the occasional lightning bolt on the far side of the hills as we continued our ride towards Cody. As the afternoon wore on, the wind got up & large spots of rain began to fall, slowly at first, then it lashed down hard & heavy for several minutes. We got through it quickly enough though, & by the time we reached our log cabin acommodations around 3.30pm everyone had dried out again.

Every Nite is Rodeo Nite in Cody! So the posters proclaim, & it's such a fun & entertaining evening it's really not to be missed! Not just for tourists, Cody residents take their rodeo seriously, & it's an evening out for the whole family. Everyone in our group wanted to go, & they all had a great time, however John & I had to pass; we've been before, & we had more mundane things to attend to, shopping for drinks for the van, washing, & checking out alternative cabin accommodations for future tours. We also wanted to update this blog, but couldn't get online, so we thankfully had an early(ish) night.

Yellowstone & the Grand Tetons

Entering Yellowstone National Park

The Grand Tetons - what a stunning backdrop!

Janice & John Allsop, & Elaine & Dave Protheroe, en-route to Yellowstone

Thursday, 6th August.

John had started Colin's bike this morning & it seemed to be running a lot better, but he decided to take it to Eaglerider anyway, so they could check it over. Kev & Janet stayed in Jackson Hole with Colin & Sandra; there's plenty to see & do there, especially for a cowboy buff like Colin, so they were quite happy. Then we left for the 50 mile ride to Yellowstone, taking us through the Grand Teton National Park, which is so beautiful with it's jagged, snow-covered peaks. Buffalo, elk & moose roam freely here, but apart from some deer, we didn't see any other wildlife to speak of. Shame.

No visit to Yellowstone is complete without seeing Old Faithful, the huge geyser which predictably erupts every 90 minutes or so. Of course there are many smaller & less predictable geysers in the park, all emitting the evil smell of sulphur as they bubble & hiss away through the thin muddy crust.

There were reports from other tourists of buffalo blocking the road further on, causing 2 hour delays, but sadly there were none to be seen when we rode that way. Never mind, we didn't want long delays anyway, as we were looking forward to a Cowboy Cookout that evening. On our way back to Jackson, again through Grand Teton NP, we were finally lucky enough to see a herd of bison grazing on the plains.

We arrived at the corral for our cowboy cookout just in time to hear a brief history of the beginnings of Jackson Hole (Hole is another term for 'valley'), & the Bar J Ranch hosting the event. Our transport to the camp awaited us in the form of covered wagons, each seating 24 people & easily pulled by two large horses. As we ambled up the two mile trail, our driver Wes pointed out a fox, a beaver lodge in the creek, & told us more about our horse team, Ben & Joe. We also met a crazy mountain man, & were attacked by Shoshone indians, but I think they might not have been chance encounters, if you know what I mean! The evening was fun, & 'interactive', we were well fed & enjoyed the music, & afterwards we sang & joked all the way back down the trail in the wagons. A beer or two in the bar, & the evening was complete.

The Earth Moved in Jackson Hole!

Idaho Girls - easier on the eye than the other photo, entitled Idaho Boys!! Is this a rugged male model from the Freeman's catalogue? Oh no, it's only Barry striking a pose!

Here we all are taking a breather at Bear Lake. Didn't they park nice & neatly?

Forked lightning & booming thunder greeted us at 5.30am, with lashings of rain for good measure. Oh, thanks very much, I thought, as I rolled my eyes heavenward. That's all we need. However, we weren't scheduled to leave until eight, & by the time we had breakfast the storm had passed & the roads were dry, with just the odd telltale puddle left here & there. As we pulled out of the hotel car park to begin the day's ride, I sneaked another glance heavenward & muttered a sheepish 'thank you'.

Big day today, riding through three states. Beginning in Utah, we cross into Idaho, & end up in Wyoming. All through beautiful countryside, much greener (that'll be thanks to all that rain), & comfortably cooler. Not cold at all, mind you, still on par with a hot summer's day at home, but not the oppressive, sticky, burn-your-eyeballs heat of Las Vegas & southern Utah. Very pleasant indeed, everything going wonderfully well. We stopped beside Bear Lake, a huge, deep turquoise blue picture-postcard kind of a lake, with a backdrop of mountains adding the finishing touch to the view. Bear Trapper Lodge had laid on a wonderful buffet lunch for us, with fresh salads, hot dishes, fruit, bread, jam & ice-cream made with delicious local raspberries. They really did us proud. Next door was a chocolate shop, & we even had time to call in & buy some goodies. Could things get any better than this?

Actually, no. But they could get worse. And they did. We stopped a couple of miles up the road at the Idaho sign, for a photo. Colin's bike had been playing up since our last petrol stop, losing power when he went to accelerate, & after the photo stop, it just gave up. We still had 120 miles to do, & there wasn't really anywhere nearby where we could get help. There was nothing for it but to load his bike into the van, & carry on to Jackson Hole, where we knew there was an EagleRider. Colin went on the back of Bob, who was riding solo, but he made Colin take photos from the bike for him as payment for his ride. Colin's wife, Janet, joined me in the van, & we soon forgot the broken bike as we had a good old natter & the miles just slipped away.

After a couple more photo/comfort stops, we arrived at aour hotel in Jackson Hole at 5.30pm, & John went straight up to EagleRider to report the problem, while I got us all checked in. EagleRider said John should take Colin's bike up there before they closed at 6pm, so I went up in the van with him.

As we stood in the evening sunshine discussing the possible diagnosis of the problem, I was leaning against the van when it started to rock gently. Not knowing the cause, I moved away from it, but felt the ground still moving strangely under my feet. Was it perhaps the effect of a large wagon passing by? No, it was an earthquake! We all felt it, John, me, & a couple of EagleRider guys. OMG! An actual earthquake! It lasted about five seconds, & it was really weird, & quite uncommon for the area. Whatever next!

They couldn't decide what the problem was at five-to-closing-time, it was a new bike, with nothing obviously wrong. Except, of course, it wouldn't go. Had diesel been put in by mistake? No, others had used the same pump. Well, it could have been bad gas (that's petrol, to you & me), according to the EagleRider guy, the tank should be drained, & that would probably fix it. But they were closing, so John said he would take it back to the hotel & do it. When we got back, Colin said that other bikes had used the same pump before & after him at the gas station, & they were OK, so it couldn't be that. John checked the oil filter, spark plugs (I'm guessing now, I went back to the room), & generally fiddled about with it a bit. But no joy, so we'll take it up to EagleRider to sort it out in the morning.

Just when you think the day is going well, you have a breakdown & then an earthquake to contend with. Ain't life wonderful!

Zion to Park City - the Longest Day

Tuesday was to be the longest mileage day of the tour, at 330 miles. We were all looking forward to our ride through Zion Canyon, & shortly after 8am we were eagerly queing at the gate, park passes at the ready, while the lady Ranger tried to work out if she should let us enter or not. You probably know the type - a proper 'Jobsworth'. She delayed us for about half an hour, checking each pass & rider's ID, as the queue of cars wanting to enter the park steadily grew longer & longer behind us. The she made me go & get all the receipts for the passes from the van, which I did, smiling sweetly all the time while inwardly cursing her for making our group wait for no real reason. She studied the receipts, the passes, the ID's & our group before finally allowing us to go through, & she even had the cheek to wave & smile us through, after all that.
Then, there were more delays due to roadworks in the canyon, with unsurfaced roads, pilot cars, lots of red lights, & workers holding STOP & SLOW signs. But even with all of that, Zion Canyon is breathtakingly beautiful. The morning sun lit up the pink rocks, while the jagged mountainous peaks reached up to the sky, & our long line of flashing chrome snaked it's way upwards around the gentle curves of this awesome canyon.
The landscape began to flatten out & become greener as we reached the high plains, passing a small herd of bison & a llama farm, before coming across a welcome coffee/comfort stop in the shape of an old 50's style diner. The poor young girls serving didn't know quite what had hit them as 24 of us piled into the small cafe, our Englishness coming to the fore as we quickly formed two queues; one for the coffee, & one for the loos.
Relieved, refreshed & ready to go once more, our riders revved up their Harleys, & we were off again. However, we encountered yet more roadworks, often with red lights on so long that we had long enough to get off the bikes & wander about, chatting to eachother.
We stopped for fuel at a nice little town called Maryville, & we & arrived behind schedule at The Big Rock Candy Mountain, where we had booked lunch.
Then it was on to the I15, which was very scenic & traffic-free for a motorway, & steadily decreased our remaining mileage on the fast road to our overnight at the picturesque ski resort of Park City. Our longest day had been stretched to the limits with delays by an over-zealous Park Ranger, miles of unsurfaced roads, & more red lights & long stops than you could shake a stick at.

Sturgis Tour - First Riding Day; Vegas to Zion

Ann & Chris had a special birthday recently,
so we celebrated with them!

We had a 200 mile ride today, beginning with a ride down The Strip, before taking the I15 freeway out of Las Vegas. Even at 6.30am the interstate traffic was heavy, but gradually thinned out a bit as we got further away from the city. By the time we turned off for Valley of Fire State Park, we were almost the only ones on the road.

Valley of Fire is stunningly beautiful, with it's deep red rock formations making curious shapes & backdrops as we rode through the twists & curves. Temperatures were rising steadily, & everyone was thankful for the ice-chest containing water & soft drinks that we carry in the support vehicle. Hydration jackets & neckies were wetted & donned, as some respite against the morning heat.
We stopped for a late breakfast at Overton, where our favourite cafe had opened early especially to accommodate us, & before too long we were back on the road, the riders by now beginning to relax & settle in to riding their rented Harleys.
We carried on another 90 miles or so, & were ready for a stop at Zion Harley-Davidson. They too had opened especially for us, as they are usually closed on Mondays. John & I had called in to see them a few days before, & asked if they would open for an hour or so, in case any of our group wanted to buy souvenier T-shirts. Laura, the manager kindly agreed, & I think they were pleased that we came! Apart from our group, half a dozen or so other bikes pulled in after seeing our bikes parked outside, so I think Laura was quite happy to give up her Monday morning off in exchange for hugely increased sales!

H-D carrier bags containing T-shirts, jackets, boots, & an array of other bits & pieces were duly bunged into the back of the van, before we set off on the 30 mile ride to Zion Canyon, & our lovely overnight stop. The photo above shows all the bikes neatly parked as we arrived at the hotel, with the beautiful mountains behind. We arrived mid-afternoon, giving us plenty of time to enjoy a swim & the sunshine at the outdoor pool, while others took the free shuttle-bus to the village a few miles further down the road, or simply relaxed in the cool of their comforable rooms.

We met for dinner in the restaurant with stunning mountain views, & as dusk fell we watched the bats swooping outside in search of insects. Ann & Chris had both celebrated special birthdays recently, so we surprised them with a cake, candles & all! Later, when leaving the restaurant to go back to our rooms across the car-park, we were stopped by one of the hotel staff shining a torch on the grass several feet away. It turned out to be a rattlesnake, 3 or 4 foot long! They were very concerned for the guest's safety, & had sent for someone to come & 'deal' with it. She warned us to keep well back, as rattlers can jump up to 3 times their length when they strike. John didn't need two tellings - he's terrified of snakes! Anyway, a pick-up truck pulled up, & a couple jumped out. The man was carrying a spade, & after a little hestation & a lot of direction from his wife, he gingerly went nearer & struck, chopping the poor rattler's head off with his spade. The body continued to writhe for several minutes, & when it quietened down a bit, one of the onlookers got brave & approached to give the tail a shake. Sure enough, it rattled just like we used to hear on the John Wayne films on a Sunday afternoon! Last year, we saw tarantulas here; this year, a rattlesnake. Wonder what we'll see next year. Couldn't help feeling a bit sad for the snake, though.

STURGIS TOUR - ALL REVVED UP & RARING TO GO!

It's here at last! The Sturgis Tour, after a year of planning, tweaking, & making changes for the better, we are ready to embark on this our third Sturgis Tour. We have a lively group, 24 strong, on 14 Harleys, & we're gonna have a great time!

We all met up in the Harley-Davidson Cafe for our Welcome Meal. Some had flown into Las Vegas a day or two before & were beginning to get acclimatised, where others had just stepped off the plane that same day (Saturday), & were buzzing with adrenalin after the arduous flight. We chatted as we ate, & arranged to meet at 2.30pm on Sunday, to go & collect the bikes, in readiness for Monday's early start. After the meal, some went to have a wander down The Strip, some went for a bevvy or two, while others just wanted to get back to the hotel & fall gratefully into bed. The first day is always a long one!

This afternoon (Sunday), we collected the bikes from Eaglerider, & John led the way to the iconic 'Welcome to Las Vegas' sign, for a photo. Here I must apologise, especially to Elaine at one side, & Jaquie at the other, for chopping them in half on the photo above! I also apologise to June, who went to get a bottle of water from the van, & Mike, who went to fetch her for the photo, & missed it. Sorry to those not pictured above, but you all know how hot it was, & how long we'd all been standing posing for all the different pics, & how bright the sun was shining in the viewer on my camera. I just had to 'click' & get it done, so we could get out of the heat before you all melted!

We returned to the hotel, parked the bikes, & agreed to meet at 6am, for the first leg of our journey.

Last Leg - Laughlin back to Las Vegas

Oatman - yes, it is Fast Fanny's Place! This is NOT Abbey Road!

Homeward bound (that is, if we can call Las Vegas Home!)

I forgot to say that we heard from Beryl & Bob while we were in Palm Springs, & the good news was they were at the airport in San Francisco, ready to board for their upgraded flight home. It was such a relief for us (& no doubt for them, too) to know that they were homeward bound at last.

Tuesday morning saw us leaving Laughlin at 06.30am to beat the heat, again following the Colorado River southwards, before turning east back onto Route 66 to Oatman, where they were expecting us at the Olive Oatman Saloon for breakfast. Oatman is an old silver mining town, now defunct, but open for tourists. When they closed the old mine, they set the burros free, & their descendants now live wild in the surrounding hills. But they're not daft, & have learned that people = food. Funnily enough, the shopkeepers in Oatman aren't daft either, & they sell bags of carrotts to feed them with. We only saw one mummy burro with her baby, but it was early in the morning with not many tourists, & Laurie from the saloon told me the burros count the cars, & won't bother coming down if there aren't enough people to make it worth their while! Told you they're not daft!

There's lots of interesting buildings there, even a very old hotel, where bygone stars of the silver screen used to go & stay for a bit of peace & quiet. Clark Gable & Carole Lombard honeymooned there, & you can see their room. I really don't know what the new Mrs Gable thought of the bathroom facilities though - there was a po under the bed!

Leaving Oatman, we ride some of what we consider to be the best bits of old Route 66. Twisty & curling around the hillsides, it's a bikers' dream. In the van at the back, I could see the silver snake of chrome glinting in the sunshine as they wended their way up the desert hills.

Of course, we had to visit Kingman, & The Mother Road Harley-Davidson - just in case anyone wanted another T-shirt - & of course, there were those who did! Then it was back on the road, to the Hoover Dam. Security is understandably tight at the dam, & we must have caught the guards with nothing to do, as they waved us in, ordered all the luggage out of the van, & made us all stand by our open cases for inspection. Oh joy! It was 40 degrees & the sun burned down on us as they barely glimpsed at the bags, before wandering off to wave a fully air-conditioned tour bus straight through, while we wearily humped all the bags back into the van. There's no justice!

Hoover Dam is a remarkable feat of engineering, & we stopped further down the road for photos, before riding across the massive structure. To the left, we could see the new bridge, which is almost completed & should be open this autumn, & from then vehicles will not be allowed to ride across the dam any more.

All too soon, we saw the familiar Las Vegas skyline looming, & the volume of traffic increased & stepped up a pace as we neared the city. Sadly, we returned the bikes, & all met up later that evening for a farewell meal, back in the Harley-Davidson Cafe, where it had all began, 1800 miles before.

At the beginning of the Golden Gate Tour, we had a group of people who had something in common - the wish to ride motorcycles in the USA. By the end of the tour, we were a group of friends, who had made their wish come true.

Thank you to all of our friends on the tour, both old & new. Please keep in touch, & we hope to ride with you again some day.