Today we had a 57 mile ride over rolling prairie to
the world famous town of Wall, South Dakota the home
of the world famous tourist trap, Wall Drug. In case
you’ve never been there, Wall, SD has very little to
it other than Wall Drug. It’s not that bad of a place
but you can understand why it would take 15 million
road signs to get people to stop there.
The riding was easy today. The distance was short, the
weather was good and there was a stiff tailwind. Yes,
I said tailwind! Maybe those candles started to work.
It looks like South Dakota is becoming the motorcycle
capital of the world. In early August each year the
town of Sturgis, SD (near the Black Hills) has a huge
Harley-Davidson rally. Apparently those that can’t get
there for the Sturgis rally run around the state the
rest of the time. There are motorcycles everywhere and
a lot of them are pulling trailers. I don’t quite get
it.
It used to be that Harley-Davidson riders were young,
tough and had a chip on their shoulder. Now the
average Harley rider is old, obese, wears ugly
clothes, has a huge beer gut hanging over their belt,
has cheap tattoos, has a bad haircut and has a
scraggly beard. . . and that’s just the women. The men
are even worse. It’s not a pretty sight.
Anyway, we have a tough 117 miles to ride tomorrow. We
end up in Pierre, SD. If you remember your fourth
grade geography, that’s the state capital.
Unfortunately, the weather report says that the winds
are suppose to shift and turn into a headwind
tomorrow. It could make for a long day. Come on folks,
we need help. If you live in the East, turn on your
fans pointing eastward in order to pull the air in
that direction.
Somehow, we’ll make it. We’ll probably be very
exhausted by this time tomorrow. Not only that but we
lose an hour due to a time zone change. A long day
looms.