Traveling Down the Road to Rapid City

Thursday, August 11, 2016

We have a leisurely travel day today from Butte to Big Timber.  We stayed at this campground in Big Timber back in 2011 and are happy to be returning here again.  The campground is out of town about 3 miles and set along the Yellowstone River.  Our site is a pull thru right next to the river and under some large trees giving us some shade and privacy.  We pull out our chairs and spend the afternoon listening to the river as it flows by.  Wish we could stay for a week and just relax in our chaise lounges with a nice glass of wine. 

Friday, August 12, 2016

Another day of driving and a restful evening.  We arrive in Buffalo, WY just about 30 miles south of Sheridan to stay at Deer Park RV where we have stayed twice before when in this area. On past visits we have seen deer and wild turkeys. 

Buffalo is a cute little town with some old buildings including an old hotel which once was a brothel and still run as a hotel.  There is a lovely museum here as well.

Ron drives me into town to a quilt shop where I purchase another license plate block.  I have started to collect these (one in each state we visit) to make a quilt some time down the road.  In Montana I found a panel of a map of the United States and will use it as the center for a quilt with the state blocks around it.  For those not quilters, each quilt shop now carries a different designed block each year with the name of their shop on it and a cute short word or words much like when people have individualized license plates made.  Wish I had known about this last year so I could have collected them while we were in so many states.  Oh, well, there is always another chance for those states as we RV around America.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

We arrive in Rapid City as the Motorcycle Rally is ending in Sturgis (about 32 miles west of Rapid City).  Thank goodness!  Last year was the 75th anniversary of the Rally so the numbers of bikers was way, way up (over 800,000).   Yes, that is the right number. This year everyone keeps saying the numbers are way, way down (maybe around 300,000).  What a crowd no matter the number! 

For those who may not know about this, bikers from all over the U.S. and Canada come each year to Sturgis for this week long event.  They participate in competitions, police escorted or impromptu tours of the Black Hills and party, hardy.  Dress codes go from biker casual to topless in the case of some women.  Parking in Sturgis is bike to bike and camping is in open fields or campgrounds and sometimes in someone’s front yard or field.  Quite a rowdy event, I am told. 

As we begin our drive this morning the number of bikers, RVs with enclosed and open trailers,  toy haulers (motorhomes and fifth wheels with back ends that will carry ATV’s, motorcycles, bikes, etc.) and  pickups with trailers carrying bikes (mostly heading west at this point) begin increasing the nearer we draw to Rapid City. 

We will remain here at the Elks Lodge visiting family and relaxing, then head up to Custer in the Black Hills for a few days before returning again to the Elks and beginning our journey toward Albuquerque for the month of September.  I will try to post a few pictures of places here in Rapid City and in the Black Hills along the way.