Custer Day 2

Yeah...its Day 2. I was way too tired to post anything yesterday.

Monday morning we left Ogallala around 8am. I was able to borrow a headlight bulb from Mike and stopped by the NAPA on Monday morning and bought a replacement for him. Actually, I think I like the bulb he gave me better..and they are half the price and from all others that have tried it...it will last much longer.

We picked up our last riders into Custer and it made us 13 strong. The ride from Ogallala to Custer was incredible...through nice hills and lots of scenery. Saw deer, buffalo, all kinds of wildlife. Was a little windy but not too bad to manage.

Got to Custer and went straight to the Rally HQ so Amy could get registration started and we could get a banner up and table set up etc. Was great meeting all the folks I had never met in person before, and also reacquainted with the ones I have been fortunate enough to meet before. We spent a lot of time hanging out in the parking lot and talking and looking at each others bikes.

Checked into the hotel and unloaded all the stuff from the bike and even put stuff in the drawers in the hotel room...I never do that but was tired of living out of saddlebag liners and a tbar bag. Immediately headed down to a local bar/grille in Custer for a few beverages and some food....especially important because I was reminded we never really did stop for lunch on the whole ride up.......had couple beers and the crowd thinned out early..about 9:30. I hung out with a couple guys and had another beer til 10:30 and headed back to the hotel. The best part of this was finding out the pre-established bar/grille was only about 100 yds from the hotel I am staying at so we walked to the bar and from the bar and no bike riding.

Got up this morning (around 6:30 which was great because I had been waking up early on Eastern time all week and getting about 5 hrs of sleep each night)...Checked the weather channel and it looked good for our planned rides today..just a small chance of showers. Got everything packed for the bike that I need for the day..leather jacket (55 degrees this AM)...rain gear....something with carbs in the saddlebag just in case.

We met at the HQ hotel and had a quick safety meeting and off to Devil's Tower in Wyoming (about 260 miles roundtrip). There was another ride today going to the Badlands. We were the bigger ride with 38-40 bikes. For those that don't ride...keeping that many bike together is tough so after checking with the authorities, we found that there were no laws or policies against "blocking". Blocking is when a couple bikes stay in an intersection to stop traffic and let all the bikes stay together as they go through and then the blockers usually go back to the front of the formation to block the next intersection (called leapfrogging). Apologies to all the people that drive cars and think this is ridiculous and there is no right to do this......it's really better for you....you wait a couple minutes and then the bikes are gone and you won't probably ever catch up to them....and if a car gets in the middle of a formation of a bunch of bikes, it's not the safest for the bikes....Anyway....I was one of the blockers. I will just say that catching back up to the front of the formation of all those bikes was a BLAST! You figure out why ...

We did run into several rain showers today so had to put on the rain gear so once on, I usually don't take it off...but I was sure glad I had it. Devil's Tower was way cool to see. It is an old volcano that has eroded away over millions of years....I think it is what Pilot Mountain in NC will look like in about a billion years.

So we got back to the hotel and went to a local restaurant for some dinner.....I drank water all day but must have not had enough...I was really dehydrated and drank about a pitcher and a half of tea.....no beers...too tired... Service SUCKED! They had buffalo and elk but I went for the 16oz rib eye.......it came out and was huge and really good..but, we got no salads (waiter forgot), I got no bread with my meal....everyone at the table had something wrong with their order....so wont be going back there...the waiter's story changed many times as to what the problem was, but after some discussion with the guy in charge we got 50% off our bills...I guess that was OK since the steak was good...but I would not go back to the place after that experience.

After dinner went to the Purple Pie....I guess lots of folks know about it in Custer......Homemade pies and ice cream. Got some Peanut Butter Pie and man was it incredible. Going back tomorrow night for some peach pie that looked really good.....

I am really surprised at how little I have eaten on this trip...I think this was the first big meal so far......I guess I need to get really really worn out and drink a bunch of water all the time!!

Gotta check the weather tomorrow and see what it holds.....That will determine what I do...might make a morning run somewhere and I am supposed to be leading a ride through the Custer State Park if we have enough folks that want to go on that ride. If we don't, I am going to probably go to Mt. Rushmore on one of the other rides.

Ok..its late and I probably have a bunch of misspelled words on this...but I am going to sleep till tomorrow.