South Dakota to Sturgis

We left Fort Collins and headed to Douglas, camping all the way and then onto South Dakota, the badlands and three nights in Custer which ended up being stunning for riding, far quieter than the Rocky mountains area and fantastic roads. The roads around Custer State park are amazing, the only complaint was that there are supposedly 1500 wild buffalo on the section they call the "wildlife loop" well they hid from us, all we saw were a handful of Donkeys!! A pit stop at the Elk Haven Cafe / shop and campsite was great, the owners were nice people and treated us to a free sandwich (an excellent sloppy joe which is like a giant mince sandwich)...thanks guys, much appreciated.
We shared the campsite at Custer for the three nights with loads of rabbits and Kim & Cathy from Texas, great to meet you guys!
A visit to 4 mile town was interesting, an old western town re created on the site of an old western town if that makes sense. Today a ride to Sturgis, 9 days camping in the heat was getting to me so we decided to stop in  a hotel here for the night to cool down, glad that we did, this town is of course famous for the annual Sturgis event which attracts 1/2 Million motorcyclists from all over the world. The museum was interesting, loads of old Indians and then we stopped at Gypsie vintage cycle which is the same shop that the founder of Sturgis used to own, the current owner Coe Meyer now runs it as a shop selling restored classic bikes and is carrying on the tradition of being part of the Sturgis scene, we got invited through the back room for some unexpected hospitality, a few guys and neighbour Shelly arrived and we had a great afternoon! Thanks guys. Now we are heading for the Norton meeting at Buffalo which starts on Monday, so plenty motorcycle content ahead!

Aye Mad right enough

The town of Lusk

Where this takes place, basically the story of a young guy who shot and Indian Squaw for no reason, the Indians then demanded the settlers to turn him over or they would all die, they turned him over and he was skinned alive, not sure I'd like to be the guy who has to go through that every year!!

So true.......

No I didn't go in!

Fi couldn't resist this though

My almost namesake Dino

The most excellent Elk Haven, well worth a stop if you are in the area

Mount Rushmore

And close up

Work in progress, the even bigger carving of Crazy horse just down the road. (He was one of the main players in the defeat of Custer at Custers last stand, later shot dead whilst under a white flag of truce hence a very big hero in Indian folklore) 

Our neighbours



Catching the last rays of sun!

Interesting concept?

The bar complete with bar girl

Not so long ago all people lived like this

Fi Back at school

Cool place

Bikes loaded again ready to roll

Sturgis Motorcycle museum

 I Want one....please!!

Especially for George Martin, get your A10 in this trim!!

 Hanging out with Coe (2nd Left) and the guys in his most excellent man cave!!
 

Camping with the bears & July 4th

We headed back to the Rocky mountain National Park and spent two nights camping in the park, bear warnings everywhere but we didn't see any. Bear Safes are provided to keep all your food and smelly stuff in, really useful, all campsites should have them! We did encounter some storms but they were short lived. Back to Estes Park for July 4th celebrations and we were lucky enough to have a great view of the fireworks, we were surprised they went ahead as the area is full of serious forest fires, there was some rain that day though so maybe that saved the display.
After a couple of days doing not very much we headed to Poudre Canyon for another nights camping and we were lucky to get invited to Lloyd's tent for dinner , his wife Marge and daughter Erica had cooked up tons of food so we helped them eat it! thanks guys.
A nice run today on mainly deserted back roads to the town of Douglas (no similarity to Douglas IOM though!) The plan is to head into South Dakota for a few days now and catch the sights before the Norton Rally next Monday.
Oh and well done to Andy Murray for winning Wimbledon, I'm sure now he's broken his duck there will be plenty more!

This used to worry me

Nice being at one with nature

This is typical here, thousands of trees wiped out by Beetles, they are just left lying which means if a fire starts it is a nightmare to put out, fuelled by the dead trees on the forest floor

This is the Hydro scheme plant which powered the Stanley hotel until 1982 when a dam burst and flooded the area (and plant house) The Stanley as well as being the place the shining was filmed was also the first fully electric hotel in the US  

Home made caravan

There's a storm a brewing (thats our bear box in the foreground)

Fiona didn't think she was carrying enough so decided to carry additional firewood  

What the well dressed female motorcyclist wears to go shopping!

Celebrating July 4th with Gullane Coffee shop tea!

Who need a resturant when you can rustle this up on the petrol stove!!

Fireworks woo hoo

The morning after scene from our tent, wonderful!!

Authentic camp scene

Poudre Canyon Camp site

Another moose loose aboot this hoose

Deserted roads, sunshine, perfect!

Back to Denver and back on the bikes

We had a good couple of days in a camping cabin at Estes Park doing not very much, I was glad not to be doing huge mileages for a couple of days and I think we all enjoyed the rest. Extremes of temperatures, very hot during the day but cold at night, we also saw an amazing electrical storm, one of the most spectacular I've seen although I struggled to capture decent shots (it was better after I took the lens cap off!!) We dropped Fi's parents off at the airport and headed back to the Colorado Norton club brunch on Sunday, nice guys and nice bikes. We have been enjoying some more excellent hospitality from Peter and Micky Allen but all good things come to an end, back on the bikes today heading for the Rocky Mountains again for a few nights camping and to try out our new hoose (Tent)


Picnic just outside Rockies national park

There's a Moose Loose aboot this Hoose

High up in the Rockies, the road was over 11000 feet

Messing around on the river (well Lake actually)

Bob was here?

Stanley House where the shining was filmed, tea in plastic cups!!

Sunset over our hut

This was the best I could get, still impressive though

Cheeky Monk Belgian bar in Denver, just like Belgium

Modern Central Denver

Nice alloy Fastback tank

Bikes & guys talking about bikes, what better way to spend a Sunday

Randy, machine shop owner and British bike enthusiast sports one of Rogers T shirts , get that commando built Randy, can't let these Maney bits go to waste!