Day 14: Monday June 11, 2012

Once again we woke to sunny skies! We can sure get used to this!! Temperature was 59 degrees in Casper when we headed out at 8:30am. We took off north bound on interstate 25 to highway 259, to 387 and highway 450. As we were traveling on the two lane highways we passed open prairie with antelope. Again the landscape of Wyoming isn't very exciting but peaceful. The ride was relaxing and the sunshine felt so good! Dave and I took pictures along the way stopping often. We lunched in Newcastle Wyoming at a little mom and pop. While we were eating a siren went off and we were told a prisoner must have escaped from the local prison. We were advised when leaving the restaurant to not pick up anyone hitch-hiking if wearing an orange jumpsuit! After walking out of the restaurant we noticed a Ford Model A pull up in front of the restaurant. Knowing my other friend Dave was a Model A club president I asked the owner if I could take a picture of his car. He obliged and said he was from Auburn CA and knew Dave, again what a small world! We left Newcastle on highway 85 and shortly arrived in South Dakota. We rode through the Black Hills to Sturgis where we checked into a hotel. Knowing the history of motorcycles in Sturgis we wanted to explore the area. We went to the notorious or infamous bar known as Full Throttle Saloon (FTS) also featured in one of those reality TV shows. The bar is a major venue during the Sturgis motorcycle rally where 500,000 motorcycles descend upon this little town of 6,000. My friends at CABC will be amazed at this location and the nightmare it must be to police during the rally! The place also has a free roaming donkey strolling throughout the venue (which also has a restaurant). Not sure if South Dakota has a health department inspection??? We had dinner at Side Hack Saloon which the bartender at FTS recommended for the best pizza in town. When we finished eating the very good pizza, we checked out the town and I bought an official Honda GoldWing 2012 Sturgis Rally t-shirt. When we got back to the hotel we started talking to a couple of guys (Robert and Brian) who had a GoldWing and Victory. They were from Chicago and GreenBay. We talked motorcycles and suggested rides around "The Hills" for a good hour or more and hope to connect for dinner tomorrow. We rode 263 miles today with a total of 3,661 so far!

Psalm 25:21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.