My Accidental trip to Sturgis
The pilgrimage to Sturgis was neither a bucket list item nor an actual destination. I had to travel to St. Paul MN to supervise an install of a sound design I had created for Smokey Joe’s Café at the Ordway Centre for the Performing Arts. I had been planning a ride down to Oregon or perhaps California but the light bulb lit when I contemplated a ride to St. Paul as opposed to the de rigueur flight to Minneapolis. I recalled that Sturgis was actually on the way to St. Paul and my gig was a week later than the last day of Sturgis. Well… why not attend the world’s best and largest bike rally?!
Initially I had the krazeee idea of a camping expedition full of adventure and surprise but thankfully my bad back reminded me that at the end of each riding day a careful and methodical ritual of tent raising would have to ensue. Enter Airbnb. After a rather easy process a network of stops had been created in virtual space. After some research the North Cascades Highway was chosen to travel between Vancouver and Winthrop. The dogleg turn past Sedro Wooley took me and my metal steed up the incredible passes to the outlook over Lake Diablo; a vista that has a lake so emerald green it looks unreal. The descent from the outlook was almost like a roller coaster! Winthrop is a very adorable western themed town with some excellent eateries and an even more impressive brew house in an old school. The overpacked, but clean hostel was, shall we say the low point on the Airbnb adventure. Day two, of any adventure is always a reminder of our corporal limits haha. The road to Spokane had sections of dessert, much like Osoyoos in the Okanagan. The visual highlight of that leg was a strip of freshly paved ultra black pavement against waving fields of golden wheat. In the distance large farm structures harkened back to imagery of the first Star Wars movie, which was extremely surreal.
Spokane is a lovely city but the heat, when in the mid to high 90s, starts to take its toll. So the oasis that was my next air-conditioned room was truly appreciated. A dinner at the always dependable and delicious Sharis was it for the day.
The next stop was to be Missoula, Montana. Leaving Washington and heading into Idaho the slow transition from coastal to cowboy was commencing. As I rode through the beginning of Montana I realized my horse did indeed have saddlebags and the flattening scenery really conjured up what I always had imaged an adventure in the 1800s to the wild must have felt like. Now day three brought on the tragic and rarely discussed condition known as ass-paralysis. Fortunately a stop to rest and buy a poker chip in Harley dealer that hailed me to the roadside yielded a true gift from the universe: a Skwoosh gel pad that transformed the rest of the ride from doing time to sublime.
The following stop was at a truly wonderful couple’s home. It started with my parking my black Fat Bob 114 next to Lee’s black Road Glide and Larraine’s black Sportster and continued with a superb BBQ dinner they prepared. Let’s say not only did I stay with them again on the way home but will book again if the trip for the 80th anniversary of Sturgis comes to pass.
Next was a nice longer leg to Whitewood, which is about 12 minutes from Sturgis. Again the temps were high and after going through Wyoming I rode a group of five Harley riders in fine formation from Broadus to Belle Fourche. Then back to solo on to Deadwood. Pulling into town via a choreographed paraded was quite magical after a five day ride. The spectacle of any imaginable variation of a motorcycle was pretty impactful. My good friend Jim from St. Paul drove down as time prevented him from getting some bike details sorted. We met at a wonderful cafe and sat for quite a while watching the ongoing parade that I had briefly been part of.
The next three days took us to the glorious circus that is downtown Sturgis, local mountains, Custer State Park and the Needles Highway. Of course, the hunt (gunless haha) for buffalo yielded a visit with some of these majestic giants. We also found a spectacular dive bar a block away from my suite in Whitewood. Upon asking the bartender what the sharpened two foot long stick suspended on a couple eye hooks was for, she responded “you guys are ok”. Truly fun times.
After Sturgis I spent a week in Minneapolis and had a chance to travel to Taylor’s Falls, a gorgeous gem of a town with the fabulous “The Goat Saloon”.
The return trip after my project presented the same bag of wonders but with the addition of a loop through the Badlands. This painfully beautiful barren wonderland still enters my daily thoughts. The section from Sioux Falls to Rapid City was particularly exciting. The winds were so strong leaning into the wind was required. My steed Harley handled it like a champ. The topper was a section where the I90 was closed due to flooding and traffic was rerouted to secondary roads. A couple sections still had a bit of a lake covering the road. At one of the crossings I had to pass a large SUV that had great trepidations in regards to crossing this mini ocean and was stopped. After passing said cowering behemoth, Miss Harley with her robust tires plunged in and traversed the body of water with great aplomb…then the SUV followed.
Travelling back on the lower I90 vs the North Cascades Highway gave me the opportunity to capture the beauty of the Columbia River. A visit with a dear friend in Seattle included a meeting with a random fellow biker that had ridden a section of the road by Lake Diablo a couple days prior to my visit there. Small world.
From the high-speed highways of Montana and South Dakota to the twisties of the Black Hills, this 7500 km trip was truly transformative and addictive. Highly recommended!!!
(Entire photo album coming soon)
Andy can be found at https://www.instagram.com/andyhorka