Rex's post from Day 10 (September 8)

Day 10, Monday September 8, 2014
Spearfish, South Dakota
410 Miles, 3277 Total GPS Miles

We had decided that we would be leaving at 7:30am, temperature 62 degrees since we have a long day ahead of us and would like to be in Dallas before rush hour traffic. When we got ready to leave David had a rear flat tire. Amarillo has not been kind to Mr. David a few months ago when returning from Taos, NM he had a flat leaving Amarillo on the rear of his Kawasaki C-14. Due to all the practice and full participation from everyone we had tire plugged and ready to go in about 30 minutes.

After about 30 miles or so leaving Amarillo we took 207 off of 287 to ride through Palo Duro Canyon. As many times that I had ridden to and from Amarillo I had never been there. What a beautiful place it just pops up from nowhere. We stopped and took some picture overlooking the canyon.

After leaving Palo Duro Canyon we headed back to 287 were we also got see parts of Caprock Canyon also.  We even got to ride through Turkey, Texas the home of legendary country singer Bob Wills who played with his band the Texas Playboys.

Well after that let’s just say that we did not much exciting after that except for miles and miles of almost nothing to see except for same old stuff.

I got home at 3:04 and the temperature was 93, a BIG DIFFERENCE with what we had been used to over the last few days.

It was a great trip with some great people with no casualties. It’s the makeup of all the different personalities that makes these trips so successful. I would like to thank David and Howard again for their planning of a wonderful ride with all of its memories.

Until our next trip, Ride Often and Be Safe,

Rex

Rex's post from Day 9 (September 7)

Day 9, Sunday September 7, 2014
Spearfish, South Dakota
423 Miles, 2867 Miles So Far

Since there’s not a restaurant at the Central Motel we are going to meet at the Sonic across the street at 8:00am have breakfast and head out to Amarillo, temperature is 57 degrees.

There’s not a lot to write about on the scenery, if you have ever ridden on 287 from Colorado through Oklahoma too Amarillo you know what I mean.

Okay I did think of something we had lunch at Pizza Hut somewhere on 287.

We arrived at the Best Western Medical Center in Amarillo at about 5:00pm with a temperature of 76 degrees.

After everyone unpacked and cleaned their bikes we decided to eat next door at Joe’s Taco that Howard recommended. The food was very good with huge portions but the service was excellent.

You can really tell that we are all winding down and ready to get home.

Rex

The first Black Hills Ride Wild Hog is home. I left Friday morning and rode 600 miles to Hays, KS and 540 miles home yesterday.

Thanks to all of the riders on this great trip. I will not forget Spearfish Canyon, 16A, or Needles Highway anytime soon. They were a blast and David and Ray did a great job leading our group on the day rides from Spearfish to Badlands, Crazy Horse, and Mt Rushmore.

Good ride with good friends...make that GREAT.

Mark Jensen

Rex's post from Day 8 (September 6)

Day 8, Saturday September 6, 2014
Spearfish, South Dakota
352 Miles, 2444 Miles So Far

We decided to head out this morning at 8:00am, so everyone got busy got their bike loaded, checked out and ready to go. When we left it was sunny and 52 degrees.

We all said our goodbye’s too Marty and Butch since they are going to take a different route so they could be home sometime Sunday. So that left us with 11 bike and 12 riders but Frank is going to cut off from us before lunch so he could ride to Denver to meet his lovely wife Karla at the airport so they could spend a few day together riding in Colorado. That will leave us with 10 bikes and 11 fearless participants, our numbers are dwindling.

After leaving the hotel we took out last ride on 14A to 85 but there are parts of both roads that is called Ice Box Canyon and it called that for good reason, based on my temperature gauge it got down to 34 degrees. The temperature dropped almost 20 degrees in just a few minutes. Since all I was wearing was two shirts and my rain jacket I thought I was going to freeze. But after about 10-15 miles it started warming up again.

After leaving the Black Hills It was pretty much an uneventful ride to Fort Morgan except for an occasional awesome view of a few mountains and lots rolling meadows with deep gullies.

We arrived at the Central Motel in Fort Morgan at about 3pm and it was 72 degrees. The motel is an older motel but very well maintained. Betty and her husband Allan purchased it about 18 years ago and have fixed it up very nice. In my opinion out of the three independent motels we have stayed at on this trip this is the best one.

After checking in and sitting around on lawn chairs in the courtyard David decided that he wanted to eat at Cables Pub & Grill located on Main Street. Cables was highly recommended by one of the locals in town and besides it was about two blocks away. They serve all types of food and BIG potions.

This is where it gets funny!!!! 

The Great French Fry Fiasco!!! We were having a good time but a getting tired type of good time. Now Jeff who has consumed a couple of Margaritas was sitting next to Howard at the table. Apparently Howard and Jeff ordered the same type of dishes like a wrap of some sort except Howard got Cole Slaw for a side and Jeff ordered Fries. So when the meals are served Howard has his meal his slaw and Jeff’s fries on his plate, Jeff’s had this small plate placed in front of him with just a lonely wrap on it. Now no one notices this except Jeff and all of a sudden everyone can hear Jeff talking fairly loudly about these darn fries that are on Howard’s plate to Howard and that those should have been on his plate but he said it was okay and all was good but about every minute he said the same thing over and over again and always ending it that it really doesn’t matter it’s all good but he keeps staring at the fries and Howard keep offering him some of the fries and Jeff keeps saying it doesn’t matter BUT he keeps saying the same thing over and over again. We all were laughing so hard that I thought we would die. It really made the night a great night. I guess you just would had to be there to get the full effect!!!!

After dinner we came back to the Motel went to our rooms and made it an early night.

Another great day with great friends,

Rex

The first Wild Hog is home

The first Black Hills Ride Wild Hog is home.  I left yesterday morning and rode 600 miles to Hays, KS and 540 miles home today.

Thanks to all of the riders on this great trip.  I will not forget Spearfish Canyon, 16A, or Needles Highway anytime soon.  They were a blast and David and Ray did a great job leading our group on the day rides from Spearfish to Badlands, Crazy Horse, and Mt Rushmore.

Good ride with good friends...make that GREAT.

Have a great day,
Mark

Rex's post from Day 7 (September 5)

Day 7, Friday September 5, 2014
Spearfish, South Dakota
181 Miles, 2092 Miles So Far

Today we decided to go in one group to Devils Tower in Wyoming.

It was 39 degree and sunny when we got up this morning and we decided to leave at 9:00. By 9:00 it was a balmy 52 and that was good enough for departure. Mark left this morning for home, he had to be at work Monday and wanted to try and get home early Sunday to watch the Patriots Game. Butch and Marty had already been to the Devils Tower so they did their own thing. David decided he wanted to go and check out Deadwood and Lead and do the History thing. So that left us with 9 bikes and 10 riders. With Ray in the lead and me pulling drag off we went.

Ray found a place called “Center of the Nation Monument” in Belle Fourche, SD. It appears the City of Belle Fourche, SD is the Center of the 50 States. It turned out to be very neat place to see and get some great pictures.

We then took off for Devils Tower. What a great place to visit and do some sightseeing and take some fantastic pictures. The ride to and from Devils Tower is just awesome.

We took off to Sundance, SD for a bite to eat. We stopped at the ARO Café near the downtown square. The food was great and the entire staff was VERY friendly.

After lunch Jeff went to the Honda shop to get his headlight bulbs replaced with Larry in tow, Ronnie, Gary & Sheryl went back to the hotel and the rest of us went back to Sturgis to do some more looking around.

Most of us returned to the hotel at about 4:15 and it was 64 degrees.

After everyone got cleaned up we all agreed with David that we are getting pretty burned out on Millstone Restaurant and decided to go somewhere different. David found a place called Killian’s Tavern and it was Ranked #6 out of 52 restaurants in Spearfish. We had reservations for 6:30 and met out front of the hotel at 6:15 to head over.

The food was good but the service was lacking due to apparently not having enough staff on duty. Our waitress was very nice and really did her best.

We are all back at the hotel packing getting ready to head out in the morning towards home at 8:00am. We’ve had a wonderful time in the Black Hills but I think everyone is ready to get home.

Rex

Rex's post from Day 6 (September 4)

Day 6, Thursday September 4, 2014
Spearfish, South Dakota
266 Miles, 1910 Miles So Far

Today we had a lot of people do their own thing. I went to the Badlands along with Dennis and Larry. The wind was blowing 10 to 30 mph.

We left the hotel at 8:35am at 54 degrees but with the wind it felt like 45. When we arrived at the Badlands we visited the Visitors Center and watched a 20 minute video about the area and the animals that exist but rarely seen.

The area is just unbelievable the beautiful sculptured majestic mountains and deep ravines with all of its colored layers. It’s something that you just can’t explain, almost looks like something you would imagine seeing on Mars.

Once we left the park we went to Walls Drug for lunch had to be one of the fastest lunches we have had on this trip. The area where we chose to park our bikes in a packed downtown square might be a little suspect to the professional law enforcement officers of Wall, SD. We walked in found a seat went to the counter ordered the Legendary No1, it’s an Open faced Roast Beef on bread smothered in brown gravy with a scoop of mashed potatoes. We were in and out in less 30 minutes.

After lunch we headed to Sturgis to get a rear tire mounted that Dennis had ordered before we left Dallas. He was not sure if the tire would make all the way home or not (it’s better to play it safe). I would totally recommend the Yamaha, Suzuki, BMW Dealership in Sturgis, they were very professional courteous and got us out within an hour.

We then road around Sturgis and visited Tom’s T-Shirts on the Main Street so Larry and Dennis could stock up on souvenirs.

We headed back to the hotel and arrived about 5pm and 64 degrees. Cleaned up the bikes and got ready for dinner.

We met for dinner at 7pm and I bet you can guess where, you got it we had dinner AGAIN at Millstone Restaurant. After dinner some sat in the Bar and watched the football game.

Well today was a little crazy it was a long mostly boring highway riding with VERY HIGH winds to and from the Badlands Park that at times would try to pull your helmet off your head but all in all it was worth it. It just would not have been right to come all this way and not go.

Rex