Orlando to Sturgis 2006
By RIck and Sandi Goodall
On Tuesday August 1, 2006 after work around 6:00 pm we left for our 2,000 mile trip to Sturgis, SD. We packed up our '98 Harley Ultra Classic and rode from Orlando to Macon, GA. We decided to stop at a cheap motel for the night, and once we got our room we picked up some beer and jumped the motel pool fence to take a dip in the pool. After a nice swim and a few beers we decided to hit the hay.
On Wednesday morning we got up around
8:00 am gassed up, had breakfast and
started out for a long day of riding, over 10
hours, and ended up in Mt. Vernon, IL.
After getting our room we went for a quick
swim, got dressed and went out for a nice dinner down the road at an Applebee’s. On Thursday we had another long day of riding through St. Louis, and stop at a Harley dealership on the way called Appleton Harley, and after about 10 hours of riding we ended up in Onawa, Iowa.
After getting our room at a motel with
no pool. we headed out to find a place
to eat and found a hole in the wall
restaurant that was not too bad as far as food goes and the juke box and four pitchers of beer were pretty good, too! We stumbled back to our room, crashed for a good night sleep.and on Friday morning we got up and headed out for our last day of riding to get to Sturgis.
About 200 miles shy of Sturgis we encountered some heavy wind gusting up from the south. It wasn't fun but we managed to keep the bike on the road and made it to Sturgis SD around 6:00 pm that evening. We checked into the Hog Heaven Campground, picked up our camping gear that we shipped ahead, bought a 12 pack of beer and proceeded to our camp site to set up camp.
There was only one minor problem: the tent a friend was bringin' up for us wasn't there yet and we couldn't get a hold of him, so I built a make-shift civil war era tent out of a tarp I'd shipped up and some sticks I found around the campground. I had to use butter knives for stakes! Thank God it was a nice night with no wind or rain though it was cool and there were no bugs. After setting up our temporary tent we hung out at the camp ground bar and watched the band and had some drinks before hitting the sack for the night.
On Saturday morning we found out our tent had been dropped off so we went and picked it up and set up our camp. After setting up, we decided to go check out downtown Sturgis. We walked around Sturgis for many hours, and bought tons of souvenirs, especially at the Sturgis Harley store.
Since we were tired from walking all over Sturgis we went back to the campground, rested for a bit then decided to go to the Spearfish Wal Mart to pick up some groceries and supplies. That didn't work out too well because we made a wrong turn and ended up in Deadwood by mistake! We didn't have much time so we just gambled a little while, had dinner at the casino and headed back to Spearfish to shop at Wal Mart. That night we hung out in the campground and partied until we passed out.
On Sunday we
decided to take the bike into Rapid City and get it serviced at the Harleydealer-ship. Unfortunately they don't take reservations or
answer their phones during the Rally so
On Monday morning we decided to check out some sights and do some riding so we headed out to find Mt Rushmore. On the way we passed through the town of Keystone, liked what we saw and decided to make sure we returned later, but for now we where determined to get to Mt. Rushmore.
We finally saw the awesome sight from the road and, in my
That was pretty awesome. Along the way we stopped at a beautiful viewing area to see some of the country from a high point on the mountainside. The route led through the forest and came to Custer State Park. It was awesome to see all of the wild life in Custer State Park. Buffalo roaming around and lots of other animals.
viewing area plus commercialize everything with stores, restaurants, etc. Bummer. After viewing the mountain, an Indian band was playing some music which we enjoyed for a bit before taking a ride through the Black Hills National Forrest down Iron Mountain Road.
opinion, this's the way I always want to view the mountain. We kept going only to find out we have to pay $8.00 each to get closer! The government's managed to concrete the entire
From there we headed back to Keystone to check it out. The first thing we did was tour an old Gold Mine. Then we went to downtown Keystone had lunch and, since there wasn't much going on in
Keystone, we left and rode to a small town called Custer. We did a little shopping in Custer and decided to head back to Sturgis. On our way out of town we got pulled over for going 35 mph in a 25 zone and it was kind of bogus. I'm sure it was just a trap to check for drunk riders, and I wasn't drinking much that day so they let me go with a warning.
On the way back to Sturgis we came across an awesome sight that we did not expect: Crazy Horse Mountain. We stopped
and checked out the movie and museum there. That was pretty cool. Our ride back to Sturgis was uneventful,
but not a pleasant ride for this Florida boy. It was raining and the wet and slick roads through the mountains were a challenge but we made it safely back to camp and we were beat. We had a few drinks and went to bed.
Tuesday morning we woke up cooked breakfast, packed a lunch and some beers and drove to Deadwood and hang out there for a while. We gambled a bit, had a couple few
drinks and walked from one end of Deadwood to the other. Then we headed over to Spearfish Canyon. This is an awesome place to ride, the natural beauty is breathtaking. We
stopped along the way and had lunch and a few beers on the bank of the river running along the road. We just took our time riding through here;
stopped to take in the beauty of the Wedding Veil waterfall; stopped at a lodge to check out this cool looking place; and then continued to ride the rest of the way through the canyon. We headed back to Camp from there, arrived early afternoon, and relaxed until we left to go see Lynyrd Skynyrd that night at the Buffalo Chip Campground.
As we rode over, we decided to make our way through Sturgis. That was a mistake! It took about 2 hours due to heavy traffic, and I thought our motor was going to fry sitting around in traffic for so long. We finally made it through Sturgis and stopped by the Full Throttle Saloon to allow the bike to cool off a bit.
The Full Throttle Saloon is an awesome bar but I could not believe it cost $11.00 for two drinks. Jeez. Needless to say we didn't stay long. If you go there be sure to bring a lot of money or sneak in your own drinks. After just the one drink, we headed down the road to the Buffalo Chip Campground for the concert. The hardest part here was figuring
out how to get in the damn campground! We finally made it in, parked the bike
and managed to get right up front by the huge stage and started partying and
having a great time. Gretchen Wilson
came on before Skynyrd and she was
great! And as soon as she was done out came Lynyrd Skynyrd. As usual, they rocked the house and we had a blast. It was around midnight when we got out of there and we headed back towards Sturgis. Luckily we stopped for gas just down the road and it started to rain in a major way! It was a major downpour so we hung out inside the gas station until it stopped. By the time we left the rain had completely stopped and the traffic through Sturgis was very light - Thank God. We were totally bushed by the time we got back to camp so we went right to bed.
On Wednesday morning after a camp breakfast, we headed to Wyoming to go see Devils Tower. It was a long ride - approximately 80 miles one way to Devils Tower - but we had several stops along the
way. One was at this cool old stone house that someone turned into a bar. You could go in the house, write on the walls, and enjoy a cold one. If you make it there, look for "Rick and Sandi 06" on the wall. The next stop was when we came across a 100 year old antique store/gas station not far from Huelett, Wyoming. We shopped a little
while and then headed down the road to Huelett where it appeared there was another bike rally going on. We hung out in Huelett for a little while and had lunch there. We even tried some fried rattle snake and all I can say is "it taste like chicken!" Next stop after Huelett was Devils Tower. Our suggestion is to plan to spend the night at Devils Tower because by the time you get there it's time to head back if you plan to get back to Sturgis before dark. We didn't stay at Devils Tower long before heading back and as soon as we hit the
freeway we traveled non stop back to camp.
After a short rest we decided to ride out to Rapid City and pick up our HOG pin and visit the Convention Center with all the Harley stuff. We didn't stay too long because it looked like rain so we hauled ass back to Sturgis and partied in the Campground that night.
We decided to head home on Thursday (Day 10 of our trip) so after cooking breakfast we packed up camp and loaded our belongings in a fellow Florida boy's truck. He was a guy we met at the campground from Jacksonville. We headed out of town around 12 noon and on the way out of SD we stopped at a tourist area called Wall. It was an interesting little town. After having lunch at Wall Drugs and checking out the town we headed down the road for a long day of riding. We stopped in Mitchell, SD at a Best Western motel around Sioux Falls for the night, Went out for a nice Dinner ($100 tab) and went back to the room for a good night's sleep.
On Friday morning we got up, had a complimentary continental breakfast and gassed up for a long day of riding. Not long after getting on the road, I lost my front shift lever and we stopped at the first Harley dealer we came to. It was in Pacific Junction, Iowa. Walkers Harley-Davidson was not much of a dealer, and they didn't have much cool stuff there, but they did have the shift lever I needed and some lock tite. I replaced my shift lever and we proceeded down the road for about 10 more hours of riding. We stopped in Warrenton, Missouri and got a room at a Holiday in Express. The express stands for how fast they can empty your wallet! This was the most expensive place we stayed the entire trip - $90 per night. That night we went for a swim in their indoor pool. It was a nice pool but it was full of kids who where screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs, and when you're in an indoor pool the echo of kids can drive you nuts real fast so we got out of there, got dressed and went to a Pizza Hut down the street to have dinner and some drinks before going to bed.
Saturday was another long day of riding. Riding through Tennessee was nice until we hit some light rain while riding through some mountain roads. I stopped at a roadside fireworks store just before a major downpour, and we decided to wait it out and I'm glad we did!
It rained real hard for about half hour, then we got back on the road again. After riding all day we ended up in Calhoun, GA, and stayed the night in a Quality Inn Motel.
Sunday was Day thirteen of our trip and our final day of riding. It was mostly just blasting down I-75 through Georgia and North Florida and all went well until we hit Ocala. It started to rain and as we made our way south the rain got heavier. There was no way I was going to stop since we were so close to home, so we hopped on to the Florida Turnpike and followed the tail lights of a truck all the way to Orlando. Of course, it finally stopped raining just when we got into Orlando. We got to the front door right at 6:00 PM.
After it was all done we rode that bike 4,700 miles in less than two weeks. It was a great trip, we thank the Lord we didn't have any major mishaps and we can't wait until our next vacation.
we had to wait around all day; good thing they had a lot of vendors and beer to hold us over for several hours. Well, we got tired of hanging around Black Hills Harley so we hitchhiked down the road to a truck stop/bar and watched some NASCAR for a few hours. After the race we hitch hiked back to the dealer and timed it perfect to pick up the bike. It was coming down off the lift as we arrived. That night we
just hung around the Campground and partied
some more.
Click for 2007 info.
