Did you ever have one of those days when little things went wrong but as a whole the day turned out magical. That was today. Let me apologize for not being able to provide the motorcycle riding route today. I forgot to move the tracker to the motorcycle. I’ll do better tomorrow.

One of our guys likes to cook and is very good at it. He provided a home cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, and english muffins. It was fantastic. We lingered at the house a little longer than expected.

The unfortunate thing about today is that one of our gang is not feeling well. We’re not sure if it is something he ate or a bug he picked up along the way. That meant we would be operating a man short today. Sorry Max.

After lingering at the house and having plans for the evening we decided to make a run into Sturgis and look around some. After that we could make a decision about what was next. We also made plans to meet Mike and his wife Donna who came to the area to be part of the group. We struggled somewhat with getting the communications devices to actually talk to each other. We finally just surrendered and took off to ride the 30 miles into Sturgis. What better place to meet up than the Harley dealer.

Right on cue, Mike and Donna showed up

While there we tried to help a fellow rider who was trying to repair his kickstand in the parking lot. I am sorry I didn’t get a picture of Brown and Buddha but I did capture their rides. We had actually seen them in Albert Lea, MN. Funny that we would meet up again at the Sturgis Harley dealer. Safe travels to Brown and Buddha.

Walking around the streets of Sturgis seemed appropriate. We walked past the downtown taverns – Side Hack, Knuckle, Iron Horse, etc. but after the great breakfast food was not a priority. We did manage to find Emma’s Ice Cream Emporium. They are opening a bar in the back portion of the shop called the Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Katrina – the owner (Emma is the dog) was very nice. She was enthusiastic and agreed to take a picture with us.

We needed to ride and since our master planner was ill we didn’t really have a direction. Someone mentioned Deadwood so we headed that way. Deadwood has the Number 10 Saloon and a Wild Bill Hickock narrator. The Number 10 was supposedly where Wild Bill got shot holding aces and eights (the dead man’s hand).

From Deadwood, the magic really kicked in. We left downtown on highway 14A. There are no pictures of this portion of the day. That’s too bad. This is one of the most beautiful motorcycles roads in the United States as it rambles through Spearfish Canyon. Maybe there is some usable video but we’ll have to wait and see.

Spearfish Canyon Road ended much too soon and lead us back to the temporary home of the circus. A special celebration ensued. It was Mike R’s birthday. Mike F and Donna joined us for a fantastic steak dinner that was prepared by Red and Mason. What a treat. Red had secretly prepared a birthday cake and was trying to ice it when it hit the floor icing side down. Nice attempt and it’s unfortunate that it was brown icing on the bathroom floor. Here’s the evidence.

For me this is a magical kind of day. Great friends, great conversations, and fantastic motorcycle roads. Thanks guys for making this a memorable day. Happy birthday Mike R.