Day 41 - South Dakota has stolen my heart

I must admit I was not very enamored with visiting South Dakota. When I saw the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was during my last week of this trip I took it as a sign I needed to go and so I did. But the truth is I thought I'd just go see the rally and then head home - it makes for a good story. But ... Wow! I believe this visit to South Dakota has been the biggest surprise of the trip. And it is not just Rally - it is the whole experience here. As to the Rally, it is not really an event, it is more of a phenomenon. 500,000+ people come here not just for Sturgis but more for the Black Hills. Certainly the Rally is centered in Sturgis. But the heart of this phenomenon, the good stuff, takes place in the surrounding Black Hills of South Dakota. As we rode around in the hills I saw tens of thousands of people in hundreds of different places always welcoming and always friendly and always wanting to help you have fun. I think bikers may be the friendliest group of folk I have met! I saw an older guy struggling to get his bike up a steep road at a stop sign and before I know it we had the whole intersection shut down (I say we because I stopped traffic on one direction too) with a bunch of other people helping him push himself out of the fix. And this happened instantly, as soon as it was apparent he was in trouble! I saw a group of motorcycles come together and firm a group easily counting 300+ bikes all riding along together on a 2 lane highway without a car or truck in sight - an instant platoon created out of nothing but a feeling of togetherness. You walk into any restaurant for lunch or dinner or just to have a beer and you would think you were long lost relatives who just returned home. Big Mamma herself wished us a safe ride home at one "bar" that was really a converted shed with a bunch of picnic tables spread out on a farm in a beautiful valley with horses and deer and a stream. As a newcomer there is no way in hell I would ever have known any of this nor done any of it if I had known; it all takes place off of small roads and in the back country. But I was not alone. Call it what you will but meeting Sam and Kristie on my third day of this trip and then seeing them again towards the end and then having them play such a pivotal role in my experience.... Wow! No, that is not a coincidence - there is something here. I am a blessed man and I hope I can remember that for a long, long time. And to see it in such a special place... I swear you can feel why the Lakota Indians thought this place was sacred. South Dakota, you won me over BIG TIME! I will be back, that I can promise! These Black Hills are some of the finest hills I have ever ridden. The canyons, the landscape, the small towns, the animals but most of all the people. After dinner I said goodbye to Sam and Kristie and headed to my room to pack. It was bound to happen - my leaving this beautiful PNW and this amazing land - but I am still not done. Tomorrow I say good-bye (for now) to this place and turn my handlebars south. I will stop in Tulsa OK where I will see friends, some of whom I have known since High School and some who will be new to me. But beyond them I am sure to meet more wonderful people along the way. For now I depart the mountains but here comes the plains of Nebraska and Kansas and Oklahoma. I am ready!

ODO - 8757