Sturgis - where to stay? (aka "I've lost my mind!")

I think maybe I've lost my mind.  Read on...you'll see why.

People going to Sturgis, SD for bike week normally make the decision and reservations well in advance of the trip. Many book lodging for the next year while they're in Sturgis.  I decided to go just a few weeks ago, after I had received an email saying I was maxed out on vacation time (use it or lose it) so where to stay was a tough decision.

I checked for Hilton properties (with all my work travel I tend to accumulate a lot of hotel points).  A brand new Hilton Garden Inn in Rapid City (~30 miles from Sturgis) had rooms available ($240/night or 35k points/night - like a downtown Chicago hotel!).  There is a Hampton Inn (Hilton owned) in Deadwood, but their rooms were $400+/night - I didn't even ask them how many points/night. 


Five guys, one of whom works at the local Harley shop,  rented a house in the country just outside of Sturgis and they have an extra bedroom since one of the guys had to cancel.  I considered that but since I don't know any of them, I decided that sharing a house (and bathroom) wasn't the best option (although I'm sure they're nice guys).

So, I talked to a couple of friends to see where they are staying and found out they are camping just on the edge of Sturgis.  Hmm...camping.  Rain, wind, bugs, 90 degrees or 40 degrees...just a few of the downsides that come to mind, although the biggest is the trek I'll have to make to the "facilities" should I wake up in the middle of the night.


Well, camping won out over hotel.  Primary reason - less hassle connecting with friends if I want to join them for a ride as the hotel is 30+ miles from their campground.

Next decision - if I'm camping (not a new activity for me....when my sons were young, we used to camp a lot) what am I sleeping in? I like the guys going but wanted my own sleeping accommodations.  I called the campground and learned their cabins were all reserved AND the tent camping sites DO NOT HAVE ELECTRICITY!  What?  How do you charge your camera battery, cell phone, IPOD?  This could be interesting.

I checked out tents online and found one made to fit over the back of my Tahoe.  It arrived this week and Matt and Jennie came over last night to help me set it up (I figured I should practice before the real deal).
It was after we had taken it out of the box and spread it out on the driveway that I thought maybe I had lost my mind.


Just out of the box/bag



Out of the bag wasn't what worried me...it was this next step - when we spread it out on the driveway.  This is a big tent.

It gets worse....my son, Matt, is 6'3".  He had to step up on the tire to hook the tent over the back of the tailgate. 



It fits over the back of the Tahoe so you can sleep inside

 I'm hoping some guys (TALL GUYS) take pity on me and help me set this up.  And I'm hoping nobody secretly video tapes this and puts it on YouTube.  It will no doubt be a comedy.

Sturgis - ride or drive?

According to Mapquest, Sturgis, SD is 1010 miles from where I live and it will take 15hrs and 1 min to drive there - all interstate driving if I want to get there the fastest route. 

I asked several bikers for recommendations - most of them surprised me - they said trailer there and save your energy for daily, long rides once you're up there.  Seems kind of whimpy to me to trailer a bike when the whole purpose of the trip is to ride, but since the only people I know going are trailering, I decided to do the same. 

My friends from here have no room on their trailer for my bike, so where to get a trailer?  Buy one?  Borrow one?  Rent one?  Friend and fellow rider, Gwen, connected me with a friend of hers who isn't going this year and he said I could borrow his trailer. 

Next decision - where to stay.

Dawn Gibeau - thank you for serving our country! (hails from Custer, SD)

I stopped at a rest area coming home from Indianapolis and as I'm walking back to my car, I spot a South Dakota license plate.

I am my mother's daughter (she doesn't know a stranger) so, knowing I'll be headed to SD in a couple of weeks, I struck up a conversation with the young lady sitting in the driver's seat.

Dawn was enroute home, to Custer, SD (close to Sturgis and in the midst of some great riding...or at least what I hear/read is great riding).  Her parents live in Rapid City.  She is in the Navy (18 months) and just finished training in Virginia.  She'll visit home, then she's headed to the state of Washington where she'll board an aircraft carrier.  Her specialty is fire (OK, Dawn, I forgot you exact title...wish I had written that down!)  She'll join 5000 other sailors on the ship!

When I told her I'd be headed to SD for bike week, she shared some great tips (one tip - eat a buffalo burger).  What are the odds I'd run into someone from Custer, SD at a rest stop right before I head up there? 

Dawn, I hope you make it home safe and sound, and then on to Washington.  Thank you for serving our country!! I'll see you on Facebook.

Sturgis- is it time?

When people I meet learn that I ride a Harley, their first question is usually "have you been to Sturgis?" (actually that's usually the second question, the first is always "YOU ride a Harley?")


Me and my mom

 I've never been to Sturgis.  Mostly because I've heard so many stories about the number of bikers that show up (500,000+), long waits to get through a stop sign, inexperienced riders and "entertainment" geared more toward guys, not gals.

But, several weeks ago, when I got a reminder email that I was close to maxing out on vacation, I decided maybe it was time to make the big trip.

Two big decisions - where to stay and ride vs. trailer. More to come....

Got bag worms?

Sunday I noticed some brown spots on one of my evergreen shrubs (an Arborvitae). 

Upon closer inspection, here's what I found - bag worms.

Two years ago I almost lost a big evergreen in my front yard from these, so after seeing this I immediately grabbed a plastic bag and started pulling them off my 4 infested shrubs.  I'm guessing I pulled off more than a thousand.

A few of the bag worms I picked off a tree


Here's what they look like close up.  Notice they take on the appearance of a pine cone so, at first glance, you think they are part of the tree.


3 bag worms just plucked from an Arborvitae

 Its actually pretty gross pulling them off the shrub because inside each bag is a worm-like critter, and if its still in there alive, these little bags start wriggling around in your hand.  The photo below shows one of them creeping out of a bag after I had pulled it off the shrub.

Larva coming out of the bag (looks like a worm to me)

There's a reproduction cycle:  the female, while inside the bag, puts out a scent that attracts a male.  The male - from outside the bag - contributes to the fertilization process (how's that for G rated?).  The female can lay hundreds of eggs (one source says 800) in ONE BAG!!  The eggs survive winter in the bags and then become larvae in the spring

Here's the deal - you've got to pull them all of the shrub/tree and destroy them.  One article suggests burning them.  If you don't destroy them, they will crawl back to another shrub and begin feeding again.  I was careless and let some fall to the ground....and in no time at all, they had crawled right back to the same shrub.



Don't pick them off and throw them on the ground!  They'll crawl back to the shrub!

 Several sources recommend a systemic treatment of the tree to kill the bag worms.  If you don't destroy them, they turn into moths and start the whole process all over.  So check your trees!  Wear gloves if its a prickly evergreen because you've got to separate the branches and look on the inside, too!