Sturgis Lite...

After sending back the beautiful seat cover that didn't fit my scoot, I looked around at other options.  One of those is Corbin - they are well-known among the two-wheel world for making some very nice leather seats; upscale replacement seats for many brands.  I have had a couple Corbin seats on previous motorcycles, and they are nice.  Their main facility is in California, but they are in Sturgis with a mobile display.

What are the odds that they'd have a Vespa seat at the Sturgis Rally?  We decided to drive that way (yes, drive, as in: with the car) to take a look.

A hot one today in the Black Hills, so it was nice to be traveling in air conditioned comfort.  The Sturgis Rally "officially" starts this weekend, so we were hoping to be early enough today to get a parking place for the car and maybe walk around a bit.

Coming into Sturgis...

That image above is approaching the main intersection in town - hardly any traffic.

The booths and vendors are mostly set up.  We drove down another block, and turned left on Lazelle, heading to the lot where Corbin sets up...

It's a smaller trailer than I remember in the past.  Sitting in front of that trailer was Mike Corbin... "No, we didn't bring any Vespa seats to Sturgis.  I don't think I've ever seen a Vespa here before... but, we do sell a lot of Vespa seats.  I can get one in the works for you and tell them to put a rush on it.  It normally takes about 3 weeks, but I think we can do better than that right now."

That's the advantage of getting here before the crowds roll in - another couple days and there will be people standing in line to give Mike and crew their money.  By ordering one, you can get exactly the colors and materials you want.  The seating on these are leather, the material on the sides (where your skin doesn't touch) is a heavy gauge vinyl.  They build their seats on a seat pan that is a more solid material than the original manufacturer; unlike the stock seats, these use a more dense foam.  It takes 1,000 to 1,500 miles to "break it in," much like a saddle for a horse.  I remember my ass thinking "Whoa, that is firm!" with previous Corbin seats.

Nice to be able to see in person all the colors, textures, and stitching options.

While I checked out those options, Joan sat herself on one of their stools, made with a motorcycle seat... "That is really comfortable!"

From the Corbin display, it was off to find some lunch.  I was thinking some Rally street food, Joan was thinking: restaurant.  We made our way to the Loud American Roadhouse, a permanent restaurant/bar... unlike the many, many temporary food vendors who are only here for the Rally.  We sat ourselves at a booth on their second floor, with a view of Main Street...

Not a lot of people or activity on Main Street.  The waitress said, "This is a lot slower than I thought."  I am guessing she hasn't been through a Rally, before.  The number of people on Main Street will quadruple by tomorrow.  And then again by Saturday.  And by Sunday, it will be hard to move on the sidewalks and the streets will be 4 rows of bikes for blocks... and that will be only a very small bit of the number of people who are here.  Main Street will not be able to contain them all, and it will spill over on each side street for blocks... and that will still be just a small portion of the crowd.

With very little crowd today, it was a perfect time to walk Main Street.  In years past, I have enjoyed the massive crowds and "crazy parade" of bikes doing the slow crawl between the rows of parked bikes.  These days, I tend to be more crowd averse.

Joan wanted to pick up a T-shirt, I enjoy looking around.  There is a nice memorial to Tom Monahan who passed away in 2011; he designed the "official" Rally logo.  Early on, a group of people divided up who got to sell what with the "official" logo.  Tom was a teacher at the local high school at the time - it wasn't long before his T-shirt business (with the official logo) became a major business.

You can get a beer here for $3 - or sell them your motorcycle and be able to afford a lot of $3 beers...

A scooter!  A Honda Forza - not many scooters at the Rally (mostly Harleys), but this made me smile...

This is more of what you'll see here...

By Saturday, Main Street will be blocked off to car/truck traffic due to all the bikes.

Years ago, we used to shoot the "official Main Street Photo" - it is still a thing...

A couple street views...

Joan did go in a couple places - we each got a shirt...

Walking back up the other side of Main Street - there will be some amazing rolling creations here during this next week, from full custom choppers to total rat bikes.  I enjoy checking out the handy-work.  The amount of hand tooling in this seat was impressive...

This bike has a pet-carrier on the back...

No, I don't think Rufus would be into the noise and commotion here.

I don't get into political stuff here, but I think the demographic at the Rally would be mostly Trump supporters...

If you can't read it, the blue sign in the middle of the photo above says "Trump Shop."

As of right now, not all of the bikes are Harleys - or even motorized...

Back to the car, and heading back to Hart Ranch.  It was a fun outing.  The traffic coming northwest on I-90 between Rapid City and Sturgis is a constant line of vehicles pulling trailers - and you know there are multiple bikes in those trailers.  Plenty of bikes, too.  This is just the start, though.

We stopped to pick up a few things at Wally World in Rapid... yes, they have racks and racks of Sturgis Rally T-shirts, too.  I remember the 70s - there used to be "the T-Shirt Lady" who was the only one selling T-shirts.  A few people selling ice water or soda off their front porches.  A couple of the local churches serving breakfast when there were almost no other food vendors.  The crowd size was around 30,000 back then, and no one ever dreamed it would mushroom to over a half a million (over 700,000 three years ago for the 75th Rally).

Back then, some people rented tent space in their yards - this was before the City closed the City Park to camping and HUGE campgrounds like The Buffalo Chip sprung up all outside of City limits.  Oh, and some things haven't changed...

(backyard camping)

The Harley dealer in Rapid City (25 miles south of Sturgis) is already a city unto itself: dozens and dozens of vendors set up around the property.  This is a big deal.

It's about to get real loud all around the Hills.

Patio time...

Rufus enjoying some patio time on Joan's lap...

With that square jaw, wonky ear, and this particular wide stance, he can look a bit intimidating.  Just the opposite - sweetest little furry boy ever!

Messing...

Not making a mess - fussing with the seat cover for the Vespa, a continuation.  At the request of the lady who made it, I took more photos and sent them to her, both with and without the cover.  And, yes, the cover caused the seat to jam again when I closed it.  I did figure out a way to open it by myself, by pulling the cover out from under the edge of the seat.  Not particularly elegant.

Upon examining the photos, the lady concluded that she must have used the wrong seat form to make this beautiful cover.  She asked that I send it back and she will remake it.  I decided to cut my loses (frustrations) and will send it back for a refund.  I am disappointed, but I just don't want to put any more of my time into it.

Nothing that a fun ride through the Hills won't cure.

The weather weasels were calling for sunny, high of 81º.  When we were ready to leave around 11:00 this morning, it was solid overcast, "feeling like rain," and 66º.  Not even close to the forecast.

Rolling...

As you can see: low, gray, skuddy skies.  We decided to head for Custer and one of those fine burgers and the oh-so-tasty cheese curds.  There are a LOT of curves between here and there, depending on what road you take... yeah, we took the curvy roads.

All the moisture has the area looking lush and green...

Back to the roads...

 

Through Keystone and onto Iron Mountain Road...

 

I was anticipating the roads to be packed with bikes - I would be wrong; it was blissfully light on the traffic.

Off of Iron Mountain Road and through Custer State Park...

Getting caught behind this bus for several miles slowed down our pace - and stunk up the air...

Heading out of Custer State Park...

Into the town of Custer, where we found a parking spot less than a block from Black Hills Burgers & Buns...

 

We put our name in at the restaurant, were told a 40 minute wait.  It is worth it.  They have a slick system there for notifying you when your table is ready: instead of one of those pagers that means you are stuck there waiting, they take your phone number and text you.  That gave us time for a 5 block walk to Ace Hardware to pick up a couple things we needed, and a stop at their Post Office to get a Priority mailer to send the seat cover back.  Coming out of the Post Office, I got the "your table is ready" text: 15 minutes early.  We hustled back, got a table, and enjoyed a fine lunch.

Heading back to the bikes, another of Custer's "Art Buffaloes".

 

We stopped for fuel before leaving town, then decided to take the highways back - not as much fun riding, but it would get us back in time to package up the seat cover and get it out today (as per Suzy's request).  Highway riding...

Driving past Crazy Horse...

It hasn't changed much since we last saw it, a few years ago.  A turn onto the highway to Mt Rushmore...

If you notice, the sky is going back towards that scuddy overcast.  The car in the photo above is a Prius.  We were driving the speed limit on this stretch of road - if you get a ticket here, it is on Federal land, not State, and it becomes a Federal offense.  The Prius passed us.  Probably no reason to speed along here: Mt Rushmore isn't going anywhere.  ;-)

The perspective on this photo is interesting...

To me, it looks like those bikes coming at us are going downhill... nope, it is a steep incline for them; we were the ones heading downhill.

The Po-Po has several bikers pulled over...

As we went by, we could see "the colors" the bikers were wearing: Hell's Angels.  No idea what they did, but you can be sure the police and Feds are watching them closely.  During the Rally, there are a lot of riders who look the part of an outlaw biker... I've joked before about 500,000 rugged individualists... all dressed similar.  Only a very small portion are wearing gang "colors and rockers" - thus the term "1%er."  See what you learn here.

Back through Keystone...

That yellow vehicle in front of me is a Goldwing Trike; in front of him are a couple Harley Trikes.  We are seeing way more trikes on the roads these days... I would say it is a sign that the biker population is aging, but there have been plenty of younger couples on the trikes, too.

I mention the trikes as part of the aging biker population - also why some of us are on scooters these days: they are less weight to muscle around and easier to get on.  One last look at Keystone on our way through...

And then, all highway back to Hart Ranch.  By staying on the highways, we cut at least an hour off our return time and were able to make it to the Post Office a half hour before they closed.

I expected the roads to be packed with bikes today, and that didn't turn out to be the case.  Maybe the sky looking like rain kept some of them closer to their motels or campgrounds... but, I expect this will probably be the last time we make this same fun run to Custer until after the Rally.