And the Bomb Squad is in the Building

Well, it certainly ended up being an eventful day today. But I’ll start at the beginning of the day and keep you guessing for a bit.

Dave and Karen’s daughter flew in today, arriving at noon. She’s just completed her Army basic training, MP training and Airborne school. So she was able to get some leave to visit with her parents before she goes back to be trained in the canine unit. She’s quite a young lady, to say the least. Visiting with her reinstills my faith in the young people of this country.

Anyway, Dave and Karen took off for the airport to meet their daughter and we rode down to Rapid City (30 miles) to go to the convention center, which is the H.O.G. headquarters during the rally. That’s Harley Owner’s Group, people – not a bunch of pigs. So we looked at all the new 2008 bikes that are coming out, all the new accessories that are being offered and of course all the new Harley Ford trucks available – and of course, that’s where I found Ole – drooling so badly he needed a bib. But then he decided it wouldn’t be good to put the doggers into a truck that had beautiful leather upholstery and thickly carpeted floor. That just wouldn’t be right – so he decided to keep what he’s got. (Whew!!)

Then we rode through Rapid City, up Nemo Road, Vanoker Canyon and back to Sturgis. There were some rather ominous clouds moving in which eventually moved to the south of us, so we managed to stay dry once again. Riding in the rain, even just drizzle is very miserable – it actually hurts when it hits your face, plus it’s just not fun to get so wet. In years past we’ve been so wet we’ve actually poured water out of our boots that measure into the cups, not just little drips. You get wet in places you didn’t even know you had!!

This evening we rode into downtown Sturgis to see what the action was. After doing a little shopping I came back to the bike where Ole was sitting taking in all the sights. I noticed that the area I had just come from now had large vehicles with flashing lights. Ole decided to walk down that way to see what was going on and when he came back told me that Mr. Al’s, one of the shops, had been evacuated and was totally cordoned off, and the street was being totally cleared out. We assumed there had been some kind of altercation – gunfight, stabbing, something that wasn’t supposed to happen. Shortly Dave showed up (remember he’s a retired CHP). They had also been in the same area shopping. He visited with one of the local police officers and found out that a “mysterious package” had been found in the building, full of wires and electronics. The bomb squad had been called and the entire downtown area was to be evacuated. So we hightailed it out of the area before we got caught in a traffic jam of bikes. We rushed back to the RV and turned on the local news, but of course there was not even a mention of the incident. I suppose we’ll hear something by tomorrow morning.

For those of you who have been to Sturgis – our favorite local hangout no longer exists. The Nite Owl is no more. It was sold to the Knuckle for the liquor license and has been gutted – all the restaurant and bar facilities have been removed and now they sell T-shirts! What a loss. There is no longer anyplace on Main Street to get food other than street vendors. And I refuse to stand on the sidewalk to eat my lunch.

Well, Folks, that’s the report for today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring. Sorry I’m not posting a lot of pictures, but without high speed Internet it gets tedious. My new cell phone does a reasonable job, much faster than my old one, but yet not even close to WiFi. So you’ll just have to wait until I get home to take a ride down Main Street on the back of the bike via video. Sorry.