Norton and the Leopard Lady

Well, Folks, I’m sorry to say I have no further information about the possible bomb threat downtown last night. But then that doesn’t surprise me at all because there’s lots of stuff that happens downtown that never makes it on the news. It’s kept on the quiet side, if you know what I mean, although we did hear a BIG BOOM about midnight last night. Now whether it was fireworks or the Bomb Squad exploding their device, we don’t know. When we went down Main Street this morning the building was still standing, so that was definitely a positive.

Several years ago there was a biker from Australia that made the news because it took so many bullets to put him down. He was high on meth, walking down the street with a baseball bat in a residential area, putting out car windows and beating up the local residents. The cops were called, he was asked to put down the weapon numerous times to no avail. I don’t remember all the details, but apparently it took eleven shots from a gun to get him to stop.

Normally, there is at least one clash between gang members. Last year it was the Hell’s Angels and the Banditos. It happened about 2 a.m. one night on a back street and it took all the fire trucks and water hoses that Sturgis had to get things under control.

Now don’t get me wrong. You really have nothing to worry about when you come to the bike rally. If you go LOOKING for trouble you will definitely find it. But if you’re just a regular Joe on the street you have nothing to worry about. I should clarify that, nothing to worry about other than getting taken advantage of by all the Rag Heads (sorry I’m not politically correct here) that operate a high percentage of the vending booths. I won’t go there tonight, but will tell you a story about that in another entry.

Today we rode Spearfish Canyon, one of my favorite rides. The rock walls go straight up with lots of pine trees peppering the walls, pine trees growing out of rock pinnacles, making you wonder how they manage to cling to life and find enough soil to survive. All along the canyon there are beautiful log homes with big front porches tucked in here and there overlooking a beautiful creek that’s rushing down the mountain. We stopped in Spearfish for lunch and then rode back.

One of the sights we saw in Spearfish was The Leopard Lady. She obviously had not looked in the mirror before she left home that morning. She had on knee-high leopard skin boots with very pointy toes and spike heels and rhinestone buckles that went all the way around her ankles. Leopard print pants cut off at the knees with a cut out on the right side of her stomach to show off her tatoo, and a leopard print jacket that she's not wearing in the picture I managed to get of her. This woman was riding on the back of a Harley giving all the rest of us backseat Harley riders a bad name.

This evening was spent at Dave and Karen’s campsite for steaks on the grille and all the trimmings. As I said previously, their daughter has just completed Airborne School in the Army. Her father was not able to be at her graduation to pin her wings on, so we had a little celebration for her tonight where her father pinned her wings on. There were about ten people there, and it brought a tear to all of our eyes so see parents so proud of their youngest daughter. She’s a wonderful young lady.

One of the great things about this campground is that the same people get the same campsites every year. This is the 8th year we’ve met Karen and Dave from Arizona here, the 3rd year we’ve met Rocky, Billie and Norton from Kansas, and the 3rd year we’ve met Jeff and his Dad, Jerry, from Huron, SD. And we’ve all already reserved the same sites for next year. It’s almost like Old Home Week!!

Now I need to tell you about Norton. Norton is a dog that is half black lab and half pit bull that is the biggest lover you have ever met. He's just over a year old and likes to think he's a lap dog. He climbs in your lap, puts his front paws around your neck and gives you lots of kisses. He just LOVES people. In the mornings as people are walking by on their way to the showers he's the official greeting party, running out to greet everyone with a lick and a bit of a bark and a happy wiggle of his tail. That's this dog's only threat - beware of his tail or it may beat you and leave black and blue marks.

So, there’s nothing exciting to report today. So here are a few pictures that might entertain you.