9/16/18

I am sitting outside the Days Inn in Sturgis, South Dakota drinking my coffee listening to the morning traffic go by.  The hotel is full of Cannonball riders but with a rest day today there is not much activity from them yet.

Yesterday was a long scenic ride for them as they went through the Badlands National Park, Wall Drug, Mount Rushmore and Deadwood.  We could have gone that route as well but having never been through the interior part of the state we took highway 83 and 34 into Sturgis.  It is a wide open area that is sparsely populated.  The vast fields of sunflowers bowing their heads nearly ready for harvest littered the horizon as well as the fields of hay with the large round bales either left where they were baled or neatly stacked in piles.  There were ranges of cattle, some horses and even a few pronged antelope.

Patience is running well, if you were to ask me, so our errand list for Kevin is not much right now.  We did get checked into the hotel and got fuel before finding the area of the finish.  They finished at the downtown Harley-Davidson and were on display there while being supplied a meal from the Knuckle Saloon.  

Patience showing off at Sturgis 

We were once again meet by friends who drove up from the Omaha area.  It is exciting to see how amazed they are by all the bikes!  We did get to spend some time with them and hope to more tomorrow/today since there is no riding.

Now for the food bit of this blog!  We had a short drive yesterday so instead of eating at the hotel we found a local place to eat.  Surpringly, it was a BBQ place!  We found Richie Z's Brickhouse BBQ & Grill in downtown Pierre.  When we asked the waitress what her favorite was, she replied the biscuits and gravy and how she can't stop thinking about them.  I really wanted the chicken fried steak but after her response how could we not order the biscuits and gravy!  We were not disappointed.  The biscuits were flakey and the gravy just spicy enough.

In Sturgis we ate at the Knuckle Saloon while watching the end of the Vikings/Patriots game.  Two of the employees said Murtha burger was their favorite.  It was a burger with Murtha jalapeño jelly, cream cheese and fried onions.  It was a bit more spicy than I anticipated but not too much to handle. The dinner they provided after the riders came in was beef tips on a bun with a salad and baked beans.  

There was no work done on Patience so we'll see what has to be done on the day off.