Colorado Cruiser: South Dakota Ride

Sean is my motorcycle riding buddy that I met in prison.

Maybe that needs a bit more explanation. I go down to the federal prison in Florence , Colorado to help hold church services a couple of times a month. I don't do this alone ; there are about 10 of us from the Colorado Springs area who take turns going down in pairs to hold these services, and Sean is one of those other "Prison Service Missionaries" that go down. One of the times that Sean and I went as a team, we got to talking about motorcycles. Both Sean and I ride, so we started doing lunch rides and weekend rides together.

About 3 weeks ago, Sean called and told me he was trying to organize a motorcycle ride up to Sturgis , South Dakota. There is a huge motorcycle rally held in Sturgis every year, but we aren't going for that. We're going 2 weeks after the rally ends so we can enjoy some wide open roads and cheaper costs.

On Thursday the 22nd, we celebrated 2 birthdays. My oldest daughter Koren and my son - in - law Sean. I won't tell you how old Koren is, but Nan and I just celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary 9 months and 3 days ago.

Later that night we had the biggest hail storm of the year. It lasted nearly an hour, dumped 4 inches of moisture, and flooded the basement of several neighbors. I spent a good part of the evening helping one neighbor to suck the water out of a basement window well.

On Friday morning (the 23rd) I woke up at 4:30 am and finished packing the bike. When I walked out into the front yard, there was storm debris all over, so I spent a good while looking for any major damage but found none.

I rolled out of the driveway just before 6:00 am and headed to the gas station, then went to join Sean at Sean's house.

I pulled up to Sean's house and saw both motorcycles out on the driveway. As I shut down, Sean came out to welcome me. Then Sean and his wife came out. I'd never met her before so Sean introduced her.

After a few pictures, we loaded up and headed toward highway 83 that we will take north to avoid all the traffic of Interstate 25. The temperature was in the low 60s. Sean was wearing a heated liner with a textile jacket and chaps. I just had on my jeans and mesh riding jacket. Sean had on a leather jacket and and chaps. We all had CBs on our bikes, so we chatted back and forth about the temperature and the fact that we'd be thinking fondly of the chilly weather pretty soon.

Ok, enough of the cutesy Sean Sean stuff. Yes, the 2 guys I'm riding with are both named Sean. My prison buddy rides a Harley, so I'll call him Seanley. The other rides a Honda VTX (just like my old bike) so I'll call him Seanda. I'm sure they'll be thrilled with those nicknames. (P.S. Neither Seanley or Seanda are my son-in-law.)

We rode up Highway 83 to the city of Parker where we merged onto the 470 tollway. This allowed us to loop around Denver and avoid all the rush hour traffic. Pretty soon we found ourselves well north of Denver and thinking of gas and maybe a snack. Because we were nearly to Ft Collins, we decided to stop by Johnson's Corner truck stop and get one of their famous cinnamon rolls. I've been to Johnson's corner with some co-workers a year ago. I got sick eating one of the cinnamon rolls. I think it was just too much sugar and fat. This time we bought one roll and divided it into thirds and each had a bit. It tasted great and caused no problems for me.

We got back on the road heading north , and the temperature started to rise. I-25 was very busy and we were pushed back and forth as semi trucks pushed the air around us. We were nearly deafened from the tire noise on the cement sections of the freeway, especially when big pickup trucks with huge nobby tires went past. Have I mentioned before that I hate riding on the freeway?

We rode through Northern Colorado and into Wyoming with temperatures in the mid 80s. I-25 skirted around Cheyenne , Wyoming, and much of the traffic turned off onto I-80 , which was a relief. Just a few mile s north of Cheyenne , we left the freeway and turned onto Highway 85 to start the long trek across Wyoming. The temperature slowly edged up towards 90 as the heat of the day set in. How can Wyoming be so cold in the winter and so hot in the summer? Shouldn't they only be afflicted with one or the other?

The road was pretty straight and empty. We rode for mile after mile without seeing anyone behind us or in front of us. Every so often, some nut would come up from behind us at 100 mph and pass us like we were standing still.

By now we were over 100 miles past our last gas stop. Seanda's bike only has a range of about 160 miles, but he has to switch to his reserve tank at 140 or so. We still had a good ways to go to the next town, so we were a bit worried that we should have gassed up in Cheyenne. We got to arguing about who Seanda would ride behind if he ran out of gas. CBs really do make the riding more enjoyable . (OK, OK , John, I get it now).

Finally we rounded a corner and began a descent into a river valley and saw the town of Torrington. Seanda wouldn't have to ride bi##% behind anyone. (I'll let you figure out what that word is . )

We pulled into town and gassed the bikes up, then began looking for somewhere to eat. We hadn't seen anything but an Arby's on our way in and I didn't feel like having fast food. Yelp suggested a few places, but the "Pineapple Grill" suggested itself to me and had ok reviews. We had to backtrack just a bit to Main Street and parked in front of the restaurant. It looked like a pretty standard cafe and burger joint.

Seanda asked the waitress what she recommended and she said "the peanut butter burger".

Let me stop here for a second and make a comment. I've been accused of focusing just a bit much on food when I write these reports. That's probably true, but I don't think its really about the food as much as how much socializing we tend to do during the meals. The best jokes are told, old stories of previous rides are shared , families are discussed, and future plans are made. I think that's why the whole meal sticks so much in my head and why I think about the meal as I write these. That and I really like food.

Anyway, back to the peanut butter burger . We all looked at her with a bit of a blank stare, surely we'd misheard . But no, there in the middle of the menu sat the PBB. Seanley and I were a bit dubious and stuck with more traditional burgers, but Seanda said he felt adventurous and ordered a PBB.

We chatted a bit and shared some of those stories that I mentioned earlier but never write in these reports. What's said on a bike ride stays on the bike ride, unless it's really , really , REALLY funny.

Finally the food arrived. Seanda's PBB was a patty with peanut butter on one side, strawberry jam on the other, and grilled jalapenos on top. He said it wasn't as weird as you'd think, the meat dominates the taste and everything else is just side notes. In fact, the more he ate, the more he enjoyed it.

Both Seanley 's and my burgers were also really good. The meat was great and had that dark brown crust that you only get on a well - seasoned diner griddle. We all agreed that it was a great meal and we'd eat here again without hesitation.

Before we left, we asked the waitress to fill up our water cups for the bikes. That's another thing I've kind of skipped over. All 3 of us had new water containers on our bikes. Mine is the "Old Man" cup that's famous on Honda Goldwings : a big 32 oz insulated mug that dominates the handlebars. Seanda's was a smaller clear plastic cup and a holder that sits on his handlebar just behind his windshield. He'd lost the straw for it, and the first time he tried to use it strawless, he'd put half the bottle down his front and up his nose. He bought a new bottle at Johnson's Corner . Seanley had a cup and holder that he'd mounted on a bar by his right hip , but it wouldn't stay in place and kept slipping down. Eventually he remounted it on his handlebars and it worked great.

So fully fueled (us and the bikes), we set out northward . We started seeing more police on the road and kept our speeds down appropriately. We never really sped on this trip anyway. My GPS says our max speed was only 83 and that was on the freeway.

The roads here were nearly empty and we easily passed any slow - moving traffic. In fact, the roads were so empty that we decided to take a few side on pictures of the motorcycles. I had Seanley pull up next to me and started snapping away with my camera. Then I realized it wasn't on. I finally turned it on and managed one quick snap before he pulled ahead of me. Next Seanda pulled up. I was more ready for him, but that didn't make my aiming any better. I was holding the camera in my left hand and just pointing it in the general direction and pushing the button. Luckily I managed a good shot of each of them.

After we passed through the town of Lusk, we started seeing allot of classic cars. Seanley had said there was a classic car show in the area, so it made sense that many were heading up the same road. Several times we saw small groups of classic cars pulled off the side of the road and the hood of one car up in the air. I guess it's hard keeping all those old cars running.

We stopped in the town of Newcastle for gas and a break from the heat. Shortly after we stopped, a classic Chevy pulled in for gas. Then another and another. Over the next 10 minutes, about 20 classic Chevies pulled in, all of them from the mid 50s. A guy in the store told us that these cars are all owned by the same people. Every year he hires people to drive the cars up and back to the show. It was pretty impressive to see them all parked together as they fueld up, then pulled into a parking lot to wait for the others. An old police car and an ambulance kept sounding their sirens to the amusement of everyone.

We were almost done with our break when the cars began setting off. We figured that we'd be stuck behind all these cars for the rest of the drive. We pulled out behind them and with 4 miles, we saw a large pack pulled over and helping one that was stopped. We passed them and kept going.

When we entered South Dakota, we pulled over to get pictures at the state sign.

Almost the instant we entered South Dakota the temperatures began to drop. We climbed a bit and entered the tree covered hills. I guess we were officially in the Black Hills.

We were riding along enjoying the scenery when we rounded a corner to see a large group of cars pulling off on each side of the road. Seanley was leading and was much quicker than me on the uptake. It wasn't a malfunctioning car, it was an accident, and a bad one. Seanda practically tossed his bike aside in his hurry to get off and go help. Seanley was barely a pace behind him and I hopped, shifted, twisted and struggled to get off mine and follow.

One of the classic 50's Chevies had hit an Acura head on. There was steam rising and fluids pouring out and running down the road. I tried not to think about what all that fluid might be.

Seanley and Seanda headed directly for the Chevy because it was obvious that the passengers in that vehicle were in worse shape. An elderly couple in the Acura were both awake and responsive , with their airbags hanging limply before them, and seat belt s across their chests.

One woman had cell service and got through to 911. No one knew just what mile marker we were at, so I took my GPS off the bike and told her to read the latitude and longitude to the dispatcher .

Another man and I tried to get the driver's door open on the Acura , but it was completely buckled and locked in place. We talked to the driver and he was responsive and said his foot hurt. I went around to the passenger side, but the door was locked. The roof was crumpled enough that I reached in and unlocked the back door and opened it, then reached forward to unlock the front door and managed to pull it open. The woman there was very dazed. She kept asking for help and for her glasses.

I'm not sure just what the Seans were doing in the other car, but I heard things like , "He's not breathing and has no pulse ... " and "She's breathing , but very shallow ... "

I stayed by the lady trying to comfort her and keep her from trying to get out of the car. She kept trying to move her seat back and recline it, but the battery was a small lump of debris and had no chance of doing anything.

Eventually the Seans decided that nothing could be done for the occupants of the Chevy. They came over to the Acura and I moved aside to let them work. Seanda is a chiropractor and has full CPR training and more.

By this time, some of the cars that had been stopped by the accident were becoming annoyed by the delay and started trying to drive through the middle of people to get by. I figured there were enough people crammed into the Acura to help and started trying to help the traffic.

First I moved our motorcycles way down the road and out of the way, then drove a few of he cars out of the way. Eventually we had one lane fully cleared and started allowing groups of cars to move past the accident.

It was nearly 45 minutes before the first police car arrived. It was a young officer who was clearly out of his depth. He walked over and said he'd see to the traffic and for the volunteers to continue what they were doing. He also said someone had left their radio keyed so he couldn't communicate with anyone. I ran a big warning sign back up and around the corner to give some notice to the oncoming traffic to slow down.

Finally ambulances arrived, more police, a fire truck, and paramedics. The paramedics and firefighters helped to extract the lady from the Acura , but apparently she'd been panicking and her breathing had become erratic at times. When they finally extracted her, she went into cardiac arrest so they rushed her into the ambulance and began CPR. After 20 minutes , Seanda went in to relieve the paramedics for a bit. They gave her 2 injections of adrenaline, but after a time, they stopped the effort and she was declared dead. It was very heart breaking to all of us there because we'd all spoken to her and tried to reassure her that all would be fine.

The firemen extracted the man after some effort. His foot had been trapped and it had taken a lot of work to safely remove him. He was stabilized, put in an ambulance and rushed down the road.

Many of the police and firemen came by to shake the Seans' hands and thank them for their efforts which were certainly impressive. Seanda had large blood stains on his shirt and pants and both were covered with blood up to their elbows.

We walked back over by the bikes and stood talking with some of the other volunteers who had stayed throughout the ordeal. Surprisingly, none of the classic Chevies had stuck around except for one lady who had witnessed the accident.

Apparently , the girl driving the car had been weaving a bit since beginning the drive, but as she came around the corner , the car had crossed the center line ; she corrected, but by too much and crossed back into her lane, then off the road. Over - correcting again, she swerved violently back onto the road and across the center line and right into the oncoming Acura . I'd suspect that the old car had a lot of backlash in the steering and the girl just didn't know how to cope with it.

We all talked for a while, then hugged and shook hands and wandered back to our vehicles and left. The police were marking tire tracks, taking pictures, and measuring skid marks trying to document the tragedy.

We rode a few miles up Highway 85, then stopped in the shade of some trees to stretch and admire the back sides of some trees. We were stopped at the accident for over 90 minutes.

We continued up 85 but had decided to turn off onto Highway 14 , which is known as Spearfish Canyon. The sun was very low on the horizon , which is the time that animals begin to move about, so we kept our speed down as close to 35 as our cruise control would let us. We putted along admiring the beauty and thanking Heavenly Father that it wasn't us in those cars.

At the end of the canyon , we emerged into the town of Spearfish and east onto I-90 towards Sturgis and our campground. It was just a few minutes ride until we pulled into the campground and checked into our cabin. It's a very small cabin with a queen bed and 2 bunk beds. The Seans opted to take the bunk beds and leave me the queen bed because I'm so old and frail. We unpacked, then got back on the bike to go back to Sturgis for dinner.

None of us knew our way around, so I programmed the GPS to take us to Main Street . Once there, we cruised for just a bit before pulling into the Easyrider Restaurant . It had a big impressive LED screen out front with flames shooting all over, so we picked it because it was obviously open. Much of the town shuts down except for the 2 weeks of the motorcycle rally.

The food was good. (See , I can be brief about food . )

We rode back to the campground. I went to take a shower. The Seans (who had remembered to bring swimming suits and towels) went to the hot tub to soak.

We chatted a bit more about woulda, coulda, shoulda to save the lady, then turned out the lights and quickly fell asleep.

Sunrise.