Tonydtiger1971
Guest
Hope you guys are having a great time out there. Maybe next year work and medical problems won't keep me from coming.
7th Nat'l NT Rally - July 5-8, 2017 - Spearfish, SD
- Thread starter Mellow
- Start date
We are having a great time -- and we all hope you can make in '18!!
Thanks from all of us that are still working (10 more months).
Terry
Terry
karl
Site Supporter
Thank you for sharing the great photos. Wish I was there.
Bear
2
The National Rally ended with a great pizza party and much "bling" given out. As always, Joe did a terrific job--and deserves a round of applause from everyone. I came by car, all of 2140miles one way. A car was handy to transport people when necessary. Thank you Mike, for the O'Reilly goodies.
It was great meeting people who I communicated with over the years and being able to put a face on them. This was my first NT Rally and it was well worth the trip.
I'll be heading back to Maine on Sunday via a route by-passing Chicago. I thank all the NT and ST folks who planned that route for me. I will have fond memories of this event for a long time. I could not have been associated with a better group of people. Touring motorcyclists are the best. Joe and company, Thank you for a great three days.
It was great meeting people who I communicated with over the years and being able to put a face on them. This was my first NT Rally and it was well worth the trip.
I'll be heading back to Maine on Sunday via a route by-passing Chicago. I thank all the NT and ST folks who planned that route for me. I will have fond memories of this event for a long time. I could not have been associated with a better group of people. Touring motorcyclists are the best. Joe and company, Thank you for a great three days.
junglejim
Site Supporter
Big thanks to you and O Rielly for the "stuff ". Your face among the many new faces made this an especially good year at Spearfish
It has indeed been a good year at Spearfish. Being able to meet new people and renew old friendships is one of the high points of my year. I missed it last year. Bear (Alex) said to me, "These NT people are a great bunch." He's right. I had many friendships when I was a member of the Concours Owners Group, but that group could occasionally get just a little bit prickly. That hasn't happened here. It's an outstanding group. The ST guys aren't too bad either. Thanks to them (and Mellow) for connecting our two groups. It's a smooth fit!
RedBird (on his CB1100) and I (on my NT) will be leaving in the morning to ride to Newcastle, WY, where I served an interim pastorate for four months in 2014, to go to church and then will take some interesting back roads to Wheatland, WY, where we'll rejoin I-25 back to Colorado.
The only downer for me has been my insecure left leg. The ride up (406 miles) was the farthest I've ridden since my 6th knee replacement in February. The riding isn't the problem -- it's getting on and off the bike. I've bought the lowering link and will be getting that done as soon as possible after I get home.
A few pictures from after pizza: Kevin Jones (artemedes) and Jim Moore; Mellow, Jeff from Minnesota, and Coyote Chris; Jim Rau (JumpingJim) and Mel from Ohio; part of our ride between Crawford, NE, and Hot Springs, SD on Tuesday, July 4th.
RedBird (on his CB1100) and I (on my NT) will be leaving in the morning to ride to Newcastle, WY, where I served an interim pastorate for four months in 2014, to go to church and then will take some interesting back roads to Wheatland, WY, where we'll rejoin I-25 back to Colorado.
The only downer for me has been my insecure left leg. The ride up (406 miles) was the farthest I've ridden since my 6th knee replacement in February. The riding isn't the problem -- it's getting on and off the bike. I've bought the lowering link and will be getting that done as soon as possible after I get home.
A few pictures from after pizza: Kevin Jones (artemedes) and Jim Moore; Mellow, Jeff from Minnesota, and Coyote Chris; Jim Rau (JumpingJim) and Mel from Ohio; part of our ride between Crawford, NE, and Hot Springs, SD on Tuesday, July 4th.
Attachments
Last edited:
Got home about 11:30 am today. Left out from Bell Motel at 0500 this morning. Total riding time was 6.5 hours from Bells to my garage in Aurora, with one gas and coffee stop. Good to see old NT and ST friends and great to finally put names with real faces. Had a great time telling tires and kicking lies around. Hope to see you all down the road. Next year? Be safe and have fun. Total miles for me this trip.... a short 826 miles.
Last edited:
Regretfully I did not make the rally again this year, due to circumstances beyond my control. (Wife's 50th high school reunion last night. My attendance was manditory)
Hopefully I can make it next year. Would like to connect some names with faces and see how others have accessoized their NT's.
Hopefully I can make it next year. Would like to connect some names with faces and see how others have accessoized their NT's.
I had a great time seeing everybody and meeting those who had never been. Based on my previous experiences riding home, I thought I was going to break up the ride into two days, but the weather was really nice and didn't have to fight any winds. I made it all the way home. Google Maps says the route I took was 811 miles. That might be a little over my longest day on the DR. On my big trip in 2013, my interstate days were usually in hot windy weather and usually limited them to around 600 mile days.
It was a very enjoyable route. I pretty much stuck to two lane highways with a speed limit of 65mph and while moving averaged 68. I know Mike might like to ride it so the basics were: Spearfish to Rapid City via I-90, Bypass 16 to 79, which turns into 18 and 385. I followed 385 all the way through Nebraska and into Colorado. You can turn east on 385 on hwy 36 which can get you all the way through Kansas on a very pleasant road. I went south on 181 to Downs so I could continue East on 24. It was just starting to get dark as I passed Waconda lake and Cawker city. I probably should have stopped there for the night, but the weather was so nice and I was feeling good so I continued on home.
The little DR didn't skip a beat and I have decided to call it "Motomule". A bigger bike is probably in my future again someday. I had plenty of time to think about using the DR for such a trip. It doesn't hurt the DR at all, but a windscreen and fairing that would block the wind better, and a wider more comfortable seat would also be helpful.
It was a very enjoyable route. I pretty much stuck to two lane highways with a speed limit of 65mph and while moving averaged 68. I know Mike might like to ride it so the basics were: Spearfish to Rapid City via I-90, Bypass 16 to 79, which turns into 18 and 385. I followed 385 all the way through Nebraska and into Colorado. You can turn east on 385 on hwy 36 which can get you all the way through Kansas on a very pleasant road. I went south on 181 to Downs so I could continue East on 24. It was just starting to get dark as I passed Waconda lake and Cawker city. I probably should have stopped there for the night, but the weather was so nice and I was feeling good so I continued on home.
The little DR didn't skip a beat and I have decided to call it "Motomule". A bigger bike is probably in my future again someday. I had plenty of time to think about using the DR for such a trip. It doesn't hurt the DR at all, but a windscreen and fairing that would block the wind better, and a wider more comfortable seat would also be helpful.
OP
OP
Mellow
Admin
Just got home. Great seeing old and new faces. Mike, the freebies were a huge hit, thanks!
Glade you guys had a good event. The BBMWRA is Petoskey was nice too, no rain, good riding for everyone but me my battery (which was new) died first ride, still a good time. I have a lift I put on RV to carry the bike, next RV trip will be NT to Tennessee to eclipse. This lift is one of the best $250 I ever spend, just crank up the motorcycle and your off.
Kevin's route is a good one. Another variation that's nice is to wend your way to Grand Island, NE, and then take NE-2 to Alliance. It goes through the Sand Hills and is a beautiful ride with very little traffic. At Alliance, go north and check out Carhenge on NE-87. Follow it to NE-7A and 7E to Hemmingford and you'll be back on NE-2. Take it till it turns north with NE-71, and then go through Crawford (you can jog east a few miles at Crawford to drop in on Jim Moore in Whitney) and stay on 71 after it turns into SD-71 to Hot Springs. From Hot Springs to Custer to Hill City to Deadwood to Spearfish.
BTW, Mike, I really enjoyed meeting you and sharing a room with you. I enjoyed your cigar, too!
Ken Malone (RedBird) and I left Spearfish at about 8:20 this morning and the temperature, according to one of the banks, was already 91F. I'm glad we got out of town when we did. We took 90 over to Sundance and then rode down to Newcastle, WY, and went to church at 1st United Methodist there. I had served as an interim pastor for four months in 2015 and had gone to church there on my way home from our Rally in Spearfish in '15. The guy who followed me only stayed a year and the guy who's there now is starting his second year. Ken and I were both very impressed with him. He's a good preacher and enjoys the people. They are enjoying him and his family, too, and that was great to see.
I had sat on a pew next to a 91-year-old lady that had become a good friend during the four months I was in Newcastle. She had helped us pick a residence for the minister (and they needed one, because rents in Newcastle were both outrageous and non-available). We had visited for a couple of minutes when another woman came and informed me I was in her place and had evidently forgotten about reserved seating. She had a big smile on her face and was kidding, but we squeezed her in. The first thing she said was that she had dreamed about me last night. Someone had told her recently that if you dream of someone, you should pray for them when you wake up, so, she said, she had said a prayer for me this morning and wondered if I might be riding my motorcycle. That was a nice moment and I asked her to keep praying because I intended to keep riding.
For those of you who were in Spearfish and saw the trouble I had getting on and off the bike, I want to say that it was nice having Ken with me today. He stood ready to help but I did a lot better than I did either on Tuesday riding up or on Thursday when we went to Devil's Tower. I'm going to call for an appointment to get the bike lowered tomorrow (it'll probably take a couple of weeks to get it into the shop) and I'm also going to get a new prescription for physical therapy. Riding in this part of the world is too great to give it up.
The church in Newcastle has better "refreshments" than any other church I ever served. Ken and I made a meal out of them. We got out Newcastle at about 12:30. The strong winds we'd had in the morning had mostly died down, and the temperature was hot, but bearable. We went down US-85 to WY-270 and then took it through the booming meropolii of Lance Creek and Manville. We stayed on it till we got to US-26 just east of Guernsey. We went through Guernsey and rode past the Oregon Trail Wagon Ruts and Register Rock. Both places are worth a visit but today wasn't the day for that. We rode south and crossed the Laramie River and turned onto Greyrocks Road, which curves and climbs and dives on the south side of Greyrocks Reservoir past a big coal-fired power plant just NE of Wheatland, WY.
It was a day for twins -- twin fawns. Two were in the road before we got to the powerplant. I didn't see Momma, but Ken said she was way out in a field. They got off the road after I slowed way down and started talking to them and Ken saw them go under the fence to get back by Momma's side. Then, just outside the fence around the power plant, we saw two does that each had twin fawns. They were cute little things and they stayed out of the road which added to their cuteness a whole bunch.
We got gas in Wheatland, and found a good family-style restaurant to get refueled, rehydrated, and cooled, and got onto I-25. In Cheyenne, we jogged over to US-85 and followed it down until I completed the circle that Kevin and I started on Tuesday when I turned onto Weld County Road 68 at Lucerne. Ken went around the east side of Greeley on US-85 to Platteville, and turned west onto CO-66 to get home west of Lyons.
We had a few drops of rain that hit us south of Cheyenne, but they evaporated quickly.
As always, it was great being together in Spearfish, renewing old friendships and starting new ones. It was especially good to see Bear and to get to ride in his Shelby Cobra and to share a room with Mike Simmons and get to know him.
We have a great group of people and being with them always seems like just picking up the conversation where it stopped a year ago.
Mellow, thanks for all you do to pull this great Rally together and thanks to the ST folks for letting us old pharts share their fun.
I had sat on a pew next to a 91-year-old lady that had become a good friend during the four months I was in Newcastle. She had helped us pick a residence for the minister (and they needed one, because rents in Newcastle were both outrageous and non-available). We had visited for a couple of minutes when another woman came and informed me I was in her place and had evidently forgotten about reserved seating. She had a big smile on her face and was kidding, but we squeezed her in. The first thing she said was that she had dreamed about me last night. Someone had told her recently that if you dream of someone, you should pray for them when you wake up, so, she said, she had said a prayer for me this morning and wondered if I might be riding my motorcycle. That was a nice moment and I asked her to keep praying because I intended to keep riding.
For those of you who were in Spearfish and saw the trouble I had getting on and off the bike, I want to say that it was nice having Ken with me today. He stood ready to help but I did a lot better than I did either on Tuesday riding up or on Thursday when we went to Devil's Tower. I'm going to call for an appointment to get the bike lowered tomorrow (it'll probably take a couple of weeks to get it into the shop) and I'm also going to get a new prescription for physical therapy. Riding in this part of the world is too great to give it up.
The church in Newcastle has better "refreshments" than any other church I ever served. Ken and I made a meal out of them. We got out Newcastle at about 12:30. The strong winds we'd had in the morning had mostly died down, and the temperature was hot, but bearable. We went down US-85 to WY-270 and then took it through the booming meropolii of Lance Creek and Manville. We stayed on it till we got to US-26 just east of Guernsey. We went through Guernsey and rode past the Oregon Trail Wagon Ruts and Register Rock. Both places are worth a visit but today wasn't the day for that. We rode south and crossed the Laramie River and turned onto Greyrocks Road, which curves and climbs and dives on the south side of Greyrocks Reservoir past a big coal-fired power plant just NE of Wheatland, WY.
It was a day for twins -- twin fawns. Two were in the road before we got to the powerplant. I didn't see Momma, but Ken said she was way out in a field. They got off the road after I slowed way down and started talking to them and Ken saw them go under the fence to get back by Momma's side. Then, just outside the fence around the power plant, we saw two does that each had twin fawns. They were cute little things and they stayed out of the road which added to their cuteness a whole bunch.
We got gas in Wheatland, and found a good family-style restaurant to get refueled, rehydrated, and cooled, and got onto I-25. In Cheyenne, we jogged over to US-85 and followed it down until I completed the circle that Kevin and I started on Tuesday when I turned onto Weld County Road 68 at Lucerne. Ken went around the east side of Greeley on US-85 to Platteville, and turned west onto CO-66 to get home west of Lyons.
We had a few drops of rain that hit us south of Cheyenne, but they evaporated quickly.
As always, it was great being together in Spearfish, renewing old friendships and starting new ones. It was especially good to see Bear and to get to ride in his Shelby Cobra and to share a room with Mike Simmons and get to know him.
We have a great group of people and being with them always seems like just picking up the conversation where it stopped a year ago.
Mellow, thanks for all you do to pull this great Rally together and thanks to the ST folks for letting us old pharts share their fun.
While at Spearfish we got to taiking about who was on Face Book and who was not. I am on FB and post most of my Motorcycle Stuff there, as it is easier to put pictures on FB. Did not take but just a couple at NatSTOC. My Page is public so I am careful what I do post there. Was discussing weather a non member could access my page and see my stuff or does one have to be a member of FB? Anyway here is the url if any one wants to try or if any one is even interested. https://www.facebook.com/chuck.henderson.980
Last edited:
I have really enjoyed reading all your Spearfish stories, has made me super-envious of the meet and and your journeys to and from. Thank you all for sharing your experiences. And Phil Tarman - I really hope your bike-lowering plans work out - you clearly have a lot more trips to take and sights to see, and I look forward to reading about them.
Graham
Graham
OP
OP
Mellow
Admin
Here are my pics, sorry I didn't take more of them:
Last edited:
junglejim
Site Supporter
Arrived home today (Monday) at about 2:00 PM after getting my bike serviced at Sport Rider in Altoona WI. I didn't stay long in the Bad Lands because it got too hot and crowded. Then it was a hot windy day on I 90 in a headwind. Traffic was as bad as I've ever seen on that road. I guess that's what cheap gas does. The trip to Spearfish sure squarred off my tire this year. But I stil have 4 mm of tread left.
Starting to plan for next year already.
Starting to plan for next year already.