Today is what the bucket list is all about: The world-famous Sturgis motorcycle rally, attracting more than a half-million bikers for a week of craziness every year in early August.
The route to Sturgis is easy. Ride west on Interstate 90 for 30 miles, then look for a place to park. Or, take the more scenic route, through Nemo and Vanocker Canyon. We take the scenic route, which, sadly – for a lot of Harley riders – is the road less travelled.
Sturgis has a population of 6,267 – until the first full week of August each year – when it swells to a half million or more. The city is named after Brigadier General Samuel Sturgis, who served as a Union general in the Civil War. A sculpture of him mounted on horseback sits at the town’s eastern entrance, on South Dakota Highways 34 and 79, not far from the Full Throttle Saloon.
Sturgis has quite a few colorfully named saloons: One-Eyed Jacks, Iron Horse, Knuckle Saloon, Loud American Roadhouse. They all spring to life during Sturgis Rally Week.
The 77th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is why we’re here.
It began in 1938, originally held for stunts and races – and has since evolved into a meeting for motorcycle enthusiasts from around the world. The city of Sturgis estimates the Rally brings more than $800 million to South Dakota every year. The Rally makes up 95 percent of Sturgis’ annual revenue.
While we explore Sturgis, you can keep an eye out for us. Here’s a live web-cam from Sturgis. Here’s another.
We’re spending the entire day in Sturgis, so today’s blog post is spare on words and heavy on photos.
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Day Eleven Summary: Sturgis. That’s our story, and we’re stickin’ to it.
Click here to see today’s complete route from Rapid City to Sturgis and back to Rapid City.
We finally made it to Sturgis!
Vroom, vroom.
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Today in Bucket List History (Special Edition):
Bucket List Goal: “Do Something Impetuous, Improbable and Daring.”
Goal Achieved: On August 7, 1974, actress Faye Dunaway marries Peter Wolf of the J Geils Band. It is one of the first celebrity rock star marriages, predating Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley, Eddie Van Halen and Valerie Bertinelli, and Kid Rock and Pamela Anderson. Dunaway’s marriage to Wolf lasts five years. Dunaway has been nominated for three Academy Awards, and won the Best Actress Oscar in 1976 (while married to Wolf) for her performance in the movie Network.
Goal Achieved #2: Also on August 7, 1974, Frenchman Philippe Petit walks a tightrope strung between New York’s World Trade Center towers for 45 minutes – 1,350 feet above the ground. Several movies have been made about his feat, including the 2008 Academy Award-winning documentary Man on Wire, and The Walk, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Petit celebrates his 67th birthday next week.
Goal Achieved #3: On August 7, 1940, a stamp collector pays $45,000 for a one-cent 1856 British Guyana stamp – at the time the most ever paid for a stamp. Impetuous and daring? The same stamp sells in 2014 for $9.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction. For reasons apparent only to philatelists, it’s the world’s most-famous stamp with its own mystique.
Goal Achieved #4: On August 7, 1947, the Kon-Tiki expedition comes to an end when the balsa wood raft strikes a reef on an uninhabited islet off the Raroia atoll in French Polynesia. The six-man exploration team, led by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, had travelled more than 4,300 miles in 101 days. The journey from South America to the South Pacific’s Polynesian islands uses only materials and technologies available to people in pre-Columbian times. Films about the voyage have won two Academy Awards, one in 1951, the other in 2012.
What’s on your bucket list?
Riding With Gary 