Thursday 6 Aug
Just a meander this morning, odd comments as they come to mind
its damp and misty out
last couple of days, although sunny and hot, the thunderheads have rolled in in the evening
last nights didnt roll away.
Have appreciated the couple of days respite from the road
exciting as it is, its a fair old task.
Have to admire the lady pillions in our group for their fortitude
pillions dont get the chance, I dont think, to move around, cornering etc, that the driver gets
not that its an entirely unfeminine ask
some of the pillion sights you see are truly outstanding Hollywoods
cor......
lots of middle-aged bikers with 20/30 yr olds in tow
not a bad place this, thought my guts was oversize, but I'm well south of the mid-lines
I could do OK in this country....
Blacks.....
there's just the odd few around
the girl who does my room, in her 20's I'd guess
tall, willowy, fabulous smile, a pleasure to be polite to.
There's quite an under-layer of folks in America who cant get to live the lives of Rielly we do
eat and drink out as we do.
Out at Sturgis I chatted to the black attendant, also probably in his 20's, looking after one of the men's loos at the Broken Spoke bar
she was a pretty rough outfit, the bar being set up, unbeknowns to most, in a livestock saleyard
so a bloke told me yesterday, Sturgis is mainly a livestock sale centre
in a fortnight, the sheep, pigs, and cattle will be back in main street
anyway, the loo....
the black chap was from Illinois, fair step away
had his little stall of toiletries for use and sale, and a bowl for tips
I noticed he regularly went into the loo to clean up
and I appreciated this, even though, like I said, it resembled my woolshed loo
but could have quickly been a black hole of calcutta given the patronage.
I reckon he'd do pretty well with his tips bowl, all cash under the IRD radar at a guess
but one tip well-earned I thought.
Fuel......
ever since we've been here, the air-con unit in my room has thundered away night and day
I'm on the 6th floor of a 9 storey hotel, a/c in every room
the fuel consumption over all of america must be ginormous.
In winter it would flick over from cooling to heating.
This is about the lowest asl we've been at since leaving the west coast, still about 3500'
at last fuel stop I paid US 2.70/gal, =.59c /litre, = NZ .99c /litre?
(dunno, conversion made difficult by US gal is smaller than the imperial we're used to)
The servo's are great, swipe your card, select your fuel grade, but they only go as high as 91
fill your tank, tear off your receipt, off you go.
I hope BNZ's conversion charges aren't too steep
maybe one should carry a wad of cash from an ATM machine
but paying cash at a servo is such a mission by comparison.
6th floor....
this hotel is u-shaped
there's a bloody great flock of pigeons roosting on the window ledges of the inner u, where my room faces.
The aircon makes the room so cold, I opened the window to let in some warm air
when I came back some time later, my room smelled like a pigeon loft
the ledges are covered in the proverbial, and the sub-roof below looks an according bomb-site.
Aircon.......
as I sat here writing yesterday morning, it was too cold just in 'jama shorts, so I grabbed the nearest T-shirt
which I wore out to breakfast, and the rest of the day too
its my white, Air Tahiti Nui one, xmas pressie years ago from niece Shelly.
Quite by accident I'd dropped onto a standout distinguishing feature
in a town engulfed in black clad, Harley Davidson, skull and flame emblazoned, studded, bikers
I'm now cool...
walk into a shop, oh you from Tahiti?
no, bit further down the Pacific
oh, Nooo Zealand!!!, when I tell them where.
Used to be nobody knew where we was
but seems like, thanks to Geoff Murphy, Rachael Hunter, Scott Dixon, the AB's, Lord of the Rings, Anna Paquin, Conchords, Americas Cup etc
I've hardly struck a person that dosent, such a good job have those ambassadors done
one character even told me he loved Worlds Fastest Indian so much, he'd seen it 5 times.
On the other hand, its been hilarious how locals cant tell you where to find places within 2 blocks of where we enquire.
Rapid City's pop, around 69,000, quite like PN
complete with Main St rail-line, only this one still operates, all through the night too
can imagine the place as a cowboy railhead in earlier days.
Bikers.....
quite a different complexion of personality are bikers here, even though bikerly clad and Harley mounted
we're regularly rubbing shoulders with very, very, wealthy people
I think there's a tie up between the freedom of the road psyche and freedom of enterprise and resourcefulness...
it feels good.
They get blown away when we shout a round of drinks back and include them in our typical kiwi drinking school ethic.
Young bloke we had on our team last evening went off in a chauffeured limo to visit friends in a town 50 miles away
$50/hour, which on second thought wasnt too bad, 3 hours, $150, $1.50/mile
you'd be flat to own and run a car for that these days.
He started a company 9 or so years ago manufacturing trailers
livestock ones you see on 5th wheel mounted super-utes common round the place, Chevys and Ford 150's
ranging up to $400,000 motor-racing rigs, maybe double-decked, with lounge and workshop floors up front
a purveyor to Scott Dixon's team as one client, then the rigs get handed down to the junior team drivers, and replaced.
He sold the business 3 years ago, and is employed as manager
laughingly commenting on the current economics, 'if there aint any money around, you dont get to sell a shitload of trailers'.
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| Victory Hammer |
just a tick under 4000 miles on the trip meter, so got Silver a service, oil filter, and a new back tyre at the local Honda bike shop
seeing we're near half-way mark
US $280 all up, hour and a half while I waited
free hot dogs chucked in, but I had to buy my latte.
The shop sold all makes, I liked the Victory Hammer, 105 cu", and the Honda Fury chopper looks a gas too.
The Victories have a nice suppressed rumble compared to the Harley blatter, more like a V8
but still like my CB1300 for biking NZ conditions.
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| Honda Fury |
looks exceptionally good, need to hear/see it running farmside though.
Biking.....
been getting blood noses, which people comment is not uncommon
bloke told me its to do with the dryness more than the altitude changes
as our body's 70% moisture busts itself to rectify 48 million acres of arid alti-plano
nose capillaries are a convenient place to start.
He advised nasal spray, and keep well hydrated.
Apart from a bit of cramp in the legs from sitting on the bike all day, am holding up well...
pays to be fit for a junket like this.
Helps if you can drop off to sleep anytime anyplace too.
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