August 3, 2006:The day has finally arrived to head out to Sturgis. I'm not really looking forward to the next 2 days however. We've got 1,879 miles of driving to do before we'll see Main Street in Sturgis. Sam rented a Dodge Magnum so we'd have room for all my posters I'm taking out. We've never taken this many to a show before and I think we'll probably just end up bringing alot of them back with us.
We pack up the car at noon and head north up Interstate 81 in Virginia to meet up with Beki and Kimberly in Hagerstown, MD. They are being dropped off there and riding out the remaining 1,574 miles.
August 4, 2006:At some point in the night Sam and I switch and I drive for awhile. All I have to say about today and the drive up is anyone can get lost in Chicago if they get off the Interstate looking for a gas station at 4a.m. It's not my fault. 🙂
It seems like it takes forever to drive through Minnesota and South Dakota but we finally are getting close to Sturgis. We're starting to see some bikers now on the highway.
Kimberly wants to see Buffalo. She's mentioned it several times on the trip so about 200 miles into South Dakota we get off the interstate when we see a sign saying “See the Buffalo”. What we ended up seeing is 3 or 4 buffalo in a fenced in space smaller than my back yard. They must be young because they are smaller than we expected them to be. Before leaving we stop in the store next to the Buffalo and get drinks. Sam buys some smoked buffalo and we all try it in the car. Everyone hates it but me so I end up eating it all. :0
It's about 7p.m. local time when we arrive in Rapid City, SD. We're about an hour out of Sturgis and our beds waiting for us in Deadwood. We get off the Interstate at Rapid City to go see Mt. Rushmore. We're not sure what the rest of the week will be like so this might be the only chance we get to stop and see it.
We were all so exhausted from the drive we only spent about 15 minutes at Mt. Rushmore. We all shot some photos of the mountain but it wasn't until several days later that we realized of all the photos we shot we didn't shoot any of us at Mt. Rushmore.
We arrive in Deadwood around 9p.m. and find our way to Danny Gray's Roadhouse. We'll be staying there for the week as guests of Hard Bikes.
August 5, 2006:We're all up early today. Beki and Kimberly are working in the Hard Bikes booth on 7th and Lazalle St. from 9a.m. til 6p.m. everyday and Sam and I are in the Bikernet booth in the Thunderdome from 11a.m. til 7p.m. each day. Today however we can't sleep in because our booth hasn't been setup yet and we need to get down to the Thunderdome and make sure everything is ready before the gates open.
We arrive at the Thunderdome and get set up. In the booth next to us is Debbi Davids. Debbi is Miss Sturgis 2006 and will be next to us all week signing posters. Debbi is a local girl living in Rapid City, SD and was also Miss Sturgis 2005.
The Thunderdome is a great place to be set up. Working at Myrtle Beach or Daytona I would be out in the sun for 8 hours a day all week long. The Thunderdome tent is hot but no hotter than it would be out in the direct sun.
The AMD World Championship is being held in the Thunderdome til Monday. Some of the nicest custom bikes I have ever seen fill the room. Directly in front of our booth is Dave Welch from Chopper City USA and his two custom harleys that are entered in the competition. We'll see more of them later in the week.
August 6, 2006:The AMD World Championship is still going on at the Thunderdome.
It's raining this evening and that totally kills any hopes of going to the Big and Rich Concert being held at Rockn' the Rally. Sam and I have media passes for the event so we would have had great access to the show. Stupid rain.
So tonight Sam and I are hanging out with Bandit since my concert hopes got washed out. It's been just over a year since I last saw Bandit and I'm looking forward to seeing him again. We meet up with Bandit late in the evening at Two Wheelers on Main Street. There I'm introduced to Alvin who owns Two Wheelers and several other Hamsters. Alvin is really great. He has a trailer and sitting area set up behind the store where alot of the Hamsters gather and he extends an invitation to me to use the spot during the week when I want to cool down and relax. I let him know we'll be back later in the week to shoot some photos and will take him up on that great offer.
After hanging out at Two Wheelers for awhile Bandit wants to get some drinks so we walk down main street and cut over to Lazalle St. to a bar one of Bandit's friends had recommended. The time and the beers fly by and soon its time to head home for the night. Bandit and I shoot some photos in the bar and a couple out on a very deserted Main Street at midnight. Only my second day in Sturgis and I'm staying out past midnight already with Bandit…
August 7, 2006:Today is the day the awards are given out for the AMD World Championship. Dave Welch and the ChopperCity USA bikes place 2nd and 3rd in the Modified Harley class. One other builder we made friends with, Jim Giuffra from AFT Metric Customs, places 3rd in the Metric Class.
The guys from Lucky Devil Custom Cycles in Texas roll one of their choppers into the photo studio that has been set up and come ask me to shoot some photos for them. I've included a couple Sam shot below but you'll probably be seeing more on their website soon.
While the awards are being presented Jesse Rooke and Roland Sands stop by the Bikernet booth and take some photos. Also stopping by today to say hi and get a photo was Rogue.
In the evening we head out to One Eyed Jacks Saloon with the Infamous Choppers crew and a few other builders. One Eyed Jacks is huge. I've never seen a bar so big before. It must cover an entire city block. With its 2 floors of bars and sexy bartenders this is one of the hottest spots to be on Main Street. I'm told they have over 200 bartenders and beer tub girls working here all week.
August 8, 2006:It seems like each morning I'm having to get up earlier. I thought working from 11a.m. til 7p.m. was going to mean I got to sleep in once in awhile. 🙂
Today we have to get up early and head down to The Broken Spoke Saloon in Sturgis. Billy Lane is holding his first annual Builder Breakfast to benefit the Kids and Chrome Foundation and Sam and I are headed down to meet up with Bandit and shoot photos of the event. We get there at 8a.m. and grab something to eat. All the bike builders you've seen on T.v. or in the magazines are here at this event. Russ Mitchell, Kim Suter, Rick Fairless, Randy Simpson, Chica, Arlen Ness, Paul Cox, Billy Lane and many more.
The builders are all hanging out in an open area at The Broken Spoke for a group photo before the public is let in for autographs. Hundreds of people are waiting just on the other side of the fence anxious to meet their favorite builders and get an autograph.
Sara Liberte from Pittsburgh, Pa is there too with her “Builder and Machine” series of art prints. She's such a great artist and she builds bikes too.
The Metzler show is set up at the Thunderdome today. It's a one day show and much smaller than the AMD World Championship as far as number of entries. The highlight of the day was probably getting to finally meet Danny Gray. His booth is set up on our left in the Thunderdome. We've been staying at his roadhouse with the Hard Bikes crew so I've been hearing his name all week. Now I can place a face with the name.
August 9, 2006:Today is going to be a long day. Sam and I got up around 5a.m. to head down to Rapid City, SD. We had a shoot scheduled at Mt. Rushmore with the guys from Chopper City USA from Jacksonville, FL. We arrived at the monument at 7a.m. and the guys from Chopper City were already there waiting for us. Obviously they hadn't been up as late as me the night before.
They unloaded the first bike and we started shooting on a pull off area with Mt. Rushmore in the background. It wasn't easy. We had to put a block under the rear tire of the bike so it wouldn't go down the hill and we were constantly waiting for traffic to get out of the shot. About 10 minutes into our shoot the national park police come by and quickly make a u-turn. We're told to stop shooting immediately and ask who is incharge. We're told we must have a permit to shoot any photos so everything is put on hold as two of the guys ride up to the park office and fill out the paperwork.
We decide to move up closer to the monument while the guys are getting the paperwork in order. After paying the $150 fee for the permit and getting our papers in order we start shooting again from the RV parking area of the monument parking garage.It was a great shoot I thought. The guys from Chopper City got into a few photos and I shot about 3 different outfits with their 2 custom harleys.
I think they may be using one of the shots for a poster. If they do you may find me at Biketoberfest signing posters in their booth.
Today at the Thunderdome is a new event. The Discovery Channel Biker Build-off is rolling into the Thunderdome and visitors will vote on their favorite bike. The competitors are The Detroit Bros. vs. Twisted Choppers.
Hugh King, aka The Chopper King, who produces the Biker Build-off asked me to be the Trophy Girl. The show aires on Sept. 24th on the Discovery Channel. Be sure you watch and look for me. 🙂 I'll have alot more photos from this day to post after the airing but until then I'm not allowed to post them. I had to sign a paper saying I wouldn't post the winners or give away the ending of the show before it aired.
Once we wrapped up at the Thunderdome Sam and I headed down to main street to shoot some photos. Earlier in the week Bandit introduced us to Arlin Fatland, of Two Wheelers, on Main Street. I hated the idea of the crowds I'd attract walking along main street in my thong and chaps… I was so happy when Arlin told us earlier in the week we could hide out at his place in the back when we were tired. We arrived at Two Wheelers and would shoot some photos out on the street until the crowd got too big then duck in the back for awhile til people moved on.
August 10, 2006:It's another early morning. Apparently Sam doesn't think sleeping in is good to do once in awhile. Today we're doing an early morning shoot just north of Sturgis with AFT Customs out of Martell, CA.
AFT Customs was at the AMD World Championship in the Thunderdome at the beginning of the week. That's when Sam and I met Jim Giuffra. Jim build metric bikes and has won many awards. He placed 3rd in Metric at the AMD World Championship on monday and would go on to win 1st place in the radical class at the Rat's Hole show on Friday in the Thunderdome.
Jim told us of the location he wanted to shoot and we met him there at 7a.m. Sam and I are both hoping to go out to Martell, CA and spend some more time shooting with Jim later in the year.
After the shoot we stop at a local diner for breakfast before heading to the Thunderdome. Today is the Biker/Penthouse show. We arrive at the show about 45 minutes before the gates are scheduled to open to find the show opened early due to the large crowd waiting outside. We quickly set-up our Bikernet booth and we slammed with people all day wanting to get autographed posters and photos.That evening Sam and I went out with the guys from Infamous Choppers from Leetsdale, PA. We spent some time at One Eyed Jacks Saloon on main street before heading up to Grease Monkey Mayhem where the real party was. Atleast until the cops came in and ruined all the fun.
August 11, 2006:The Rat's Hole show rolls into the Thunderdome today. The dome is full of bikes and we're ready for a crowd that never seems to come. The crowd today is very different from the crowds that had been coming in all week.
AFT Metric Customs and ChopperCity USA are both back with their bikes. Both guys take home yet another trophy.
After the awards are presented the bikes quickly begin disappearing from the Thunderdome as does the crowd. A builder asks to bring his bike over to the Bikernet booth for some photos and before long there is a line of trophy winners wanting to get some photos of me with their bike and trophy.
A somewhat slow day ends with a very busy couple of hours. It's now 7p.m. and Sam is packing up the booth. Nothing is going on in the Thunderdome tomorrow so we're planning to do some photoshoots in the morning then enjoy the rally for the day.
August 12, 2006:Just our luck. There is nothing going on at the Thunderdome today so today was supposed to be the day we shot with Eddie Trotta and Infamous Choppers. We were going to shoot some video of me riding through the countryside and get lots of really cool photos.
Instead we wake up to very cold temperatures and rain. Sam and I decide to head out to some waterfalls we had heard of anyway. Maybe the weather would be nicer there or clear up by the time we got there. The waterfalls are pictured below… I held the umbrella while Sam shot the photo. It's 52 degrees according to the thermostat in the car and raining.
After shooting a couple photos of the falls we head down to the Thunderdome. Hot Leathers is one of the few vendors open for business so we buy some Rally shirts for our friends back home and head for main street. We've been working all week from 10a.m. til 7p.m. so we haven't been able to see Main Street in the daytime or shoot any photos of the crowds. The sky is clearing up and the sun is coming out but all the bikes we had planned to shoot are on their trailers ready to go home.
We walk along Main Street checking out the vendors and taking a couple photos before ending up at Grease Monkey Mayhem on Lazalle St. Paul Cox is in the Indian Larry Legacy booth and I get a photo with him. Across the aisle is Exile Cycles. Russ Mitchell and I had spoken earlier in the week about shooting something together but our schedules never quite worked out. He's going to be at DelMarVa Bike Week though so we agreed we'd shoot something together then. Look for that in a future article.
It's about 3p.m. when we pick up Kimberly and Beki from their Hard Bikes booth and head to Deadwood to pick up our stuff for the long trip home.
August 13, 2006:Nothing eventful on the way home. Same long car ride just the exit numbers count the other way. We roll into Hagerstown, MD around 9p.m. where Beki's boyfriend is waiting to take Kimberly and Beki the rest of the way home. Sam and I make it home to southern Virginia around 2a.m. on Monday morning. Part of me is already looking forward to Sturgis 2007 but the other part of me just wants a hot shower and a couple days of sleep.
