looking for info for sturgis trip

[cookie]

Hi everybody.After a long, long winter and accumulating alot of overtime to put in the bank to take as time off. (i work for the county roads department as a truck mechanic on snow plow equipment ).Julie and i are going to head out to sturgis and tour the area for a couple of weeks before the rally starts .we are looking for info on things we should see and do on the trip and if there are any roads to take to get a break from the interstate .We will be crossing the border at port huron michigan and taking interstate 69, to 94 to 80. we are going to take in a indy race in Newton Iowa. From there we will make our way to sturgis. On our way home we are going to go through Minnesota, Wisconsin and cross the border at Sault St Marie. Any suggestions for roads, sights, lodging , campgrounds and restaurants will be a big help.

thanks again everybody.
cookie (kevin)

[landman]

be sure to ride thru the badlands on the way out on I80.also devils tower and custer state
parks.as for roads don't miss spearfish canyon and iron mountain.enjoy but expect lot's
of bikes and inflated prices even two weeks before the rally itself.

[rayski271]

once you leave iowa take 18 instead of 80. gibby and myself did that coming back from custer nice road penlty of gas stops and no nterstate

[cookie]

Thanks for tips. Will take in those areas land man.did not know about iron mountain. That looks like a good road to take rayski. We enjoy the back roads instead of the interstate when we can and time allows.

[glwilson]

Originally Posted by cookie

Thanks for tips. Will take in those areas land man.did not know about iron mountain. That looks like a good road to take rayski. We enjoy the back roads instead of the interstate when we can and time allows.

Iron Mountain is my favorite ride in that area; so don't miss it.

Unfortunately, there isn't a whole lot before you get there, so expect a rather mundane ride till you get well into SD.

If you are unfamiliar with the SD area, there is a website for it which is pretty good with regard to maps of the area rides. You can download it to review if you want. But once you get there, a lot of places have that map printed for tourists so you can take a copy or two to use. The place is pretty simple to navigate around. As was mentioned, go to Devil's Tower if you have a chance. I wasn't too excited about it, but once I saw it I was impressed.

I didn't care for the Badlands, but my wife liked it. So I wouldn't miss going there for certain in case you both like it also. It is certainly worth seeing, no matter what.

Keep in mind, the area is going to be very busy ahead of the Sturgis Rally. So expect a lot of bikes.

Be careful around the rented motorhomes out there. The people driving them are nuts and not good or experienced drivers of those things. They have actually killed bikers by turning into them. So just avoid them when possible. We still joke about them from my trip there.

Have a great trip.