Rovin' 'Rauder's Sturgis Report 8/08/99

 The birds are singing and the locust/chicadas are grinding away too. I've been to the Corn Palace! An amazing building. It is a theater/arena inside, completely decorated with murals made from corn cobs and kernals. The outside is like a mini Kremlin, all towers etc. and completely decorated in corn. They have to re do it each year 'cause the bird eat the decorations! I am not kidding. They have yearly pictures going back to 1892!

 The roads is lousy with bikers. I saw so many HD's broken down that I just couldn't stop at more than 1 in 10 to offer assistance. 1 in 10 were female, what a coincidence! But HD riders all carry plenty of spare parts, it seems.

 Well, I'm famous. I'm the nut riding "no hands" on I29 doing 85 and passing semis. I admit it. I rode 85-90 % no hands the 340 miles from Des Moines. I't not so hard with a couple hours practice. The tube says "2.125" on it, two and one eighth. Wal Mart.

 The air is still now at 8:22 pm. I hear the sounds of multiple bikers discussing travel plans outside my open door. Met people from Tampa, Syracuse, NYC, Virginia and California. It is a party mood. Every one is upbeat.

 Met an old dude (78) fixing his car in the parking lot (smart, he could have helped me) of the motel who is traveling cross country and who happened to fly Douglas A-26 attack bombers in WWII (not to be confused with the much more common Mitchell B-26). The odds are astronomical. My Dad (76) did too. Literally no more than 100 people in the USA are still alive who did. Small world. Very fast airplane. So good it still flew in Vietnam, but as the Douglas B-26. Gave him my Dad's email address. It is a small world, and a smaller country. Seems like the more effort you make, the more coincidences you find.

 Rovin' 'Rauder Signing off
JimG MIG #229 and Bessy too