Rovin' 'Rauder's Sturgis Report 8/11/99

Another Day In Paradise! Well, bike paradise anyhow. I got up late after all 6 hours of sleep! (I stayed up till 1 am BS-ing) Felt good! SSS ($#!^, Shower and I forgot the Shave. Two out of three ain‘t bad. Hung with the folks from Indiania and lazed out till 9:30. Left for Devils Tower, Wyoming. An old Sturgis Rally veteran told me the longer, better way. Damn, I‘m lucky. Great ride, no traffic! Half way to the Tower without anyone in my way. Cool. Finally in traffic, but not too bad, moving at 60 mph. Bikers galore!

 Bessy and I cruise into Wyoming and it is a bit different. Very nice scenery. Lost 10 minutes on construction, but… Make it to Huellet, Wyoming, population 430, except today, it had to be 40,000! I had to cut through alleys to get out of town. Too many Bikers! I don‘t know who designs the clothes the gals wear, but I like it! (Bill McEver, unfortunately, I remember why)

 Made Devil‘s Tower. About 80 miles each way. Too many bikes, so I did not go all the way into the facility. Great view from the access road, so I got my pics and left. The weather is good, 70 at night but very windy last night. Calm this morning. Clear, but clouded up this a fternoon. High about 85, good riding weather. Bessy is right as rain. Getting there and back is 90% of the fun. A great road out 24, made a loop out and back on 14 and I90. Gased up in Sundance. Saw another bike from NJ. Hey Dude!!

 Came back and found the Suzuki USA booth! I was too late for a demo ride, but I BSed with the booth folk. IMPORTANT! There will be a 2000 Marauder! Suzuki will tell the Suzuki USA folks and dealer nothing about it until the big dealer meeting. Must be a secret. Maybe they‘ve added something nice? But there are all the necessary entries in the Suzuki computer system for inventory data and price. But the files are empty. The dude said that they would not make the forms space available unless they had a 2000 model coming! I have some great pics of the Cobra Custom MI bikes from the Suzuki booth. I‘ve attached two here. Cool one-of-a-kind bikes. Nothing else new at the booth.

 Made my suggestion about ditching the “Lone Wolf” ad on TV. Booth dude agreed. Liked my suggestion: No music, not talk, just move the camera across the bike, show the price, and Suzuki logo. Cheap to make the ad. Rely on the looks and low price. I want a commission if it works! He did say the Marauder was “selling very well” in management‘s opinion. “They‘d be crazy to discontinue it” His words! What can I say? I agree! No cuties in the booth, except maybe the booth dudes, but I‘d need Momrauder‘s opinion on that. Tammy, you should have come!

 Damn near ran into a $30,000 Hard tail drag bike downtown on the way back. Dude just s miled at me. He knew why, he was looking at the same two young ladies, who were wearing, well, very little. VERY little. They seemed to love the attention. Hey, I‘m not a sexist, they made me look! I‘m the victim here!

 Last nite went to the Buffalo Chip Campground (wall to wall tents) entrance. The other MIGs did not show! Found I was at the wrong one! Went to the right one tonite, no MIGS. Oh Well!

 Rovin’ ‘Rauder still hanging in there. Tommorrow — Spearfish Canyon.