Billings to Spearfish

On Monday (August 6^th) we completed the approx 325-mile trek from Billings to Spearfish, SD and the final leg to Sturgis.    The Best Western Clock Tower Inn didn’t have breakfast included with the room so we did a quick coffee/muffin breakfast right next door and head out on the road by 9am.  The scenery is beautiful and the weather was hot.  At the first gas stop the heat was quickly rising so a few of us stripped off jackets we had because it was already 90 degrees and we still had 200 miles to go.  The cruising was along high plains and long stretches of flat straight road, Indian reservations and free range cattle ranches.  In addition to the cattle and antelope visible from the road, the sky was a bright blue with some light clouds thrown in for color.  

All in all, a great ride to Spearfish. The reason we rode to Spearfish and not Sturgis directly was logistics as several of us were staying at Black Hills State University.  Sturgis is population 6,000 during 50 weeks of the year and during the motorcycle rally the population grows to a few hundred thousand depending on who you ask and how you add the numbers. All that said, obviously getting a place to stay in Sturgis is near impossible so the outlying cities are the best lodging bet.  

We reached Spearfish about 3pm in the afternoon and were greeted by college dorm attendants who lived in the dorm.  Of course, they were getting what was probably equivalent to a few months mortgage payment in exchange for a few nights at the dorm, but it was nice enough and there were a lot of riders doing the same thing as us.  Some of the crew went on to Rapid City, SD…to a real hotel!!  The remaining members of the posse had dinner at one of Spearfish’s local grub spots.