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2007 STN
National Meet - Custer SD
June 13-14, 2007 While
I spend a fair bit of time working / playing / using computers I watch
how much time I devote to "community" websites. The foremost site I
spend time with is www.Sport-Touring.net.
While the internet is filled with community websites, of which with the
motorcycle community has a fair share, the people at STn make the site
stand out. In general - it's a nice home filled with good folks.
Each year there is a "National" meet. It is a loosly organized event where anyone who can attend gets together to put a physical presence to their online persona. Aside from meeting a few STn members in the Midwestern region I've never attended an STn event. The 2007 meet was to take place in Custer South Dakota. Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, The Badlands, Devils Tower, Needles Highway, Spearfish Canyon, the Black Hills, Jewell Cave, Wind Cave are but a few of the area attractions. Overall there is great scenery - and a fair share of interesting roads... Aside from the attration, the fact that it would be a 1/2 day ride away, and me "having time" - I made no plans to attend. I should work at "getting back to work". That said I did keep a small note in the back of my mind - maybe, just maybe, I might make a last minute decision to attend. That last minute decision came a handful of days before the event when another member, Bill from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, stated they might have a drop-out and would have space in a cabin for one person. I replied hoping someone else would jump at it before me. I guess nobody else was on the fence as Bill called back saying the spot was mine if I wanted it. I guess I'm committed. I'll be attending an "official" STn gathering - a first. Overall the days went like this: Tuesday ride up to Custer, get lunch with a Denver area rider, Bob?, stand around meeting others as they arrive. Tues evening was "the dinner" for the group - a local restaurant had pans of chicken, beans, potato salad waiting for us. The resort had a nice covered picnic area. Wednesday I tagged along with a group who was interested in riding some of the smaller dirt roads (I just washed the bike - a rare thing for me - at least it looked nice for 48 hours). There was another semi-formal dinner Wed evening, along with a raffle (I was fortunate to win some NikWax basewash - which I said just before the ticket call that "I would like to try some of that stuff". Colleen, mentioned later, works for Nikwax at their North America location in Seattle WA.). Thursday I visited Devils Tower and took a short tour at Jewel Cave. Thursday evening I joined my "Thunder Bay" hosts for an "everyone contribute something" dinner, bon fire, and experimental photography event - a nice time. Friday I took the Lantern tour at Jewel cave (no electric lights - only the kerosene lanterns), enjoyed a few of the interesting twisty roads in the area, took a tour at Wind Cave and headed towards home. Saturday I'd finish the ride home (it was only 2.5 hours but I didn't want to ride after dark - animals on the roadway concerns). Ah, a final note: These pages, like others, are filled with photos. I'm a bit "click happy". People sometimes ask if I'm a photographer. My reply is No, I just take a lot of pictures and a few of them turn out OK. With that, something happend with the camera on this trip that I didn't expect - I "rolled it's photo-odometer". Each photo is numbered with a four digit number. I rolled to photo 0001 on this trip. I've taken over 10,000 photos with this camera since I purchased it only 13 months ago. Ride Reports Pictures, videos, a few notes
Pinched for time, don't want to bother seeing all of the photos,
here's a Best Of listing... "Best Of" Photos |