2013 Days 16 and 17 – Homeward Bound with a stop in The Badlands

Leaving a family behind can be difficult. We’re very lucky because we have families all over the country who support The Outer Vibe! We have a wonderful network of people who give us a place to stay, or cook us a meal, or lend us a hand when we ask for help. The hard part is that, every time we get to visit with one of our families, there comes a time when we have to say goodbye. Leaving the Temples was not fun or easy! Scott went as far as to threaten us that the cops would stop us if we tried to get on the freeway. We weren’t entirely sure he was kidding.

It took over an hour and most of the guys in the group to get the bikes back into the trailer and strapped down for their long, bumpy journey home.

All lined up, waiting to go in the trailer

Keeping a crew of 11 people moving efficiently can be a challenge, but we did it. We considered leaving some valuable things behind at The Temple’s house so we’d have a reason to visit again soon. You know, something valuable like our equipment trailer with all our instruments. 🙂

Several of the crew members had never seen the Badlands, so we took the byway through them on the way home. We took advantage of the scenery to try for a band photo.

Scouting out a location

Stretching, and checking for shadows!

Nick, of course, felt right at home.

After spending some extra time in the Badlands, we had to haul to make up for lost time. We drove most of the way across South Dakota before stopping to buy some food to make for dinner. We hid the two trucks and two trailers, as inconspicuously as possible, in a gas station parking lot and fired up the grill.

Nick and Sean – the grill masters of the evening

Wonder decided the steak was so good, he didn’t even need a fork or knife to eat it.

Steak… nom

It was a lot of time to sit in the car. Our crew decided to be studious and read. Or text. Quite the change from the pic we took of them hanging their heads out the window on the way out West!

We stopped in Austin, Minnesota to sleep for a few hours during the night, chugged some coffee, and continued on.

Day 2 of driving consisted of a stop that is very special to us…

The first year we went to Sturgis, Lisa’s bike broke down on the way home somewhere along I-90 in Wisconsin. We pushed it to the nearest exit to wait for the chase toter/trailer, which was 2 hours behind us. We sat at a gas station, glumly waiting, and soon noticed a bright, happy light across the street – German Haus! A wonderful local German restaurant, owned and operated by a man named Rolf, who took pity on poor Lisa’s sorry piece of Kawasaki and gave us a free round of beer. It was a great way to kill time.

So, we stopped there for lunch and to say hi to Rolf!

So excited to visit German Haus!

After lunch, we totered the rest of the way home, only stopping once. We arrived home around 10:15 P.M. We were tempted to turn around and head back to South Dakota… but we’ll just have to plan another tour soon. Very soon.

2013 Day 15 – Rapid City, Iron Mountain Road, Custer Wildlife Loop

This is our last day to see the sights and ride the bikes! But aside from touristy stuff, we wanted to get a few more photos of our new merchandise. We decided to kill two birds with one stone and visit downtown Rapid City. Half of the group hung out and took photos in the legendary Art Alley, and half of the group wandered the rest of downtown.

Kate, graciously modeling a custom TOV jacket among other merch items

We were fortunate enough to see a graffiti artist in action!

After visiting Art Alley, we hung around downtown a bit longer, thinking we’d let the threatening thunder and lightning pass. A round of cold beers at Firehouse Brewery and an hour later, the darn thunderstorm hadn’t budged, so we decided to just go for it. This was our last day to ride Iron Mountain Road, see its framed views of Mt. Rushmore, and maybe catch some wildlife. No time to wait around for a little rain!

As it turns out, we only got a few sprinkles. Also, the Sturgis rally had finished up two days prior, so there was hardly any traffic to worry about while riding the twists and turns up and down the mountain.

If you look closely, you’ll see Mt. Rushmore in the distance.

We did a bit of climbing again. Noah practiced his yodeling again. And Tennille snapped a pretty good pic of the band!

Iron Mountain Road leads straight into the Custer Wildlife Loop. Aside from each other, we hadn’t seen too many wild animals yet, so we decided it would be fun to look for some furry creatures.

The first few miles of the loop were pretty frustrating – all we saw was a turkey and some deer. Boring – we have those in Michigan! And then, suddenly, as we rode up a hill and the road flattened back out:

Buffalo Jam!

A hundred buffalo were loafing by the road, lazily watching the cars and bikes slam on their brakes to gawk. There were big ones and small ones. Some were sleeping, some were playing, some wandered right into the middle of the road! Being on bikes, with only our helmets for safety, we were hardly terrified. Well, maybe just a little.

Have you ever been up close next to a bison? They’re huge.

Hoka Hey!

Skeletor and Tenniquah

We stopped to snap some pictures, and then continued on. We saw some elk, prairie dogs, and antelope.

It was getting dark and cold fast, so we hurried through the rest of Custer National Park. Route 16A is the road that loops off I-90, leading to Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument, Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road, and all the other fun spots to visit. After we completed the wildlife loop through Custer, we were headed northeast on 16A to get back to the freeway…. and what did we see? More buffalo!

Wonder managed to snap this pic from his bike when we paused to look at the bison!

We had originally planned to load the bikes into the trailer when we got home from this excursion, but it was almost 10 PM when we returned to Spearfish (after being on the bikes nonstop for about 5 hours) and we were a little tired, so we decided to wait. Instead, we enjoyed our last night with the Temples and started packing up our huge amounts of stuff, which had gradually begun taking over their house. 🙂

2013 Day 14 – Devil’s Tower

Today we decided to cross the state border into Wyoming to visit Devil’s Tower. It was a good afternoon ride, and the scenery was beautiful!

It’s not actually a geyser or volcano. The clouds are strategically placed!

Beautiful red rocks

Slathering each other with sunscreen before walking the rest of the way to Devil’s Tower

Quick band photo by the tower!

Nice tan line, Wonder!

Some of the group climbed as far up the tower as the park rangers allowed!

Wonder the spider monkey beat everyone to the top

The view from the top was amazing:

Noah’s yodel echoed beautifully down the side of the tower

There were a bunch of fields surrounding the tower that were filled with prairie dogs!

We pulled over to photograph the little varmints

Smile pretty! This little guy ran right up to Sean.

When we got home, we grilled some dinner with Scott and Mary and fit a record number of hungry people around the dining room table:

Stuffing our faces

2013 Day 13 – The Back Porch and a photo shoot

What better location for a photo shoot to show off our new merch than Spearfish Canyon? Check out this view from over 400 feet up.

Can you see the cars in this pic?

Conveniently, a couple of our crew members make great models. 🙂

Kateland modeling some custom TOV shorts and our new bison skull tee!

Noah needed some encouragement to smile, so Scott gave him a love tap with the mono pod.

Just chilling on the edge of a cliff, no big deal.

Sasquatch lives in Spearfish Canyon?

After the photo shoot, we got ready for the last show of our tour – The Back Porch B & B Bar in Spearfish!

Party at the Back Porch!

We let our road crew open the third set for us, so Noah and Katrina performed Adele’s “One and Only,” and then they all rocked some old school hip hop… “Ice Ice Baby,” “Jump Around,” and “Baby Got Back.”

Savage and Roadie Princess!

MC Papa Wheelie and 80s Scott in da house!

And, of course, we had to get a family photo with our hosts Scott and Mary! We wanted to get a Sears portrait done, but instead we settled for a quick photo at The Back Porch. 🙂

2013 Day 12 – Needles Highway

We kicked off our Friday with a 7:30 A.M. breakfast before hitting the road!

Real men cook breakfast.

We headed out, with Needles Highway as our first destination. Before arriving, we stopped in Hill City for some food and to rest for a bit. Hill City is a cool town with a population of less than 1000, and is a great stopping point before entering Needles, Iron Mountain Road, Custer State Park, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, etc.

Hill City accommodates the 400,000 bikes that visit the hills for the rally!

Katrina caught Wild West fever!

This is as close as Sean can get to his dream of seeing a real dinosaur someday.

There were signs like this hanging all over the bars! This was one of the more tame ones.

We finally headed to Needles, although the weather was threatening to drench us. With only a couple days left to ride, we stuck with our plan.

Needles is rated as one of the most challenging, scenic, wonderful motorcycle routes in the world. And by the time we arrived, it was definitely raining, and the roads were definitely slick. Riders have to be very alert, because the sides of the mountain don’t always have fences! Oh, and there’s always the chance of big horn sheep, deer, buffalo, etc. strolling across the road.

One of several sharp turns along the mountainside! Photo credit: eatsleepride.com

 

Quick stop to admire the massive granite formations.

New way to wear a bandana, Jeff?

More granite “needles”

After Needles, we were hoping to take the Custer Wildlife Loop to Iron Mountain Road and then Mount Rushmore, but the rain made the ride a little too dangerous, especially considering how many bikers were on the road. We decided to save the other things for another day.

Saturday’s plan – some filming for a new music video (yup, it’s true!) in the Spearfish Canyon, and our last show of the tour – one more date at The Back Porch B & B!

2013 Day 11 – Sturgis Rally part II, Belle Fourche Hometown Thursdays

Thursday – we decided to visit the rally one more time. It was a hot day – no wind, hot sun, lots of walking on blacktop!

Our group’s 7 bikes, ready to enter Sturgis – Exit 30!

Hmm… wrong rally… but still cool.

Chillin’ with Chris from Low and Mean custom bike building!

Wonderboy, representing our favorite clothing label, DEFYE, at the rally!

Checking out a sweet new motorcycle by Yamaha – the Bolt!

After our visit to the rally, we headed to the quaint town of Belle Fourche (pronounced “Belle Foosch”) for a concert.

All set up for Hometown Thursdays before the crowd showed up!

We ran into some fellow Michiganders at the show!

As much as we love playing shows in the Black Hills, we’re very excited for Friday – we have the day off, and we’re looking forward to doing a LOT of riding! We’ll see what the day brings. Our hopes are to visit Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road (where you can see Mount Rushmore), and the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop!

2013 Day 10 – Cruisin’ and The Back Porch B & B Bar

Wednesday’s gig was a late night gig, so we had plenty of time to explore the hills on our motorcycles. We cruised over to Vale, then toward Bear Butte, then took the scenic route through the Black Hills National Forest toward Rapid City.

Headed straight for Bear Butte

We only had one minor bike issue that we quickly resolved before someone (Lisa) had a temper tantrum. Jeff, Kevan, and Nick to the rescue!

Pinched fuel vent line, whaaaaat?

Upon reaching the Rapid City area, we conveniently stopped for fuel half a block away from Haggerty’s Music, a place we visited a couple times last year.

From Bach to Rock!

We have the most musical road crew ever, so everyone enjoyed the visit!

Wall o’ Ukes

Wall o’ Effects Pedals!

Eventually we made our way back to Spearfish, where we ate dinner and got ready for our show at the legendary Back Porch! The owner, Leland, is our pal. Here’s a mural of him that’s painted on a wall in the back area:

Painting of Leland

The bar was jam-packed full of bikers!

2013 Day 9 – Hamsters Motorcycle Club bash

So, you may be wondering who the Hamsters are by now, if you don’t already know. This quote from an article on motorcyclecruiser.com sums it up pretty well:

“The Hamster Parade down Main Street in Sturgis, South Dakota, stops all activity. For a moment, T-shirt vendors relax, conversations cease and scantily clad ladies turn their attention from the sidewalk to the titillating sight of 100 custom American motorcycles-each piloted by a yellow-shirted member of the mythical Hamsters Motorcycle Club.

Rumors abound. They are all millionaires … they all own helicopters (for Mount Rushmore flybys) … they use $100 bills to scrape the bugs from their leathers … they collectively own 67 percent of Lawrence County, South Dakota.

But it’s not all true. Some only lease the helicopters.

Joking aside, the Hamsters Motorcycle Club was born as a tongue-in-cheek karmic reaction to the stereotypical hard-core biker image of the ’70s. The group wanted to show that a collective of custom motorcycles could indeed pass through society without leaving a legacy of bar fights, intimidation and general social misfittedness. They exist to tweak, chop and create rolling works of art, and they love to ride them.”

To Be A Hamster:
1)You must ride your American motorcycle to Sturgis.
2) It cannot be stock.”

So, to sum it up… The Hamsters are an elite group of some of the coolest dudes and ladies you’ll ever meet. They own the best motorcycles you’ll ever see. And so many of them own property in the Spearfish Canyon, the city agreed to rename the road “Hamster Hill.”

The Hamsters Sturgis bash is always the Tuesday of the rally at Dave Bell’s house. When we arrived for the party, the first thing we did was run to the edge of the canyon, which happened to be right in the front yard:

View of Spearfish Canyon

Tennille’s pic of the canyon

It was fun to run around and check out the custom bikes.

Notice the hamster 🙂

The hamsters grilled burgers and enjoyed some adult beverages, and then we kicked off the music!

The inside of the house is just as amazing as the outside. This was our favorite room:

Jail is just a room

If you’d like to read the rest of the article on the Hamsters, you may do so here: http://www.motorcyclecruiser.com/rideanddest/0802_crup_hamsters_motorcycle_club/

2013 Day 8 – Sturgis Rally

We had a day off from shows, so we decided to visit the rally! As always, there were thousands upon thousands of bikes and a very interesting cast of characters. We took 7 bikes (TOV, crew, and Max Temple), and Max, being a local, led us on an alternate route that was beautiful – it was a service road that ran alongside I-90, with some twists and turns that took us through a little town called Whitewood.

Once we got into town, we split up so we could find parking spots. As you can imagine, this was not an easy task, because the town looked something like this:

There were many shiny, tricked out, custom, expensive-looking bikes. And there were also some really sweet bikes like this that looked like they were either 100 years old or had the you-know-what beat out of them (probably also expensive):

The Sturgis rally is a special type of place. You see bikers, vendors, strippers, every day Joe-looking people… all meandering around, people-watching, shopping, eating, drinking, sleeping, etc. And most of them are really friendly people that are glad to strike up a conversation about their leather chaps they’re selling, the fancy bike they’re riding, the fact that this is their 73rd year at the Sturgis rally, or their store full of underwear (pictured below):

Engulfing layers of lingerie hanging from the ceiling!

Nick with Nick in 40 years

Making a statement.

And here’s the same type of message, delivered a little differently:

On our way home from the rally, we had the most beautiful view of the thunderstorm we were about to ride straight into.

Luckily, through the sun rays, we only had a few drops of rain… and some crazy wind, and finally…

Double rainbow over Spearfish!

We made it home safely and grilled steak with the Temples. Nick and Lisa “helped” Scott and Mary prepare dinner:

Everyone else helped eat it! 🙂

Pics taken while chewing are so flattering!

We thoroughly enjoyed our day off, but we’re also very excited to play for the Hamsters’ party tomorrow on Hamster Hill! More about that later.

2013 Day 7 – Glencoe Part II w/ Warrant & Quiet Riot

Saturday was a late night at Glencoe with Candlebox, so Sunday was a short day by the time we all rolled out of bed and fought over the shower.

We spent most of the day at the campground, listening to Warrant and Quiet Riot sound check while hanging out with our new friends, the Flaunt girls!

There were body painters on site, painting anything and everything. Jeff decided to go topless, and Katrina decided to express her true Indian Princess :

It wouldn’t be a Sturgis party without a mention of……. this wonderful beer! It was pretty good.

Jeff, being the friendly guy he is, mingled with a few of the fine folks at the campground after we played.

Jeff is good at making friends.

Oh – so what about the concert itself? The whole reason we were at Glencoe? Don’t worry, we’ll have pics and videos coming. The crew is currently sorting through the massive amounts of concert footage we have. We’ll post some stuff soon enough.

Monday’s plans – we have a day off from playing shows, so… WE RIDE!