76th Annual 2016 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally

On Sunday, August 7th, we made our first run into downtown Sturgis.  We stopped at Black Hills Harley Davidson on the way (about 26 miles from Sturgis).  When we turned the corner and pulled into the dealership parking lot I said, "holy shit!"

I had never seen so many bikes in one place...and we weren't even in Sturgis yet!

 

Mike's bike

The dealership has countless vendors selling everything from corn dogs to RV's and everything motorcycle in between.  They also had a bikini bike wash.  And because our bikes were so dirty from the ride up (remember those flash floods), a bike wash was desperately needed.  It just happened to come with bikini clad girls.

 

Before, during and after.

After the dealership we headed to downtown Sturgis.

See this block of bikes? 

This was taken from a tower on the first block of Main Street in Sturgis.  There are 7 more blocks beyond this that look pretty much the same.  The official attendance numbers haven't been released yet, but it's likely somewhere around the 400,000 mark.  The population of Sturgis is 6,442.  So just a few (hundred thousand) more people roll into town for this event. 

Derek and Cari

Of course the day wouldn't be complete without some rain......and HAIL.  As we were walking around Sturgis a quick storm rolled in.  Cari and I hid under a vendor tent and Mike and Derek were shopping (basically).  They didn't let a little hail slow them down at all.

Those white flecks are hail

You could practically set your watch to the afternoon storm schedule.  It happened without fail everyday for a couple of hours every afternoon.

We finished our day in Sturgis with a stop at the famous Dungeon Bar for a beer.  The name says it all...you enter at street level and head down dark stairs.  The "dungeon" is adorned with dollar bills, stickers, and various ladies under garments tacked up everywhere on the ceiling and walls. The bar itself is worked by women who could also double as ladies of the night.  Definitely a sight worth seeing!

One door to the left of the Dungeon Bar is Town n Country Plumbing store.  Each year during the rally they turn half their store into a food stand to sell the owner's Indian fry bread tacos.  Mike and I shared a taco (they are huge) and it was tasty! It was also more than a little challenging to eat as street food.   Check out this video to see these yummy tacos and get a little taste of the Sturgis rally.

Tomorrow...Deadwood...