A New Year, another countdown..

2011 flew by and here we are. Another New Year’s Eve to celebrate. Like some of you know, our NYE tradition for the past several years is to stay safely within the warmth of our garage, polish our bikes and plan our road trips for the new year.  This year, nothing got polished, but our two week road trip in August was tentatively planned, all eleven glorious days.

Many of the things and places we’ve chosen were on last years plan, which got a bit derailed (more on that in another post).  We also tried to plan our overnight trips around the time that our friends will be arriving, folks we met last year that are coming in from Quebec and from Iowa.

Bill had mentioned wanting a large map of the United States, like the pull down kind we had in grade school, to plan not just South Dakota trips, but other state wide adventures.  Last Friday while out and about, I remembered The Teacher’s Store here in Livonia, and bought a 50” x 38” map.  It ended up being a NYE surprise, when I taped it to the inside of our garage door and led him to it with his eyes closed. I’m so sneaky.  🙂

He loved it.  Between this and Google Maps to determine time and mileage, we had a blast planning our stay in the Spearfish area during the 2012 Sturgis Rally.  In fact, we were so engrossed with planning and websites and distance and days that we had left, we weren’t even watching the clock.  The neighborhood fireworks told us that 2012 had arrived.

So here we are!  It’s Monday January 2nd, and tomorrow is the day we’ll make our camping reservations at Chris’ Camp in Spearfish, like we’ve done since 2004.  Below is our plan.  We’ve left a few open days to have the freedom to just head in a direction and see where it takes us.  Which is really what it’s all about.  🙂

Monday, July 30th

Free to Roam!   We may visit Dakota V-Twin for new tires on Bill’s Ultra, like he’s done in the past.  Then we’ll cruise around locally two up on my Vulcan and take in the sights.

Tuesday, July 31st

Badlands National Park, and Wall, SD    The Badlands never grow tiresome, and we visit it every year.  As many photos as I’ve taken, the Badlands is place where the magnitude of it just cannot be captured.  You literally feel like a flea on an elephant’s butt.   Wall is just too cool to pass up, and is a great place for souvenir shirts that you promised all your friends.

Wednesday, August 1st

Leave early in the AM for Beartooth Pass, starting in Red Lodge, MT.   Overnight trip.   Beartooth Pass comes highly recommended by a friend, and the photos I’ve seen are amazing.  Definitely a Bucket List item.

Thursday, August 2nd

Return to camp from Beartooth Pass.

Friday, August 3rd

Free to Roam!

Saturday, August 4th

Day trip to Buffalo, SD, and Redig, where we go every night in our dreams.  Our beloved 80 acre parcel of absolutely nothing but rock and wild grasses resides here..   Hehehe

Sunday, August 5th

Wounded Knee Memorial
Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary
Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge

Monday, August 6th

Horseback Riding – somewhere
A visit to the Stonehouse Saloon

Tuesday, August 7th

Downtown Sturgis and a visit to the Full Throttle Saloon.

Wednesday, August 8th

Sturgis Flat Track Races, Hill Climb, Sturgis Dragway – depending on schedule.

Thursday, August 9th

Free to Roam.  Our last day in Spearfish.

Right now there are snow flurries outside my window, and the next 90 days will hopefully be of snowmobiling weekend fun here in lower Michigan, which tides us over to riding season.  We leave in 207 days and like every year,  I’m already homesick.