Black Hills Bluegrass Festival

[wyodeb]

We went to the Black Hills Bluegrass Festival Friday night. Great stuff. I had never seen Jalan Crossland live. He does the percussive stuff and frailing the guitar and banjo. Pretty amazing. Then there were 3 bluegrass bands who did more traditional bluegrass stuff. One was The Special Consensus. They were great! It was easy to see the difference between them and the other groups--music IS their day job. I really enjoyed a local group, Six Mile Road. Not as polished, but they had great fun. I love live music!

Deb

[pennerblue]

Hey Deb, What was your overall impression of the festival?  I have a (new) friend (we met professionally, as professors, not musicians unfortunately) that lives in the Black Hills at South Dakota School of Mines.  I'm looking for a reason to go visit...

[Danny]

Hey Deb, What was your overall impression of the festival?  I have a (new) friend (we met professionally, as professors, not musicians unfortunately) that lives in the Black Hills at South Dakota School of Mines.  I'm looking for a reason to go visit...

I can give you a reason, beautiful scenes unfolding new vistas around every turn in the black hills. Best enjoyed while riding a nice "iron horse" Just don't go during the ralley.

[flatlander]

               I can give you a reason, beautiful scenes unfolding new vistas around every turn in the black hills. Best enjoyed while riding a nice "iron horse" Just don't go during the ralley.

Friends on way to ralley as we speak, so that would be like this week. How many Larrivees are poping up at Bluegrass festivals these days? On stage and off.

[wyodeb]

Didn't see any Larrivees at the Festival. My overall impression was good. It was unseasonably cold that night (wishing I had worn wool), so I was a little uncomfortable. The campground where it is held is quite pretty. Not a huge crowd. But a respectable number of folks. I'm planning to go next year to more than just the one night. They have workshops and more concerts on Saturday. We were only able to go Friday night this year.

Rapid City and surrounding areas are in the midst of Rally as we speak. Quite an experience. Our oldest daughter works in a local restaurant/brewery. She is getting lots of extra hours. Hopes to make a good dent in her car loan this week. I kind of enjoy seeing all the bikes, etc. Most of the extreme behavior you hear about occurs in some of the outlying campgrounds. Rapid City is pretty tame. Sturgis is transformed for the week. I'm not sure how I'd like to live there during Rally. So much of the local economy, especially in Sturgis, depends on the rally crowd. There are those who complain about the crowds and the noise, but they bring a lot of money into the area, and quite a few of them spend very freely. We wandered through Black Hills Harley-Davidson yesterday to see some of the exhibits, etc. LOTS of chrome. BAS seems to hit Harley buffs. Lots more expensive, by and large, than GAS. I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of Larrivee parlors get strapped on and come along for the ride.

Deb

[Danny]

      About 12 years ago, when I still had some inkling of youthful vigor. I said to friends and family I'm headin to Sturgis NON-STOP. I left that afternoon and rode my BMW touring bike until I was just so tired I had to close my eyes for awhile. I stopped at a roadside park and slept for 2 or 3 hours on a cement picknick table, got up and rode the rest of the way. That's when it got hairy.  I looked on a map and took what I thought was a better route out across the bad lands and Indian Reservation land.  At first I was thinking this is great no other traffic nice wide freeway type roads.
                But then, with no warning at all the nice road would end! You would drop 6 inches or so and be in soft sand and dirt with a heavy motorcycle and road weariness. It was dark, I was doing 75 when this happened, I just kept it upright and then BAM you hit the hard edge of the road on the other side (about 100 feet or so).
                I had very good hard rubber tires called Marathon Metzler's and  they were what saved me from eating pavement. They didn't blow out and could handle the impact in a way to save the wheel from being bent. This happened again several times across a hundred miles or so and when I came to a small town I just stopped and was thankful to be alive.  I went on into Sturgis and got a room and dropped.
                The next day I came out and was bringing the bike down off it's belly stand and dropped it. Just too weak.
  Anyway then I did a lot of crusin around the black hills, wow it was all worth it. This was after the ralley so it was easy to just enjoy the area. What a beautiful area.   (Oh yea that front tire blew out 2 days later south of Denver in very thick traffic, that's another story though)       Danny

[wyodeb]

My husband & I picked up a biker tonight on the highway outside of Sturgis. He had a 72 Harley that died on him & his girlfriend. We took him through Sturgis and on to the Buffalo Chip Campground so he could get his truck and go back and pick up his bike (and his girlfriend who stayed with the bike). I had never been to the Chip. What a different world that is! Anyhow, we walked around Sturgis awhile, then came home. Lots of skin, tattoos, unfortunate wardrobe choices, t-shirt & souvenir vendors, food stands, and fancy bikes.

Deb

[Danny]

                                                   
                                                "unfortunate wardrobe choices,"
                                             
well put.