when friends from Kansas City showed up and a little slack on parking violations. While on the
spent the night. The beds were comfortable, same subject, Sturgis must have been expecting
and the shelter was comforting during the weapons of mass destruction this year. You
storms that blew in during the evening hours. couldn’t swing a dead cat without hitting a cop,
I was under the assumption that prices and these boys were in a ticket writing frenzy.
might be down for some items at the rally this One mile over the speed limit, and you got a
year, not so much! Beers at some places were ticket. If you stopped and did not put both feet
around $3.50 to a whopping $5.50 for a do- down, you got a ticket. Park an inch out of a
mestic beer at Monkey Rock. On the party deck parking zone, and you got a ticket or worse,
at Mount Rodney we not only got free nightly towed. As bad as the ticketing bonanza was, I
entertainment, but ALL beers were $2. The 2 think the cops’ attitudes were even worse. As a
block distance to the heart of the rally, as well as whole, this was by far the mildest rally I have
the shuttle service to the heart of downtown, ever seen as far as attendees’ actions, yet I wit-
make the Mount Rodney choice a complete no- nessed several instances of old fashioned rude-
brainer. Owners Doug and J.D. are always avail- ness from the officers, even when answering a
able and working their asses off to make sure simple question from a rally-goer.
everyone is taken care of. To their credit they We did manage to get out and stop by
don’t feel like they are too good to come on over some of the usual suspects. The Full Throttle
hang out with their guests on the party deck. Saloon and The Broken Spoke were hoppin’ as
Hell, they even attended the wedding of some always. These two venues have their act pol-
of their guests. Believe me, Mount Rodney’s has ished, and it shows by the full parking lots they
been a well-kept secret that is now out of the have. The Sidehack Saloon provided great
bag. We could have attended the concerts at blues music as always and a great view of the
some of the other campgrounds for free, but we traffic on Lazelle Street. The Dungeon Saloon
chose to spend most evenings right there at downtown provided its special “ambiance,”
Mount Rodney having the time of our lives with and the Road Kill Cafe still had reasonable beer
our new friends. I would suggest you make your and great food. As I stated before, the former
2010 reservations now so you don’t miss out Thunder Roads now re-badged Monkey Rock,
on the best lodging value in Sturgis. set the record for high beer prices. It seemed
Speaking of the party deck, I got a front row to be the one huge venue that did not live up to
seat from said deck to one of the more bogus expectations. Drink prices were outrageous,
happenings of the rally. Somewhere down the entertainment mediocre, and the girls were
road from Mount Rodney must be a tow lot. Zyl- nowhere near as friendly or as polished as the
stra Tow was running a virtual merry-go-round competition. I asked one young lady at Mon-
of tow trucks, pulling bikes out of the Dakota key Rock if I could take her picture, she replied
Mart parking lot. While I realize parking is at a very snotty, “for a tip.” My reply was “liposuc-
premium during the rally, I am of the mind if folks tion?”
come from hundreds and up to a thousand or There were plenty of good things about Stur-
more miles away to basically hand you their gis to offset some of the negative things. Way up
hard-earned cash, you might want to cut them high on my list of these good things, were the
Wide Open 47
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