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Page 13 of 20 DAY FOUR - THE BLACK HILLS We slept until 7:00 a.m. - what a luxury! Because we were late in meeting everyone for breakfast, we hurried to get dressed and arrive at the restaurant in downtown Sturgis before they left. They were on their way out the door, but we arranged to meet them at the Exxon station near the highway. Once we caught up with the group, we rode to Rapid City to visit the Harley Davidson store. The store sits off the highway on about five acres of land. What is normally a very tranquil setting under tall pine trees was transformed into a mini downtown Sturgis. Motorcycles were parked in uniform rows but stretched endlessly to the edge of the lot. People of all shapes and sizes were wandering around looking at the bikes and talking to each other. A party atmosphere buzzed through the air. We shopped inside the store and then followed Tom out to the parking lot to start our ride through the Black Hills. From Rapid City we drove to Keystone, then on up to Mount Rushmore. The two-lane highway was filled with motorcyclists - streams of bikes that flowed ahead, behind and directly toward us. There were no more friendly waves - everyone knew why the other people were there - to experience all of this on the back of a motorcycle. No acknowledgments were necessary - just being there participating was acknowledgment enough. We arrived at the base of Mt. Rushmore about l:00 p.m. Glimpses of the monument had teased us during the ride up the mountain, but to see it in all of its glory was breathtaking. We parked the bikes and split up to enjoy the view.
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