It kept happening. At gas stations, at campgrounds, at restaurants, people would see the bikes and our direction of travel and ask, “You going to Sturgis?”

Our response was always different but the same vein ran throughout, and that was “We have no idea what you are talking about.” Let’s be clear- we’ve heard of the Sturgis Bike Rally in a general sense. We know it exists. But as far as where or when it is or why we would go there, we’ve got nothing.

And so we came to the Badlands of South Dakota on Tuesday, August 5th, and ran into a few bikers on top of one of those crazy Badlands formations. They filled us in- apparently Strugis was going on THAT week, and it was just beyond Rapid City. Unbelievable. We had wandered into the biggest bike Rally in the US completely by accident. Talk about spontaneous road tripping. As far as why we would want to go, we were told it was the craziest party ever. Everyone spoke in vague terms (a warning we should have heeded), but in general it sounded like a can’t miss event. Our minds were made up- we were going to Sturgis. By accident.

So we got on our bikes, made our way through the Badlands, and headed towards Rapid City and beyond. Our biker friends told us about a concert ground called the Buffalo Chip where you could party, watch the show and set up camp on top of it all. That was our plan. But the closer to Sturgis we got, the more ominous the weather became. Black clouds, lightning and thunder, it was looking like we needed shelter and fast. It was also becoming fast apparent that our plans were falling through- why pay 60 bucks to get into a venue if the show and party are going to be rained out anyway?

There was another problem. There were 500,000 bikers migrating to the area that week. There isn’t available lodging for 50 miles. By this point we are driving through the streets of Sturgis with no plan to get out of the approaching lightning storm. We’re totally screwed.

Then we see them- lawns. Lawns with tents. The fine people of Sturgis are renting out their lawn space. We pick a house, I approach the owner, a nice guy by the name of Bill, and by the time the rain starts we are (relatively) safe and sound in our shelters. It was just what we needed, and felt like a blessing, but unfortunately it was our last drop of good karma for the next several days.