Vroom, Vroom

This is motorcycle rally week — the time when some half a million bikes converge in the Black Hills (and the time some residents plan far in advance to be gone from it all). We have been among those eagerly awaiting its arrival. The annual rally is technically held in Sturgis, this teeny little town of barely 6,000 people about 40 minutes or so away from Rapid City. But motorcycles, mostly Harleys, are all over the area, including Rapid City. Even if they're not staying in Rapid City, we see tons of them on the roads riding through on their way to Mount Rushmore for the day. And they're from all over the country. This morning alone I saw plates from Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, many midwestern states, and even one from Louisiana. The children, especially Alexander, are mesmerized by motorcycles, first getting acquainted with them while we were in the apartment (our neighbor had a Harley). So, we loaded up the family in our own set of wheels last Sunday afternoon and drove over to Sturgis for a bit of gawking. We didn't get out of the car to stroll up and down the main downtown street, which is shut down to the four-wheeled variety of vehicle, so my pictures are quite "vanilla." Mikel and I are getting a babysitter for tomorrow night, as we're going back for one of many, many concerts being hosted at a variety of locations there. I figured I'd go ahead and post these pics, as I probably won't be lugging the camera around with me tomorrow. I know pretty much nothing about motorcycles but many of the ones you can see up here at this rally are distinctive, to say the least. All kinds of colors, designs and styles. And, of course, all kinds of people driving them.