In the morning we had to switch hotels as this current one didn’t have rooms for another night. We wanted to check out what is going on in Rapid City and Sturgis and we wanted another night. We found a hotel around the corner.
The official Sturgis rally dates for 2021 does not start till Friday, August 6th. Vendors are telling us the start of pre-rally is Saturday 7/31/21.
Today Rick and I rode to the Black Hills Harley Davidson dealer is in Rapid City. Typically the parking lot is jammed with bikes with a constant flow of bikes coming and going. The parking lot in front of the dealer is usually filled with vendors like a swap meet.
It is before pre-rally, so a lot of vendors are here already set up, but closed. There are also a lot that are setting up today, and more will set up Friday. And there are quite of few vendors opened for business before pre-rally, so it was nice to shop without the crowds.
Unfortunately for Rick and I, the vendor that was opened was able to drain our credit.
The same goes for downtown Sturgis. Some vendors working, some ready, some setting up. Town is quiet with more cars than bikes. Most of the bars are open or starting to open although not fully at this point. These bars are huge, so only a small sections are open for now, with the help still arriving.
It was great to walk around for shopping for t-shirts, but the small vendors with the interesting items are not yet here, and nether is the root beer guy. Could have used one today, so I settled for the real beers.
Real root beer is great too. Surprising amount of different root beer tastes out there. Thanks for the update.
Great reporting on Sturgis, even rockin’ music! Never been there, so thanks for all the pictures! No need to comment, they speak for themselves, ha ha!
What JeanR said😁