What the HAIL! What a day! (Day 16) post by Jessica

The morning started with a quote from our good ole buddy Al Loudon "This bike isnt gonna get there itself!" With that being said we packed up the bike (with clean laundry) and hit the road.  Our first stop for the day was Wall Drug, which is where we found gifts for the kiddos, and had lunch. We also popped into the Harley store where I convinced Bryan that it was time to say goodbye to his 10+ year old riding boots(that had no tread left) and say hello to a nice new pair of Harley riding boots. With full bellies and new boots we headed out to The Badlands. The scenery was amazing, the Badlands are rock formations that were created by water and wind erosion. From the Badlands we were off to visit the 4 dead presidents carved into a mountain side also known as Mont Rushmore.

When we arrived at Mount Rushmore we enjoyed an ice cold beer took a few pics and were headed Sturgis, but the weather had other ideas for us. As we were heading out of the parking lot it started to spit rain, which is no big deal to us Seattlites, but as we headed further down the mountain the winds picked up so we pulled over to put on rain jackets. By this time it was stormy weather HIGH winds and sideways rain, Bryan and I were actually enjoying it and laughing, but our laughter came to a sudden hault when we saw that ALL the traffic was parked along the side of the road. By this time we knew we were in trouble. As Bryan tried to make a U-Turn to head back out of this weather and find safety, it was too late! Hail the size of marbles and bigger came down on us HARD! This is when I grabbed onto Bryan for dear life. After seeing movies like twister you know the big hail is how a tornado starts.and yes I was scared!  It felt like someone was throwing rocks at us as hard as they could! It was so loud my thoughts were so distotred. I jumped off the bike as fast as I could and ran for a strangers car, Apparently these strangers were watching us take a beating from the storm and they were honking at us to get in there car. Had there not been a car to jump into, Bryan was going to throw me to the ground and sheild me with his body. Although he didnt have to use his body as a sheild he still ended up with bruises all over his arm from the hail.

As we sat in the back seat of the starngers car we watched the bike take a beating and rock from side to side off its kickstand. Lightening was striking right next to the car. It truly was a miracle that the bike did not tip over. As we got out of their car and looked around, it looked as if it had snowed a good 4 to 5 inches (this is where I was so pleased with myself for talking Bryan into new boots with traction).

After the storm passed we saw another storm headed our way and decided to take shelter in a near by resturaunt to eat and dry off. After dinner, the sun came back out we headed to Sturgis. By the time we got there most everything was closed but managed to find a couple stores open and got Sturgis t-shirts.

This day definately deserved a drink!

Miles today = 582
Total miles = 6,374
Number of States = 24