We left LA on Friday with 8 people, then we picked up my brother Dean & Todd where the 210 & 15 meet. EJ had some problems with his softail, but after tightening up his coil & some new spark plugs & wires, he was back on the road. We made it to St. George, UT that night. We picked up Kevin on the 2nd day, so that made 11. We stayed in Park City, Ut after riding about 350 miles. The next day while riding in Wyoming, we got pulled over for speeding, not signaling, etc... I had a lil' disagreement with the officer... I was leading & we were doing a good 75, maybe 80 most of the time, but nothing reckless. Thank God Grant took over negotiations cuz' they let us all off with a warning. We made it to Casper, WY on the 3rd day & had a great steak dinner. My goal was to make it to Sturgis monday for the Legends Ride in Deadwood & we made it with not a minute to spare. The ride left the minute we got there. It was a great 50 mile ride through the Black Hills & ended at the Buffalo Chip. But we took a slight detour cuz' I knew Matt Sorum & the Darling Stilleto's were playing @ Rock n' Rev. That was a blast & I must say, Hell Yeah & 3 Days Grace kicked some ass as well as the DS. We stay at this awesome lodge in Spearfish run by Eva, they really make us feel welcome while we are there. After a couple days of riding in Sturgis, Motley Crue @ the Chip, Mt. Rushmore & the Crazy Horse monument, it was time to start the ride home. Now I had a gig in Albq, NM saturday the 14th, so the plan was to ride from Sturgis to Denver, then on to Albq. Do the gig & then home to LA. EJ, Eric, Paul & Stu shipped their bikes home, so it was me, Riki, Grant, JD, Dean, Todd & Kevin for the epic ride home. Well JD's bike had an cam bearing failure, so he had to fly home from Cheyenne. So Kevin left for San Francisco from Cheyenne also. Dean & Todd split off in Denver, so it was myself, Riki & Grant left to do the long loop home. As far as I'm concerned, beside the Black Hills, New Mexico has some of the prettiest scenery we rode through. We try to stay off the interstates & ride the secondary roads & that was a wise decision this time. The gig in Albq. was great, I hung out with some old friends & caught most of the other bands on the bill. The next day we thought we'd ride to Flagstaff & spend the nite, but we got there @ noon & we gained an hour, so we had lunch & got back on our bikes. When we passed through Needles & it was 120 deg. We rode 750 miles that sunday, Albq, NM to LA, CA. Wow, was my ass sore & I now have a mack daddy farmers tan. I'm glad to be home, but i really love these long trips with a good group of guys. Next year maybe i'll do it on my Knuckle, we'll see...
