A few years ago, I was
at Sturgis (as all good stories start). It was hot from the first day there. I mean really, freaking hot, like over 100
for days. After a few days in the heat,
I was sun-burnt and felt like a dried up stick of beef jerky. On Wednesday,
the group I was with decided to go for a quick ride to cool off. We picked Hulett, Wy., thinking the scenery
would be nice and it could be a fun ride.
As an aside, Hulett, is famous for its “No Panty Wednesday,” and it was
Wednesday but I assure you that had no effect on our decision making
process.
Off we went, riding
west through the furnace called South Dakota.
Way in the distance, we noticed clouds were developing on the
horizon. Within minutes, a wall of dark
clouds had overtaken a good portion of the sky.
Then “wham” powerful wind slammed right into us, closely followed by horizontal rain. Unable to see, we pulled off the road, and
by chance, a very generous nearby farmer invited us to ride out the storm in
his barn. This lasted about an hour,
leaving the temperature behind the front 30-40 degrees cooler that when it
started.
We were probably 30
miles into the 70 mile ride, so despite the cooler weather, we decided to
continue. We hopped on the bikes and
took off. (Let me just say, after
accommodating to 100 plus temperatures all week, it felt like 20 degrees and I
was wearing a t-shirt and jeans completely soaked by the rain). “The scenery at Hulett better be worth it,” I
thought to myself. So shaking worse than
a Harley missing a motor mount we chugged along. Miles in, I realized I’d been fairly
motionless on the bike, and I decided to move my arms to keep my blood flowing. As I moved my right arm, I was met with
instant pain. It felt like the skin on
my upper arm tore wide open. Panicked, I
immediately reacted by reaching toward the pain with the other arm, only to
feel the same tearing pain. Ok, so now
I’m cold and convinced both of my arm looked like they had been bitten by
sharks, I thought, “the scenery at Hulett really better be worth it!!”
So we rolled in
Hulett, parked and dismounted. I checked
my arms and thankfully (and surprisingly) the skin was intact. Hulett looked like a ghost town. Everyone had left. I guess they had enough sense to realize a
huge storm was going to roll though and left while they had a chance. After some looking, we found a vendor tent,
pulled back the door, and peaked inside.
Thankfully, we were able to buy some long sleeved shirts for the ride
back. The owner had closed up shop when
the storm rolled through, but we happened to catch him there. I had never been so grateful for the
opportunity to spend my money in my life!
Sadly, the tent owner also added to our
disappointment with news that contrary to the Hulett slogan that panties are
indeed required on Wednesday.
Late in the day, we
made it back to Sturgis, skin intact (to this day I have no idea why I had that
tearing sensation, but I can tell you that it was one of the most painful things
I have ever experienced). Now hanging in
my closet is a very worn, dirty, but warm shirt with a lot of memories and a
great story.
Oh, yeah. The scenery at Hulett is beautiful, and I recommend you check it out, but before you go check the weather and dress accordingly.
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