RV Road Trip to Sturgis, South Dakota

Wyoming General Store. You can pick up your milk, your butter, and your bullets. Nobody gonna do it for you. You got to mind your own. Welcome to the oldest store in Wyoming. 138 years old. Beautiful stop. Nice place to stop. Look at it. I'm gonna show you all the cool stuff in here. What? Am I allowed to go upstairs? Funny cowboy boots, don't you think? Oh. Look at this. Wow. Grandparents on my father's side had a really, really old farmhouse. And the upstairs, where the bedrooms were, had a distinctive smell. That's what I smell right now. Look at this. Look at the peeling wallpaper up here. Look at this wallpaper. Oh my gosh, this place is amazing. I'm bummed I just bought metal bowls at Walmart. I needed big mixing bowls. I'm so bummed I would have bought these. Even for 25 bucks. Wow. Oh, here's a nice wood bowl. Look at that. There is just so much cool stuff in here. I could spend all day just exploring. I love old things. This is pretty. Boy, if I had a house. If I ever buy a house, I'm gonna come here for everything I need. There's just room after room of stuff. I mean, imagine what this used to look like. Although, I think it was built to be a store. Wow. Oh, look at the Native American pieces. I've been kind of wanting a pair of cowboy boots. I don't really know if I'd wear them. And these are all used. I really don't know if I'd wear them. I don't know that they're very comfortable. They're very practical. Wow, I wonder where these came from. I doubt they're original. Look at these, though. They're beautiful. I should ask where they came from. That is an awesome shirt. What do you think? I like it. That's pretty cool. Is that a toy? Look at that. Oh, look at that. I had one of these when I was, I don't know, 10 in science. We looked under a microscope, and all I wanted for my birthday was a microscope. And I got one, and I bet it was just like this. Look, there's boys on it. Wow. Oh, my gosh, I almost want to buy it. How cool. Look at that. I wonder if that's the one I had. Who remembers these? Look at that. Look at this wood stove. Oh, my gosh. This is amazing. I wonder how old it is. Oh, this is interesting. What? Why are there guns on the labels of coffee? All right, I'll admit, I was a little hesitant to buy something with a gun on it. But when in Rome. AK Espresso. Black Rifle Coffee Company. Hey. And in addition to being the oldest store in the state, it's the oldest post office. I believe he said it was the oldest post office. That would mean it's the original post office and the third liquor license. They had a bar in there. And he said it's the third liquor license ever issued in the state. It would be interesting to see when they started issuing liquor licenses. He said the other two don't exist anymore. So they have the oldest standing consecutive liquor license. That was an awesome stop. I'm really glad I stopped there. Except the museum made me feel really, really old with some stuff in there from, like, my era. That's an antique. I'm an antique. Precious and rare. Yeah, you're a good girl. Hi. Oh, hello. Okay, we'll stop in a minute. You can't call me while I'm driving. Okay, off. Okay, okay. I spent $47 on souvenirs and coffee and stuff. And I told him, I said, I think this is the most I've ever spent in a town with only eight people. With a population of only eight. Oh, I'm going to have to turn around up here to show you that. I don't know what I just saw, but I feel like I have to go see it and show it to you guys. But look at this little town. I did not expect this. I'm almost in South Dakota. Getting closer to Sturgis. All these old-timey towns are just so cool. I love it. Okay, I'm back. This is what I turned around to see. What the heck? Is this the crazy woman of crazy woman-ility? Woo-hoo, welcome to South Dakota. For my RV life, not a new state for me. I've been to South Dakota before. I have been to Mount Rushmore before when I moved to California from New York when I was 21. We drove through South Dakota and went to Mount Rushmore. I will not be going to Mount Rushmore on this trip. I don't know. Seen it once, don't need to see it again. Yeah, heading to Sturgis. Excited about Sturgis. Sturgis was founded in 1878 and was originally called Scoop Town because many of the people who lived here scooped up their pay from nearby Fort Meade. The name was later changed to Sturgis in honor of the Civil War Union General Samuel D. Sturgis. In 1889, it was designated as the county seat. The regular population of Sturgis is about 6,000 people. But once a year, the first Friday in August for about 10 days, that population swells as motorcycle enthusiasts from all over the world congregate here for the big Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. As many as 700,000 people come here for the 10-day rally. Events, music, all kinds of fun things. And it generates $800 million in annual revenue to the city. The first Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was held on August 14th in 1938. It was organized by the town's motorcycle club called the Jack Pine Gypsies who bought and developed large tracks, hill climbs, and field areas where the rally could be held. Originally, the rally was races and stunts and things like that. And Pappy Hoel, H-O-E-L, Hoel, is the guy that they credit with founding the rally when he bought a franchise of Indian Motorcycle Company in Sturgis in 1936. And then after that, he organized the Jack Pine Gypsies. What do you think? Should we get our fortune by Zoltar? What the heck? It's only a buck. Let's see. An ancient proverb for you from the great Zoltar. Be happy while you're living, for you are a long time dead. Ah, go ahead, my friend. Get yourself a little treat today. After all, you only live once, no? Give Zoltar more monies, and I will give you more wisdom for your journey. Hey, look at that. Well, he said be happy. I am Zoltar, the great gypsy. Well, he said be happy, right? Which is, I was ready for him to say be free and be kind. And he didn't. But, a buck. What the heck? You never know. While Pappy Hoel is honored and tributed throughout the entire city, there are two other people who are credited with paving the way for half of society to get on their bikes and ride to Sturgis. Augusta, also known as Gussie and Adeline or Addie Van Buren. They were two sisters who opened the door for every woman to ride a motorcycle. In 1916, the sisters rode 5,500 miles in 60 days across the continental United States, each on their own motorcycle. They finished it in 1916. And in doing so, they became the second and third women to drive motorcycles across the entire continent, following Elfie Hotchkiss, who completed Brooklyn to San Francisco the year before with her mother in a sidecar. America was about to enter World War I, and the sisters wanted to prove that women could ride as well as men and would be able to serve as military dispatch riders, freeing up men for other tasks. Despite succeeding in their trek, the sisters' application to be military dispatch riders were rejected. Reports in the leading motorcycle magazine of the day praised the bike, but not the sisters, and described the journey as a vacation. One newspaper published a degrading article accusing the sisters of using national preparedness issue as an excellent excuse to escape their roles as housewives. Later in life, Adeline went on to be an educator and earned her law degree from New York University, and Augusta became a pilot and joined Amelia Earhart's 99th International Women's Flying Organization. They continue to break barriers for women. So Sturgis reminds me of like a seasonal New Orleans, big, big, huge party spot. Lots of bars, restaurants, tourist places, museums, souvenir shops. Stuff like that. So it's like New Orleans with a motorcycle theme. Yeah. Yeah, very touristy. Everything seems to be touristy. And since I don't drink, and I don't really eat anything, that's probably on the menus here. There's really no use to go inside. I thought about going in and sit down and drinking a club soda or something, but why? I think I've seen enough. This is cool. Oh, wow. All the old gas pumps and stuff. Okay, Sadie, come. Well, how fun was that? So I really enjoyed learning some of the women's history behind Sturgis, although the only tie really to Sturgis that I found when I dug deeper is that in 2003 the Van Buren sisters were posthumously inducted into the Sturgis Museum and Hall of Fame, as well as the National AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Ohio. So I saw one article that said that they were responsible for the week-long rally, but I couldn't find anything else on that. But it's always fun to learn the history behind a place. I really enjoyed seeing it. You know, it's kind of cool to see old towns. And I got my shirt. I got my tank top. And I hope you enjoyed it, too. Stay tuned. There's a lot more fun and adventure to come. I appreciate each and every one of you who are here with me watching my videos. It means the world to me that you're part of my friendly audience. And I'll see you next time. In the meantime, be happy, be free, and be kind. I'll see you soon.