Motorcycle Rides Through Downtown Deadwood in Pouring Rain

Occurred on July 28, 2024 / Deadwood, South Dakota, USA

Info from Licensor: "Jeff Sachs and I were on an epic ride from the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay Alaska back home to TN and GA. In 2023, we rode our motorcycles from the northern to southern tip of South America. This years trip was to complete the ride between the Arctic and Southern Oceans. On our ride home, we decided to swing through Sturgis, SD since it was less that a week before the official Sturgis rally. We had a reservation at a downtown hotel in Deadwood, SD just 11 miles from Sturgis.

The downtown of Sturgis was more bike-sparce than I recalled from my last visit. It was probably due to the rain cloud in the distance. So we headed on to our hotel in Deadwood. It looked like we would miss the storm but around five miles out it started sprinkling and by three miles out it turned biblical. Pouring rain accompanied by hail that the news reported was 0.75 inch. All the cars and Harleys pulled over, but we kept riding as the bikes are made for tough conditions. The water on the street was soon halfway up our boots and the hail was hitting hard. We chucked on our coms as we mostly had the road to ourselves. Upon arrival at the hotel the porte-cochere was full of 3-4 inches of water with a sea of ice floating on top. The water and ice also filled the lobby of the hotel and adjacent casino. Crazy! The video really captured it."