Trip to Sturgis Day 1, Part 4

In La Crosse the dealership was giving out passes for a ’Ride to Sturgis’ event at the Oktoberfest grounds. We grabbed two tickets and left for our hotel. We checked in and unloaded our stuff from the bike. After a quick shower to wash the day off, we rode over to the Oktoberfest grounds. We had been here for the S & S 50th Anniversary party so we were somewhat familiar with the grounds. Once inside, there were booths for all things motorcycling. Most were run by volunteer organizations that were trying to raffle off something or sell something to raise money for their group. We went to the bar and ordered a beer and walked towards the band. They were called The Brat Pack and played 80’s music dressed in goofy costumes with props like a Star Wars light saber and Pac Man video games, reflecting the era they were trying to represent. They were really good. We were having a good time so we ordered a sandwich from the food vendor and another beer. A guy approached me offering a 1 in 10 chance to win 4 tickets to the Buffalo Chip for Tuesday night’s Dylan/Kid Rock concert at $20 per entry. I didn’t hesitate. I gave him twenty bucks for the chance and I would know before the end of the evening if I was the winner. We listened to the band for quite a while and the place was filling up. Just as we were getting ready to leave, the man with the raffle approached us to tell us we didn’t win but the winner was a girl from the La Crosse roller derby team who wasn’t going to Sturgis so maybe she would want to sell them. We decided to approach her and she was ready to sell them. I offered her $60. She asked me if I knew that they were worth $280. I said yes, I knew that but I had exactly $60 cash on my person and that was all. So I said good-night, I was tired and didn’t really care about them all that much any more. I was ready to walk away. She says, “now wait”, then looks at Jeff and asks him if he has any to add. He says that between the two of us we have exactly $100, take it or leave it. She rolls her eyes, repeats what they are worth and then hands me the envelope. We gave her the $100 cash. She did ask me to do her a favor; go see the Roller Derby at Monkey Rocks. We agreed.

I never thought I would go to a little La Crosse party and end up with 4 expensive tickets to the Buffalo Chip. And to the Dylan show on top of that. What a great day!

We left our house at 8:30 am and checked into our hotel at 5:30 pm. We logged 248 miles for the day.

Happy trails.