After breakfast we all rode to Main Street in Sturgis for the group photo.

After the picture, I headed out to ride the Iron Mountain Road (SD-16A), The Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, and the Needles Highway (SD-87.)

16A is very narrow and twisty. The pavement was fresh and smooth. The road has a number of switchbacks, goes through a couple of tunnels, and has a few corkscrews. You can see Mt. Rushmore from one of the overlooks. (Pictured above.)

The Wildlife Loop goes through grazing land for the bison. I saw a small herd of them in the distance. The only other wildlife I saw were some burros.

Needles Highway is very narrow and twisty. There are a couple of very narrow tunnels as well. I came up on a full-sized tour bus inching its way through the main tunnel. After going through the tunnel, I waited for awhile to let the bus and a string of cars following it get far ahead of me.

I was pretty tired from riding the twisties, so I turned in early.

I took it easy today and rode to Spearfish Canyon. It was about a 40-mile trip.

The evening festivities started with the Raffle. More than a hundred donated products were raffled off. This event is the main fund raiser for the group. I didn’t win anything.

There were two presentations for Shark Week XI in 2021. (Shark Week X will be in Gettysburg, the site of the first Shark Week.) The Lake Tahoe area and Appleton, WI were proposed. Voting runs until the banquet on Day 3.

I left right after breakfast for an exploratory ride. I took Nemo Road to Rapid City, then 16 and 16A to Keystone. At Keystone I turned onto Old Hill City Road, which roughly parallels the Black Hills Central Railroad. I chased the train for awhile. The locomotive is a 2-6-6-2T and is the only regularly operating articulated locomotive in the US.

The evening activity was the BBQ dinner and recognition of the organizers. They also recognized the 7 people who have attended all 9 Shark Weeks. (I’m one of them.)

The results of the election for Shark Week XI in 2021 were announced. Members elected to Lake Tahoe proposal.

Tomorrow I head for my brother’s home in New Lenox, IL.