The Lone Riders

Ya Ed (aka Bill) & Bear (Riding Bro, RIP)

Professor Samuels old time photography studios

Mt Rushmore/Keystone, SD 1983

((My first trip to Sturgis))

The Bear and I have put tens of thousands of miles over the years with iron horses between our limbs and I feel obligated to include him in my web site. The Bear and I drifted apart in later years as his demons consumed and eventually devoured him. I eventually could not accommodate nor tolerate them, but the glorious memories are forever etched in my mind.

The photos here come from one of our many rides, on many different machines, and this particular one took place in the summer of 1983. San Jose, California to Upper Michigan and back. Ten days going, ten days in the Copper Country, and ten days on the return. We took our time, enjoyed the ride, and took in the sights. As always on these rides the weather was hot, the weather was cold, the weather was wet, it snowed, the bugs sometimes bad, and the ground was always hard. Those were the days when we rarely stayed in motels, bathed in the creeks, and dined wherever we could. Work hard, play hard, and life was good.

20 years later I made another trip to Sturgis with my cousin, my youngest brother and his friend. We left from Upper Michigan, did some sight seeing, and went o Butte, Montana to visit our third brother who was living there at the time. Here are a few pictures of that trip.