2020 Sturgis Rally Escape - AMF!

[bigjohnsd]

SWMBO determined that we must leave town for the 80th Sturgis rally and all the associated hoopla.

I agreed and so did my daughter Anne so we loaded up the travel trailer and headed West to the Sitting Bull Campground atop the Big Horn Mountains about a mile North of Meadowlark Lake and US-16. https://goo.gl/maps/mywK6FD6tYTku9Ku7


Our first spot was in the trees but quite comfortable - after 4 days we moved across the road to the meadow.


Tough view to contemplate!






The resident Moose stayed out of camp but were visible almost every morning on our walk.


The Big Horns are quite dry, fire restrictions are in place but campfires are allowed in developed campsights.


Anne


SWMBO




There was a large family group of Menonites staing in the campground. I got to know the elder gentleman a little bit, he was 61, had 30 family members with him for he and his wifes 40th anniversary.




He claimed to be the "Boss" but I saw that he was fully equipped with a SWMBO as well.




I think Flynt enjoyed the trip as well.

In our daily exploring I found some roads that just cry for a retun visit on two big German wheels. JSNS

It is good to be home again but a little noisy as the Roof is being replaced today after June's Hailstorm.

[Hppants]

Looks like a really great way to socially distance during the Rally Shit Show, John.

I wouldn't have argued with a little food porn, JSNS....

[wheatonFJR]

That’s a damn fine report John. You know, some lesser expensive, but equally fine Japanese wheels would do as well.

[bigjohnsd]

I wouldn't have argued with a little food porn, JSNS....

SWMBO objects to my posting pictures of her masterpieces. Suffer without Sir Pons!

[Cav47]

I wouldn't have argued with a little food porn, JSNS....

SWMBO objects to my posting pictures of her masterpieces. Suffer without Sir Pons!

Like she is reading the forum! She is way more sophisticated than this dirty hoard! Come on John? Post the pics! At least you have a photo of some fine aged spirits? Say it ain’t so!!!!


Oh yeah, great plan, execution, and report.

[juniorfjr]

Did you two the trailer with the Honda? How did it do?

[Abercrombie FJR]

Did you two the trailer with the Honda? How did it do?

Honda???????

[bigjohnsd]

Did you two the trailer with the Honda? How did it do?

Towed the 24' 5,000# fully loaded trailer with the '19 Honda Ridgeline.
She pulled the US-16 grade up over the Powder River pass in 2nd and 3rd gears running a max of 4,500 RPM to maintain a minimum of 45 mph.
We passed a few motorhomes and 18 wheelers as well. I did have to slow in the bends for a few Harley's returning home from Sturgis.

Coming back down the hill I used Low for engine braking. Once again 45 mph and 4,500 - 5,000 rpm MAX only touched the brake pedal four times, all to keep from running up on a slower vehicle.

Fuel mileage while towing 12.5 -13.5 mpg running 65mph in Cruise.

Overall does better than my 06 or 07 Ridgeline towing this trailer, it is not nearly as powerful as the '17 F150 3.5 EcoBoost was. On that truck you set the Cruise and let it run, it went whatever speed was set.

[gixxerjasen]

Did you two the trailer with the Honda? How did it do?

Honda???????

http://www.fjriders.com/forums/viewtopi ... =14&t=5143

[Hppants]

That Ridgeline is a good "truck". Wish the driver's seat went back 1 more inch.

My Black Hills friend knows a thing or two. Among those is where his bread is buttered. One doesn't make it to his "stature" (using that term literally) just by accident. While posting culinary tid bits for his biker friends may win him a few Brownie Points on these boards, he (along with I) would much prefer to earn the REAL Brownie Points offered by Ms. Jeane come supper time. Respect, Bro...

[gixxerjasen]

Wish the driver's seat went back 1 more inch.

Hmm, seems fine to me.

[Abercrombie FJR]

Did you two the trailer with the Honda? How did it do?

Honda???????

http://www.fjriders.com/forums/viewtopi ... =14&t=5143

Ya, I'm a little slow and have motorcycles on the brain even though I've seen John's Ridgeline, it did not register. I was thinking John had found a Honda Dual sport bike to take out camping since he had just inquired if I was interested in selling my DRZ a couple weeks ago.

I was also wondering if John had taken another attempt at hanging a dual sport off the back of his camper. If I remember right, John's first attempt at hanging a KLR off the back bumper resulted in a reduction of tongue weight making the camper a little squirrelly. I want to somehow haul a dual sport with my camper but my Toyota Tundra TuRD is already bottomed out with just my camper and I don't want to repeat Johns experiment of hanging if off the rear camper bumper.

[gixxerjasen]

If the camper is heavy enough to bottom out your Tundra (Don't call it a turd, they are amazing trucks, except mpg) then I think hanging a dual sport off the back might help a little, but I doubt a dual sport is going to affect it much, unless it's a boat anchor KLR.

[HotRodZilla]

Honda???????

http://www.fjriders.com/forums/viewtopi ... =14&t=5143

Ya, I'm a little slow and have motorcycles on the brain even though I've seen John's Ridgeline, it did not register. I was thinking John had found a Honda Dual sport bike to take out camping since he had just inquired if I was interested in selling my DRZ a couple weeks ago.

I was also wondering if John had taken another attempt at hanging a dual sport off the back of his camper. If I remember right, John's first attempt at hanging a KLR off the back bumper resulted in a reduction of tongue weight making the camper a little squirrelly. I want to somehow haul a dual sport with my camper but my Toyota Tundra TuRD is already bottomed out with just my camper and I don't want to repeat Johns experiment of hanging if off the rear camper bumper.

If it's a bumper pull trailer, load the bike into the bed of the truck. You can tie the tailgate up or use extensions like the DG Tailgate supports found here: https://www.dgmtailgatesupport.com/prod ... e-support/. They seem a little pricey at first, until you use them and realize how cool they really are. I LOVE mine and use them every time I load the bike. I have the 13" bars and they keep the gate a little more than half closed.

Remember, unless you connect a hitch to the camper's frame, you are playing with fire. The camper bumpers are thin steel and will twist, bend and eventually tear if you add too much weight. I spent $800 having a proper bumper tube built and welded to my 5th wheel. I have a platform where I load our 200lb generator and wanted a reliable place to mount that. I would absolutely not load a MC on a hitch mounted to a camper's OEM bumper.

[bigjohnsd]

Remember, unless you connect a hitch to the camper's frame, you are playing with fire. The camper bumpers are thin steel and will twist and bend if you add too much weight. I spent $800 having a proper bumper tube built and welded to my 5th wheel. If it's a bumper pull trailer, load the bike into the of the truck.

I did the same on my Trailer - Spent $500 having a custom 2" receiver frame mount constructed for my bumper pull trailer. Even with a light Honda CRF 250 on the receiver mounted carrier the tongue weight was too light to pull the trailer with. I’ve only been scared behind the wheel of a vehicle a few times. The sway created during one I-90 test run with the CRF250 on the carrier going 60 mph when passed by an 18 wheeler both wrinkled the seat and stained my skivvies.

The only way I can haul a bike and tow would be to carry it in the box, trouble is, with the bike in the box, the generators and the other crap carry we are over GCWR of the truck. It is what it is, when we go camping SWMBO gets my undivided attention and I hers, good or bad as it may be.

[HotRodZilla]

Remember, unless you connect a hitch to the camper's frame, you are playing with fire. The camper bumpers are thin steel and will twist and bend if you add too much weight. I spent $800 having a proper bumper tube built and welded to my 5th wheel. If it's a bumper pull trailer, load the bike into the of the truck.

I did the same on my Trailer - Spent $500 having a custom 2" receiver frame mount constructed for my bumper pull trailer. Even with a light Honda CRF 250 on the receiver mounted carrier the tongue weight was too light to pull the trailer with. I’ve only been scared behind the wheel of a vehicle a few times. The sway created during one I-90 test run with the CRF250 on the carrier going 60 mph when passed by an 18 wheeler both wrinkled the seat and stained my skivvies.

The only way I can haul a bike and tow would be to carry it in the box, trouble is, with the bike in the box, the generators and the other crap carry we are over GCWR of the truck. It is what it is, when we go camping SWMBO gets my undivided attention and I hers, good or bad as it may be.

The tail wagging the dog at speed is some of the scariest times I have ever seen in a vehicle. Speed makes it worse and braking to scrub the speed makes it worse. Screw that!!

Because of your weight restrictions, get a rack and put the generators on the back of the trailer. They shouldn't be as heavy as the bike and might ease the tongue weight enough that your truck doesn't squat so much. If your rack is too low, they make these cool receiver hitch drop mounts that can be used upside down to raise something. Amazon has them. They're reasonably priced and work wonders. I got one for my hitch mounted dirt bike rack. The back of this Ram is so high it makes loading the bike onto that ramp a PITA. The drop receiver fixed that! It's awesome now!!

Anyway, just thoughts. It's probably possible, you just have to work out the logistics. Haha!

[Redfish]

All you really need is more Camper and More Truck. All it takes is money... If you run out of money, just go make some more. The bank has plenty of it.

[Pterodactyl]

Sorta related.... today we passed a guy getting a performance award on HWY 20 in Idaho, 20-30 miles south of Yellowstone. He was driving a Porsche Cayenne that had an R1200GS in a cargo carrier basket mounted in a receiver on the rear end. I don’t know if he was speeding or the LEO wanted to see why his front end was bouncing down the highway.

[D-Eagle]

Sorta related.... today we passed a guy getting a performance award on HWY 20 in Idaho, 20-30 miles south of Yellowstone. He was driving a Porsche Cayenne that had an R1200GS in a cargo carrier basket mounted in a receiver on the rear end. I don’t know if he was speeding or the LEO wanted to see why his front end was bouncing down the highway.

That would be sweet to see. I once saw an old harley pulling a jet ski and trailer down the expressway. Almost caused an accident. Not him, me. I couldn't take my eyes off of it.

[danh600]

John

That is pretty good gas mileage pulling that trailer.

I only get 9-10 pulling my cargo trailer with bikes and camping gear in it. My 1/2 ton chevy has plenty of power but drinks the gas when the trailer is back there.