Never again

[big dad]

Just got back from the Sturgis Mustang Rally and let me say NEVER AGAIN. It was a straight shot for us on I90 and the construction in Minnesota and South Dakota was no fun especially traveling at night in the rain pulling 19000lbs. of stacker trailer in narrow one lanes on bridges. We hit some bumps, ruts, without any warning that were so bad that it kicked the cruise control off no less than 6-7 times. The first time it happened I thought the truck had expired before I realized the situation. And then there are the bugs. I just finished cleaning the front on the trailer last night with a pressure washer being careful not to blast through the finish and it took me over an hour, today I'll start on the truck.

My wife and I had a good time there and also visited Deadwood, it's no problem blowing through 100 dollars a day. As far as the other event activities were concerned we only participated in the Show and Shine and even made it on one members YouTube channel, (NomadicVanaddict), thanks Pete. All in all we met so many nice people and helped a few with their car problems (minor details) that made it all worthwhile.

I got it out of my system now and may travel east on our next adventure but not going back to Sturgis, we thought we were never going to get there. One more thing, South Dakota at night is worse than traveling through the desert, they must roll up the streets after nine and turn off the lights, we nearly ran out of fuel before we realized there were no stations open and miles of desolate road. We were down to 9 miles before empty when I stopped and poured in 5 gallons of diesel I had as an emergency backup that was in the trailer which gave us an additional 40-45 miles of range, and we were fortunate to find a station open about 30 miles farther done the road in the middle of nowhere.

 

[CobraG]

Sounds like an experience.

 

[black4vcobra]

Ya, no thanks. You went through a lot of effort to bring 2 cars out there and to have so much stress on the trip seems like it put a damper on the trip.

 

[Mpoitrast87]

I hear you with the fuel situation. Last year driving down to mustang week pulling 2 cars with a 40ft trailer the gps took through some crazy country backroads in South Carolina. No gas stations around and the ones that were around didn’t have diesel. And the ones that had diesel didn’t have enough room for the trailer. Running on fumes found a shithole gas station with one diesel pump that looked like it was from the 1950’s. Fuel was probably garbage. The stress of that situation almost killed me lol.

 

[Weather Man]

Yeah, always have a plan to match a decent size town with a half tank out West. Driving at night in rain with a trailer is no fun no matter where you are. Hope you had some fun when out there.

 

[big dad]

Thanks for the comments fellas, there were other issues with the judges and the awards banquet but I learned along time ago to expect the WTF issues and just enjoy the compliments and bench racing with the spectators. Don't expect to win, more times than often you'll be disappointed. The people that looked at the vehicles knew what was up and showed their appreciation, and that even included some of the competitors. The compliments we received from numerous people mean more than a plague. I heard more than once "Thank you for taking such good care of your vehicles and preserving them". To hear that more than once was really surprising and at the same time fulfilling.

 

[HillbillyHotRod]

Judged shows always turn me off. One I go to are usually slanted in some way so never expect to win. One reason I like shelbyfest is that it is not judged. Just a bunch of mustang nuts having a good time.

 

[CobraBob]

Well, at least you enjoyed the time at the actual show. My brother and I were in South Dakota a few years ago and I know exactly what you mean when you said the lights went off pretty early, leaving you in darkness. Not my favorite place to visit.