Monday, August 15, 2011

8/15/2011 Sturgis Rally is OVER!

Our tent field is empty, the roar of motorcycles is nothing more than a soft whine in the distance, the Harley’s are gone. What a week and half its been! But its over and we’re glad. Things will get back to normal again. Once again people will say, “It’s so quiet here.” We welcome that. The driveway in and out of the tenting area was right past our rig. Oh yes, we missed the quiet.


Gary and Shari left at o’dark thirty this morning and the teaching of the ways of the FamCamp will begin in earnest today as DeWayne and Joy step in as our co-hosts.


The first thing we did this morning was count how many RV’s would be left at the end of the week if those scheduled to leave did and no new ones showed up. Yeah, I know, we’re dreamin’ but we can hope can’t we?


Getting back to Sturgis for a moment, I saw the latest stats about the rally and related crime.


Troopers say that there were 235 drunken driving arrests as of Sunday, compared with 290 last year at the same time. Felony drug arrests dropped from 46 to 43, and misdemeanor drug arrests fell from 183 to 149.


The patrol says 4,234 total warnings were issued. Last year, the total was 4,598.


Eighty injury accidents and four fatalities were listed this year. Last year, 73 injury accidents were reported and nine fatalities.


So what does the drop in crime stats say about this years bikers? They drink less or they stay put when drinking? Less of them are doing drugs or they hide their drugs better?


I was happy to read that there were less fatalities. That particular stat being less than the year before is always a good thing.


So we have experienced the Sturgis Rally from behind the lines and up front and personal. We’re glad is over!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Other accounts indicate attendance was also down. We have talked with people here who won't go to Sturgis anymore - too out of control. Barb