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Brothers and Sisters,

I'm writing this note especially for those of you who may have a spouse or S.O. that is not firmly in tune with your wheeling wants and needs. It is my hope to help you convince this doubting loved one of the merits of a trip to the Black Hills.

What spouse in his/her right mind would willingly load the kids in the car and drive (insert your number here) miles, sit around and watch "your" kids in a refugee tent camp with no social or sanitary amenities while you go off with your motor head friends and wheel for three days, then load up "those little monsters" and drive (insert your number here) miles home, all the while listening to you babble about what a great time you had? And you wonder why he/she won't let you go.

I'll bet you've been going about this all wrong.

Start over.

"Honey. I have a great idea about our summer vacation. We can take a trip that has something for all of us. Let's go to South Dakota this summer! We'll see Mt. Rushmore, visit cool caves, tour old mining towns, hit the casinos in Deadwood, tour a real gold mine, shop at the oldest and coolest mall in the country (Wall Drug), ride an 1880's train through the Black Hills, do a little wheeling, visit the Badlands, check out Mammoth elephant fossils, kick back in the mineral hot springs, check out some cool museums and visit a prehistoric Native American village."

Here's the trick. Do what The Goddess and I are going to do. Attach the Black Hills Cruiser Classic as a portion of your summer vacation. You can easily find enough to keep you and your family on the go for a week or more. Hang out for a week, then tack the Classic onto the back end of your vacation.

Use this opportunity to break them into wheeling. Sign up for a mild trail the first day and see how they like it. If your family is just plain not interested in wheeling, turn them loose and let them see even more of the Black Hill while you spend time on the trails. Heck, rent em a car for those days. Everything in the Black Hills is within a 1 hour's drive from the campground. Remember, this vacation is for everyone.

Okay. This might work, but we still haven't gotten past the refugee tent camp part. Does your family hate camping? Or is it just that they've had some bad camp site experiences? Let's take this one step at a time. The campground hosting the classic is awesome. It doesn't look like much from the road, but you will be happily surprised.

Whispering Pines is the cleanest, nicest, best appointed campground I've ever seen. The bath houses are in fantastic shape. Toilet areas are clean, shower stalls have dividers for a modicum of privacy, lots of hot water, etc., etc. A spacious laundry area is available to campers. The campground serves wonderful $1.99 breakfasts and fabulous lunches and dinners. $10.00
will get you a bar-b-qued ribeye steak with all you can eat sides and salad. $7.00 gets you grilled rainbow trout plus the rest. Some basic items are available in the camp store and a general store is 2 minutes away on 44.

Still having a hard time with the tent thing? For $29 per night, you could get a wooden sleeping cabin with electric light and beds. Or, for the true camping haters, there is a 4 bedroom house available for rent (also a 3 bedroom, but The Goddess and I have already glommed that). It comes fully equipped with linens, pots and pans, you name it. Call Peter at Whispering
Pine (605-341-3667) for details.

Uh oh. Someone got the house before you did? Not to fear. There are a number of decent motels within 20 minutes of the campground. I believe there's one at Johnson Crossing, perhaps 10 minutes from the campground.

I'm sure Park Owens will be happy to help you out with details on everything you ever wanted to know about the Black Hills. Or, you could contact the South Dakota Tourism board. They have tons of info at http://www.state.sd.us/tourism/  For a catalogue of cool South Dakota stuff, phone:(605) 773-3301 or 1-800-S-DAKOTA Ask for a South Dakota travel and
events guide.

Make sure your spouse understands that this isn't going to be a gear head convention. Many folks do exactly what I've described above. There will be lots of kids of all ages and lots of non-wheeling spouses. Heck, they could form a Cruiser Widow/Widower group. Well, maybe that's not such a good idea :-)

This is your opportunity to show your entire family a great time on vacation. They'll also get to meet all those nice folks we call friends. Who knows, they may even decide they like to wheel.

See you all in July

Brother Andy, Exalted Grand Poobah, Order of Hoarders
Order of the Elongated Cruiser, Order of the Bauhl Movers
St. Rudolph's Loyal Order of the Diesel
Less-Par, Watcher of the Wicked Ram
3rd Member of the Order Of The Slightly Enhanced Cruiser