HULETT — Sarita Shockey and her dog Bixby had found a shady spot to sit in this northeastern Wyoming tiny town while waiting for a tradition she and her husband Jeff have enjoyed together for the past 23 years.
The tradition is a free plate of barbecue pork, a spoonful of baked beans and some scattered tortilla chips.
The meal is flavored with the sound of rolling thunder in the street as motorcycle riders from all over roll into town for the famous street party that goes back to the 1970s.
Faint sounds of music can be heard far off in the distance now and then as the couple enjoyed their sandwiches and watched people walking by in their fashionable Sturgis Motorcycle Rally gear.
The uniform of the day for most was a freshly-bought Sturgis Rally T-shirt of one kind or another — though there was also the occasional hot pink jumpsuit and sequined do-rag as well.
Sarita remembers when the lines for the free pork sandwich in Hulett were much, much longer, winding all the way down the street.
That taught her and her husband to always come early to the Hulett Ham and Jam, an all-out party in the tiny town as rallygoers make their way to and from Sturgis.
Otherwise, one is walking from far away to get into town, and waiting a long, long time in line.
Those who arrive early enough, though, usually don’t have a long wait.
“We’ve camped here before, and it’s interesting,” she told Cowboy State Daily. “But it doesn’t get as crazy as you think. I think a lot of the bikers are getting older. They’re a little more mellow.”
Virginia Eslinger of Gillette visits the Ham and Jam every year. She's been coming for decades and it's always an occasion to remember a dear friend she met in first grade named Veronica. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
About 25,000 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally bikers made a pit stop in tiny Hulett, Wyoming, on Wednesday for the town’s famous Ham and Jam street party. Free barbecue and revving engines through the main drag are traditions some bikers have kept going for decades. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Sarita Shockey and her husband Jeff have been coming to Hulett's Ham and Jam for 23 years for a beautiful ride that ends with a tasty barbecue pork sandwich. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
A barbecue pork sandwich some chips and baked beans attract around 25,000 people to Hulett every year for the Ham and Jam. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Tammy Black, right, poses with a new friend she just met this year at the Sturgis Rally. Her husband, in the background, meanwhile, is talking to someone else he just met. That's par for the course at the Ham and Jam in Hulett, where the world comes to eat a free barbecue pork sandwich on Wyoming Wednesday during the Wyoming side of the Sturgis Rally. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
About 25,000 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally bikers made a pit stop in tiny Hulett, Wyoming, on Wednesday for the town’s famous Ham and Jam street party. Free barbecue and revving engines through the main drag are traditions some bikers have kept going for decades. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Ashley Overturf, of Dallas, adds her name and the date to a rafter at Captain Ron’s Rodeo Bar & Lounge during Hulett's Ham and Jam. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Names of people who have stopped by the Hulett Ham and Jam during the Sturgis Rally week. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Live music is part of the Ham and Jam scene in Hulett every year during the Sturgis Rally week. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) About 25,000 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally bikers made a pit stop in tiny Hulett, Wyoming, on Wednesday for the town’s famous Ham and Jam street party. Free barbecue and revving engines through the main drag are traditions some bikers have kept going for decades. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Driving The Wyoming Side Of The Black Hills
“Mellow” is a relative adjective to describe the annual gathering of about 25,000 bikers who make a pit stop on Sturgis Wednesday.
It feels like the entire town becomes a festival for the day. Picnic tables are set out in the shade beside the Ponderosa Café for guests, vendors line the street and the Harleys never seem to stop buzzing.
It also feels like a summer reunion. People recognize each other from years past and nod, even if they don’t actually know each other’s names. Yet.
That’s a situation that’s often soon remedied.
Strangers think nothing of sitting next to each other at the provided picnic tables, talking an afternoon away as they enjoy a free barbecue pork sandwich and a beverage of choice before heading to the next stop on their Devils Tower loop ride.
It’s the atmosphere that helps keep people like the Shockeys coming back year after year.
The couple actually live in Sturgis, South Dakota — Sturgis Rally central — but the Ham and Jam in Hulett is something they would never miss, Bixby and all.
“We live right on Junction (Avenue) in Sturgis, so we watch the traffic going up and down. You just kind of get used to it. And it’s very exciting to see them come,” she said, adding with a chuckle, “It’s also really nice to have them go home.”
After they leave, the sidewalks of Sturgis are covered in grease. But the town comes out to clean things up. Snow, which comes a little later, finishes the rest.
The Sturgis Rally mayhem isn’t what drives the couple to Hulett every year.
“For me it’s the drive,” Sarita said. “This drive is my favorite. And we’ve ridden to Spearfish Canyon, and we were at Custer day before yesterday. This one is my favorite.”
It’s the red rock, the trees, the farmhouses and the wildlife — all of that is great.
“And then you get a free sandwich at the end of it,” she said. “You can’t complain about that. It’s all good.”
Where Bras And Panties Still Hang
Between 25,000 and 30,000 bike riders annually make much the same calculation and decide that Wyoming Wednesday and Hulett’s Ham and Jam, in particular, are a must in their Sturgis Rally itinerary.
That includes Johnny Boehringer from Dallas, who has been coming to Hulett since 1988.
While the Shockeys weren’t around back when Wyoming Wednesdays had the more infamous moniker “Panty-Free Wednesdays,” Boehringer remembers that fondly.
To him, that was what the Sturgis Rally was all about, and the stories he could tell of those days — strictly off the record — are legendary.
While he mourns the loss of something he considered the essence of the overall Sturgis Rally experience, Hulett has remained a regular stop every time he returns.
Invariably, Boehringer has new friends with him when he comes, and he feels it’s his duty to take them to Hulett and show them the ropes.
And tell some the stories again in the town where some of the bras and panties of that era still hang off this or that taxidermied elk or deer’s antler in one or another bar that smells of fresh sunblock and beer.
“If you come to Sturgis, you have to make this a stop,” he said. “You just have to.”
The ride is just gorgeous, added his friend Ashley Overturf, also from Dallas.
For her, it’s become tradition to write her name and the date she was at the Ham and Jam on one of the rafters of Captain Ron’s Rodeo Bar & Lounge, which is ground zero for where the Ham and Jam first started.
The Stories Of A Lifetime
Meeting people and making new friends, not to mention being a little adventurous and trying new things, are just a few of the other things people mention when they talk about their attraction to the Wyoming side of the Sturgis Rally in the Black Hills.
Tammie Black, for example, made her first trip to the Sturgis Rally in 2020, in what was also her first motorcycle ride — all 900 or so miles of it.
“I learned how to ride my bike three weeks before the rally,” she said. “And I had never driven in the dark, never driven in the rain, never driven through hail. And I did all of those things that year.”
She also lost her keys somewhere along the way, which meant riding around with a gas can hanging down for a bit — all the way to a Rapid City locksmith, who helped her get fully functional again.
It was fun, despite the mishap. At the end of it all, even the mishaps were a confidence booster.
She could go on an iconic American road trip, and handle herself well in good times and bad.
She and her husband, Jeremy, decided to return to the Sturgis Rally this year to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. They couldn’t resist another trip to Hulett as part of the celebration.
As they see it, the tiny town of 361 rolls out the red carpet for people like them, and they love that and the town right back. They wouldn’t dream of missing Wyoming Wednesdays.
“I just love the atmosphere and the people,” she said. “I mean, there isn’t a single person here that I ran into who was a bad person.
“That guy back there, we met him for the first time here. He’s from Ohio. He came out by himself and he’s riding with us today. We have made friends now from all over the states.”
Meeting people is what the Shockeys like about Hulett’s Ham and Jam as well.
The Ham and Jam brings the world to Hulett, and before the event was over, they’d met a cowboy-hat-wearing biker from Denmark and made a new friend from a far corner of the world.
“You also can’t find this kind of ride in most of the country,” Jeremy told Cowboy State Daily before heading out for Sundance and the rest of the Devils Tower Loop. “The scenery, the animals, you name it.
“Man, we got to ride by a buffalo last time on Needles (Highway). I was less than 10 feet from this wild buffalo bull standing on the edge of the road.”
Jeremy was ready to floor it if the buffalo seemed inclined to move, but fortunately for both rider and bull it remained at a standstill.
“That was awesome,” Jeremy said.
It’s a great memory of a trip he’ll never forget — one of 25,000 or so memories that were made Wednesday on the wild Wyoming side of the Sturgis Rally, set in the beautiful Black Hills.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
