Guv revving up his Harley for meeting with Kempthorne

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will be meeting with Interior Secretary Dick Kempthorne next week — on motorcycles in South Dakota.

Both men will be riding in the popular 66th annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally.

"The Black Hills will be alive with sound of Harleys, and Gov. Huntsman is looking forward to having his motorcycle being part of that chorus," said Mike Mower, the governor's spokesman.

Huntsman, Kempthorne and the incoming Western Governors Association chairman, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, will join other governors in the rally's Mayor's Ride Sunday and Monday to benefit the Sturgis Fire Department. Kempthorne is the former governor of Idaho.

Huntsman, a motorcycle enthusiast who owns a Harley-Davidson, will be paying his own way to the annual event, which attracts bikers from across North America.

"This sure beats meeting the secretary of interior in a stuffy Washington office," Mower said.