Day 21. Sunday, July 7

Day 21. Sunday, July 7.  Lusk, WY to Hot Springs, SD

What a start to the day. About 4am, there was a tremendously loud thunder crash, waking me up thinking "This will not be fun - all day in the rain." We left the hotel this morning just after 6:30. It was very overcast and the roads were wet, but no rain. My rain gear was stuffed into my back pocket, just in case (but no rain all day, with skies clearing by noon.)
The road was pretty flat for the first ten miles, but then started to descend- a little over 1,000 feet over the next 20 miles. For the first 45 miles we were heading almost due north, so with a wind out of the SSE, it made for a pretty comfortable first leg of the day. Then we turned due east, while the wind maintained a steady direction. Not too bad, though.

At mile 69, about 11am, we stopped for a bite to eat at the Fresh Start Cafe in Edgemont, SD. Unfortunately, we were there for an hour before finishing. I guess they we just so busy serving all the people, as the town was celebrating Red Neck Rally the whole weekend. We decided not to stay for the mud races later that day, but did watch this guy riding his home-made combination bicycle/riding lawn mower. The waitress told us Bob was pretty darned handy!

As we were leaving the parking lot, one of my riding buddies, Yuval (he's also a roommate) got a flat tire, so I decided to help and stay back to ride with him. Because service had been so slow, we were the last ones on the road. Twenty five miles by yourself can get a bit lonely.
As we were leaving, there was another group of cyclists, about 50, also leaving from a stop across the road. So we joined some of them and learned they were the deCyclists out of Bloomington, IN. This is a youth development group that is riding from El Paso, TX to somewhere in western Canada, about 2,000 miles.  Most of the riders are in high school, between 13 and 18, with a few college kids and adult chaperones mixed in. It was fun riding about 10 miles with these kids. One of them, I can't recall his name, is a senior in high school, but is torn as to which university to attend. He wants to go to Indiana so he can compete in the Little 500 (relay bike race - think of the movie Breaking Away.) But he wants to go into engineering, so he's also thinking Purdue. Tough choice.  Then there group turned north and I still had 12 miles to go.  Where did Yuval go?

The ride today was 92 miles, but very pleasant, despite the four mile climb and the last mile climb before town. As we will be climbing over 5000 feet tomorrow, it was good to get a warm up in.
The scenery is again changing as we entered into the Black Hills area, bringing trees back into the landscape. We saw a few prong horn deer close to the road and I almost ran over a live snake, coiled up in the shoulder of the road where I was riding. Some of the scenery was just spectacular today, God revealing a hint of his splendor.

While shopping at the grocery store here in Hot Springs, I met Tino and Bettina. They are husband and wife (28 years) cycling from Portland, Oregon (where they live) to Portland, Maine, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of their first (and last) cross country bike ride. They each had about 50 pounds of gear on their bikes and they are staying in campgrounds along the way. (My bike weighs Less than 25 pounds, fully loaded (not counting me of course!) As you can imagine, they got pretty wet last night. I'm so glad we're traveling from hotel to hotel, spoiled all the way. They have three kids, all in their 20s. Bettina home taught them to try to instill character and kindness.
All in all a great day. Hard to think of a 90+ mile bike ride as an easy day, but it was a lot of fun today.

Tomorrow will be a busy day, as we go to Wind Cave National Park, past the Crazy Horse Monument and then to Mount Rushmore before ending the day in Rapid City. It's 8:30 and bed time.

Be well.

Don

Don