Sunday, July 13, 2008 – Day 21

Start: Rapid City, South Dakota
End: Kadoka, South Dakota
Miles: 103.17 Total Miles: 1,540.95 BRAA Total Miles: 1,441.60
Time: 6 hours 51 minute (avg 16.5 MPH)
Flat tire count today: 0 Total flat tires for the ride: 6

Today started fast. We were on an open relatively flat straight stretch of road. A few riders began a pace line and as they road by others, more joined in. The pace line grew to eighteen riders. All eighteen were riding very close and very fast. We were averaging between 25 and 30 miles per hour. We held the line together for about an hour and before we knew it, we had put in 30 miles. What a way to start the morning of a ride that was going to be over 100 miles.

A little later down the road, we came across some strange wildlife. Why this was out on someone’s property, I have no idea, but I had to take a picture.

We have a couple of riders that are from Nebraska and are big fans of their college and state. They had an issue with some of the spectators on the side of the road. I think it has something to do with Texas…

Next, we entered the Badlands that we have been hearing so much about. I think it wasn’t as bad as it could have been since the temperature was not as high as it could have been. We were there in the upper 80s. We were told the week before the temperature was 116. Thank goodness we came through when we did. The Badlands is a national park where there is pretty much nothing but these mountains that seem to come up from nowhere. There is no water to speak of and the mountains have a lot of wind erosion. They were awesome to see up close and in person.

Toward the end of the ride, there was a prairie dog farm I guess you would call it. You were able to go in and feed the prairie dogs. The funny thing about this is there were several signs back in the Badlands that warn people to stay away from the prairie dogs because they carry plague. I didn’t understand why there would be a place to actually feed them in the same general area.

Finally, I still wonder why these guys are always staring at me.

Saturday, July 12, 2008 – Day 20

Rest Day: Rapid City, South Dakota
Miles: 0.00 Total Miles: 1,437.78 BRAA Total Miles: 1,339.90
Flat tire count today: 1 Total flat tires for the ride: 6

Today was a much needed rest day. The only problem was that we had plans to go see the monuments here in Rapid City so we wouldn’t get much rest.

We started out about noon and didn’t return until about 9PM. It was well worth the time even though it was a little longer than expected. We wanted to make the most of the sights since it would be quite some time before any of us returned to the area.

We drove out to Mt. Rushmore first. The drive itself was fantastic. Entering the Black Hills again allowed us to see more of this beautiful part of the country. As we entered the Mt. Rushmore area, we began to catch our first views of the monument. It was awesome, but it would get better once inside.

We spent a lot of time looking around and went on a guided tour given by one of the park rangers. He described reasons for the selections of each of the presidents as well as told us about the sculptor and the individual who had the idea for the monument.

The best thing about the monument was that every place we walked around offered a different view of the monument. I took so many pictures of profiles, individual shots of each president, and any others I thought were worth taking. Here is what I thought was the best of all of presidents together.

As we were leaving Mt. Rushmore, there was a small traffic jam. As we made our way through it, we found out why everyone was stopped. There were three goats having lunch on the side of a mountain by the side of the road.

Next, we headed to the Crazy Horse monument. When you see the monument, it takes your breath away. The size of it is enormous. It is the entire mountain. It is not finished yet and will likely take many more years to complete. It was started 60 years ago and as you can see from the picture, it only has the face complete and some work on the arm has been finished. For size
comparison, Mt. Rushmore would fit in about the same space as just the head of Crazy Horse. Also, the arm is approximately two football fields long. We are talking HUGE! I have added a photo of the monument as it looks now and a model of what it will eventually look like when it is complete.

We continued our trip and stopped at Sylvan Lake. It is a lake at the top of the Black Hills National Park. We walked around the area taking in all the beauty.

To round out our trip, we headed out looking for bison. Most people call them buffalo, but we learned that there are no buffalo in this country. They are in Asia. What we call buffalo here in the U.S. are really bison. As we were driving down the road, we were not sure we would see any and then we ran into another traffic jam. It was because the bison were doing their thing. They are in charge and move when and where they want to. They are huge and you don’t want to mess with them if you know what is best. Take a look at this guy in the middle of the road compared to the cars to the side and right behind him.

Also, I took this video so you can see these guys and hear what they sound like.

Friday, July 11, 2008 – Day 19

Start: Newcastle, Wyoming
End: Rapid City, South Dakota
Miles: 82.68 Total Miles: 1,437.78 BRAA Total Miles: 1,339.90
Time: 7 hours 1 minute (avg 11.7 MPH)
Flat tire count today: 0 Total flat tires for the ride: 5

I had a great night’s sleep in the air conditioned senior center. The only things that tried to disturb me were the trains that kept going by and blowing their horns. It didn’t really disturb me since I was so tired.

We were all up and ready to go by about 6:45AM. As we headed out, we ran into a lot of morning commuter traffic. It really slowed us down. In reality, these are the only things we saw on the road as we headed out.

The big milestone for the day was reaching our fifth state – South Dakota. We made it to the state line really fast. It was eleven miles into the ride. It came so quick that a couple of riders actually missed the sign and had to come back to get their pictures.

We then headed into the Black Hills National Park. It was great how the scenery changed. The hills were still there, but now they were covered with trees everywhere. The smell of pine was all around. It smelled really fresh.

The next part of the route took us into the Custer State Park. This was the most awesome part of the day’s ride. We entered the park and immediately had an uphill climb, but the queue sheet told us that we would enjoy a long downhill. Once we reached the top of the climb, the elevation sign read 5,383 feet. It was now time for the downhill that we were promised. It went on for miles and it was beautiful.

Here is a video of the park and how peaceful it is. Hopefully, you can listen to the sound as well.

Here is a picture of some of the scenery. It was so quiet. I could have just stayed there for hours relaxing, but I had to keep moving on.

I did a little riding through the park as I took another short video. It was so nice.

As we entered the park and as our queue sheets warned us, we were supposed to be on the lookout for buffalo. They are dangerous if you get too close, so we were warned to stay back and not approach them. Well, I never saw one, but I did see this guy hanging around in the shade having a snack. Not a buffalo, but still happy to see.

After we left the park, we were so excited from the long enjoyable downhill that we thought nothing could ruin the day’s ride. Well, it was too good to be true. With eighteen miles to go, we made a left turn on to the final road that would take us into Rapid City. The unfortunate part was the wind was coming directly against us at that point. It was almost comical though. I couldn’t help but laugh at times because it was so ridiculous. The sustained wind was coming in our faces at 30 miles per hour with regular gusts of 50 miles per hour. The wind was not our friend today! While I was going up the small hills, I was averaging between 5 and 6 miles per hour and on the flat stretches, I was averaging about 7 or 8 miles per hour. If I stopped peddling, the wind would stop me immediately and actually push me backward. The last eighteen miles took about two and one half hours to finish. Normally, eighteen miles would have taken just over one hour.

Here is a video of the wind blowing. Check out the sound on this one. That is what I was hearing for two plus hours. It was mind numbing.

I am still out here - only I am in disguise. That is six days without shaving. I have been saving it for the rest day.

Tomorrow is a well needed rest day. We are planning to head over to Mount Rushmore to do the tourist thing.

Special Update!

Hi Rachel. I miss you very much and can't wait to get home to see you, Joseph and your mom.

Thanks for reading the updates.

Love,
Dad

Thursday, July 10, 2008 – Day 18

Start: Gillette, Wyoming
End: Newcastle, Wyoming
Miles: 81.36 Total Miles: 1,355.10 BRAA Total Miles: 1,259.00
Time: 5 hours 49 minute (avg 13.9 MPH)
Flat tire count today: 0 Total flat tires for the ride: 5

The night wasn’t as noisy as I had expected it to be. All the locals seemed to clear out by 11PM. I had a good rest, but as I got back on the bike this morning, I realized I still had not rested my body enough. My rear end was still sore from the eight plus hours in the saddle the day before. Oh well, I had to move forward.

Today’s ride was very uneventful. I realized this when I went to look at my pictures and there were only a few and they were nothing special.

Tomorrow, we head on to South Dakota - state number 5.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 – Day 17

Start: Sheridan, Wyoming
End: Gillette, Wyoming
Miles: 119.04 Total Miles: 1,273.74 BRAA Total Miles: 1,183.20
Time: 8 hours 38 minute (avg 13.7 MPH)
Flat tire count today: 0 Total flat tires for the ride: 5

Another cold morning. It was in the mid 40s when we woke up and got started today. Brrrrr! It was ok with me because even though I had goose bumps, I knew it would get hot later on and the cold would be just a memory. It did warm up indeed. Into the mid 90s in the afternoon when we were just finishing up.

The ride was a long one today. It was the longest of the entire ride – 112 miles. It was listed as “long rolling hills”, but I believe one key word was left out. The word “up” needed to be inserted before “hills”. This is because I think we were continually going up. It felt as if there were no real down hills to offset the up hills. I know this is probably just in my mind because of the long hot day, but it certainly felt like we climbed about ten thousand feet.

As I was riding, I spotted a lone flower along the road. I just had to take a picture because it was beauty in the midst of really nothing else.

I kept seeing these boxes along the side of the road the last several days. They looked familiar and I finally remembered what they were. They are for bees and harvesting honey. I was surprised to see them out here, but I imagine they are there because they are good spots for attracting bees. There are a lot of these around. Not sure if they are from someone doing it privately.

As I was cruising down the road I spotted another attention grabber rustling around in the grass on the side of the road. It was a wild turkey just hanging out. It got a little nervous when I was
trying to take its picture, but eventually it stopped long enough for me to get one. I thought it was pretty strange to see a turkey along side the road just hanging out in the grass.

As an example of what we look at on the ride for hours at a time, I have posted a picture of a really long road. Look closely and you will see that it just keeps going. The funny thing is when we reach the end or the top of the hill, there is another extension of the road that looks strangely familiar. It just keeps going and going and going…

We road by a small town called Ucross earlier in the day that had a sign posted showing the population as 25. I thought wow, what a small town. Up the road though, I had to laugh when we stopped at a water stop next to a café in a town called Spotted Horse. There was a sign in the window of the café that listed the population as 2. I think that is the couple who own the café. That is all there was out on the route today for services.

Along side the road for miles and miles, I started to notice something very familiar. There were these yellow flowering plants that were on both sides of the road. It was really awesome when I stopped at the top of a hill and looked back to see the entire road going back as far as I could see was flanked on both sides by these yellow flowers. Look closely as the road winds back...you can see the yellow on both sides.

I saw this guy looking for some food. He was big and looking carefully for his next meal to pop out.

And then this guy stopped to pose for me. I am still wondering why most of the animals, especially the cows, stop what they are doing and just stare at me as I ride by.

Finally, we camped at a park in the town of Gillette, WY. It was a community center and a local hang out. There was a skateboard park that was in use late into the night and the parking lot seemed to be the place where the cars parked and people talked when they weren’t racing their cars up and down the street. The good thing is I was so tired from the long ride that when I put my head down, I was fast asleep.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008 – Day 16

Start: Hardin, Montana
End: Sheridan, Wyoming
Today's Miles: 94.28 Total Miles: 1,154.70 BRAA Total Miles: 1,071.30
Time: 5 hours 54 minute (avg 15.9 MPH)
Flat tire count today: 1 Total flat tires for the ride: 5

This morning was a cold one. I woke up at about 3 AM and I was ready to break out my third blanket. I didn’t though. I just went back to sleep because I was too tired to dig it out of my bag. When we all got up around 5 AM to start packing up, many were wearing their warm gear to get the day started. I didn’t take my jacket since I was pretty sure it would warm up quickly and I didn’t want to have to carry it all day long. As I suspected, it warmed up nicely. It was a great riding day. Just the right temperature – not too hot and not too cold.

There were two milestones we reached today. The first came about 12 miles into the ride. We have officially logged 1,000 miles! My mile count is higher due to additional miles riding around the local areas, but the official total finally made it over the 1,000 mile mark. This has only taken us 13 riding days to accomplish and we are right on schedule now that we are one third of the way through the ride.

I have been talking to several people about Montana being so against Meth. There are billboards all over the place telling people to not try it – not even once. I wanted to show everyone what one of these signs looked like. As I was heading out of Montana, I saw this one painted on the side of a building. The picture states “Meth Means Death”. This is the slogan that was used on the billboards as well.

Right before heading out of Montana, we went through the Little Bighorn Battlefield. There was a park that had some small animal monuments and a larger one of The Mystic Warrior. There were a lot of American Indian related statues and other things to look at throughout the battlefield.

Our second milestone was reaching our fourth state – Wyoming. We are finally out of Montana. Montana is a beautiful state, but we were there nine nights and that was enough for me on this trip. We will be staying three nights in Wyoming, which I am sure will go by real fast.

I did get another flat today. That makes five total for the trip. Tony stopped to make sure I had everything I needed to fix it. We then rode the rest of the day together. I am sure I slowed him down at times, but overall we seemed to do pretty well together. Especially through most of Wyoming. We were cruising pretty fast – averaging about 25 MPH for about 15 miles. Here is a cool picture of Tony riding toward what looks like a never ending journey.