Day 11 Butte, MT to Bozeman, MT
Wednesday June 21, 2006
We woke up, found a little breakfast at the local grocery store and got riding. We are discovering a light meal in the morning makes for better riding, and saves us money. A couple of bagels and some yogurt seems to do the trick.
The slow pedal south out of Butte afforded me the opportunity to reflect on my previous trips to Butte. I was here once in 1990 on a road trip with my best friend Jake. We were only passing through town on our way to Yellowstone, but we detoured to the historic section of downtown to find some gas and food. Historic downtown was mostly closed and boarded up. A perfect example of urban decay I guess, although at the time I’m sure I didn’t realize it.
In fact we found the services we needed much closer to the freeway but away from downtown. A perfect example of urban sprawl, though again, I doubt I realized it at the time. Spreading along two main streets were low one story buildings housing gas stations, fast food restaurants and retail outlets, even a strip mall.
I bring all this up now because as we were leaving Butte, along one of those main streets, I noticed that a lot of the businesses were closed or looked shabby. The strip mall only had a couple of businesses still in it. By contrast, the historic downtown was full of little shops and eateries that would be obviously be busy as the day wore on. A classic example of urban renewal, and this time I noticed. It’s odd why some things trend the way they do. The people and retail left old downtown to be closer to the freeway interchange and now “Historic Downtown” is drawing them back. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a sucker for a nicely kept downtown, even if I can’t afford to shop or eat there, I just think its funny that a “Historic Downtown” is the new black.
But in case you were worried that urban sprawl had died here in Butte, take heart, a couple of miles down the street, was a WalMart, a home improvement store and a car dealership and these were all across from an old pioneer cemetery.
Shortly out of Butte, we started the climb over the continental divide on scenic Montana Route 2. When we finally crossed the divide, we were again robbed of an elevation sign or any sign indicating our accomplishment. High above the road there was a stone marker, we scrambled up the slope to look and sure enough, it had a small plaque indicating the elevation. It didn’t say anything about the divide, however. We snapped some photos and rode on. Based on our previous experiences I was beginning to worry there may not be a big banner and ribbon waiting for us when we get to the finish in Plum Island, MA.
We descended into Whitehall, MT, took a short break and then went on. Shortly before entering a section of Route 2 leading to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, we stopped to top off the water bottles at a small convenience store. We were both buying red licorice for the sugar and the girl behind the counter asked if all cyclists eat red licorice. I explained that we used the sugar for the energy and that it entered our bloodstream very quickly. A woman who was standing nearby said it was for that extra push up the hills. The woman was clearly an athlete and was probably much older than she looked. I said she was right and she said beer does the same thing even better. I told her I couldn’t really think about a beer right now since I still had a lot more miles to go. She agreed I didn’t need her tempting me.
Just before we reached Three Forks we came across an old pioneer cabin, the Parker homestead in fact. We stopped to take some photo’s and a short video. We learned that Parker homesteaded out here in the early 1900’s, but as soon as he could afford a bigger house he moved into the town of Three Forks. I guess even back then people were ‘movin on up’. It gave me a different perspective on the hearty pioneering spirit. Interestingly a mile past the cabin was the beginnings of a large planned community that was someday going to boast a fully fenced perimeter, five acre lots and cul-de-sacs. I take it back, the hearty pioneer spirit is alive and well… in the suburbs.
Three Forks was a quiet, clean town that was obviously hoping to move on up to tourist destination. The renovated Sacajawea Hotel and the many references to Lewis and Clark in the area probably helped, although I wonder what will happen once the hoopla of the 200th anniversary of the Corps of Discovery dies down.
Eventually we reached Bozeman, and I had my first flat tire of the trip. As we were replacing it with a spare, a shiny sports car came pulling up and the man inside asked if we had everything we needed? We did but thanked him for asking. David Kirk was his name and ironically, he was a custom bicycle frame builder. Right here in Bozeman. He was super nice guy and we talked awhile about our trip and the nature of touring. He gave us his card card should we have any trouble at all while we were in town. (We didn’t have any trouble at all, but I’m sure Chris will tell you all about that.) Anyway he eventually gave us directions to the local KOA and even gave us an alternate route to get there so we wouldn’t have to ride busy Main Street. Again he was really nice and very helpful. David if you read this, thank you again! Also everybody please check out his website, it is the least we could do for him.
We finally made it to the campground, found some food locally, and went to bed. It was a long day.
Links of Interest
http://www.ourladyoftherockies.org/
http://www.threeforksmontana.com/
http://www.sacajaweahotel.com/
http://www.bozemanchamber.com/
http://www.kirkframeworks.com/
Day 12 Bozeman, MT to Livingston, MT
Thursday June 22, 2006
Chris probably tells a better story about his experience with Bangtail Bicycles here in Bozeman, so I’ll let him tell it but I will say they were very friendly, professional, and quick. What more could you want?
Eventually we were ready to ride again. There was no way to make our destination of Columbus, so we chose instead to ride only about 25 miles and call it a day in Livingston, MT. We stopped at Osen’s RV and Campground. They gave us a 10% discount because we were on our bicycle, really cool!
We set up the tent, unloaded the bikes and rode into town for some dinner. We ate and eventually stopped at the local Dairy Queen for some ice cream. This is the first DQ I have found in the last few years, that still offers to dip a soft serve in to Cherry or Butterscotch. Oh sure, they all offer Chocolate, but you never find butterscotch anymore. I was in heaven. I can remember getting soft serve dipped ice cream cones with my mom as a young child and it was nice to have that happy memory again.
After DQ we returned to camp to find a motorcycle tourer camped next to us. Laura was full time RV’er who was testing out travel by motorcycle. She was riding a very nice FJZ1300 (and this is only a test). Again, we talked about our trips and the nature of touring. We had a similar points of view, although she said she wouldn’t complain about her tired butt in front of us once she learned how far we had traveled. She was very very nice and great to talk to.
Finally I crawled into the bivy sack to get some sleep. I could see lightning flashing in the distance but couldn’t really hear the thunder so I figured we didn’t have to worry about rain. Next door to the campground was the back yard of a small house. In it was a dog on a dog run, as he ran back and forth I could hear the zip of the line. It got me thinking about the wisdom we attribute to animals. You know, if the horses are restless, there’s a storm coming, if the dog is barking, Timmy fell in the well, again, if the sheep are nervous, we must be in Texas. Soon the dog settled down and I assumed the risk of a storm was over and I fell asleep comfortable in the knowledge that I would stay dry… Until it started to rain on me! Stupid Dog.
Maury
Points of Interest
http://www.montanarvpark.com/
http://www.travelmt.com/mt-cities-columbus.html
http://www.travelmt.com/mt-cities-greycliff.html
Day 13 Livingston, MT to Columbus, MT
Friday June 23, 2006
We left Livingston and headed out to Columbus. Along the way I planned a scenic detour on a small side road that I had read about. In fact I was reading another couple’s online journal of their bicycle trip across the country. They mentioned a road called ‘Convict Grade Road’ that would take us away from the freeway for a few miles and eventually put you back on track a few miles further west. I decided I wanted to do that too, and since it was good enough for them it would be good enough for me. They did warn that it became a gravel road for a short while but the scenic beauty was worth it.
So first off, that couple must have been on some prescription or non-prescription drugs, because the road surface sucked, big time. The hills were made worse by the fact that the surface of the road was so loose you could hardly get the grip needed to climb. I had previously mentioned our misadventure back in Washington on a couple of gravel roads, and this one was worse. I hated it, and vowed at that moment to never take a gravel road again, at least not on my touring bike.
Secondly, they were right, the scenic beauty and remoteness was spectacular. Near the end of the gravel road (and I use that term loosely) we happened upon a deer bounding it’s way across a pasture. As it approached a fence I told Chris the deer was going to bound over the fence like it wasn’t there. Obviously sensing my anticipation and probably overhearing my confidence in his leaping ability the deer came to a sudden stop right in front of the fence and tried to duck under. He couldn’t quite make it so he trotted along the fence line for about 20 yards, found the hole he was looking for, ducked under successfully this time, and bounded away, out of sight. He didn’t jump but it was still cool to watch.
After we returned to the pavement we started making great time again and passed through several small towns. The smallest was Greycliff, and though it had a freeway interchange all to itself, this town looked like it would soon blow away like a tumbleweed. It amazed me to think anybody still lived here. What kept them here I wondered? ( I didn’t actually see anybody so maybe no one lived here anymore.) There was nothing, no services, or businesses and probably no jobs. ( I suppose it’s not just retail that makes a town a town) I wouldn’t have known it was a town at all except for the sign and the rumble strips cut into the road to slow cars down for the speed zone. Why? There was nothing and no one to hit!
After that we soon found ourselves in Columbus for the night. Before going to bed I told Chris that after our sojourn on the rocky rutted rural road I wasn’t about to do that again so I suggested a slight change in route to avoid another nasty road. Little did I realize what a fateful decision that would turn out to be.
Maury
Points of Interest
http://www.travelmt.com/mt-cities-columbus.html
http://www.travelmt.com/mt-cities-greycliff.html
Day 14 Columbis, MT to Hardin, MT
Saturday June 24 2006
The day started with us going to the post office to pick up the laptop my brother Mark sent to me. Finally, now I’ll be able to update faster and cheaper. (I know you’re all saying that I could update faster if I would cut down on the mini-novels I write about our adventures each day.) Anyway while I was trying to find space for the Laptop in one of my panniers and older gentleman came up and started talking to us.
It began with:
“It looks like you’ve got a full load. Where are you guys riding to? Oh wait, you’re not riding into the Park are you?” I think he meant Yellowstone since it wasn’t too far away, but it was still an odd question. We said no.
“Oh good. I was there a couple of years back and a couple of young men were dressed in nice pants and ties and were riding through the park, you know who I mean”
Representatives from the Humane Society, I thought.
“Well they come up and start talking to me, bear in mind I was dressed like a kindergarten drop out, anyways they start talking to me about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon.”
I really was hoping they were from the Humane Society.
“So I engaged them in conversation. I’ll bet they didn’t expect to run into a guy with a masters in Theology.”
Ah, an expert.
“Anyways by the time I finished talking with them, I had them very confused. I told them they needed to read the bible more and the Book of Morman less. I pointed out that mathematically the women would have to be birthing babies every 1.5 days…”
I mostly stopped listening at that point and started packing the laptop again. He continued to talk about how he bested them with logic and how they needed to read the bible. He thought we were good kids for riding across the country rather than wasting our lives, like so many young people today. Me, young?
“I’ll leave you with this” he said, “You can see more looking out your windshield than looking in your rearview mirror.”
Ironically he didn’t leave with that.
In fact he continued to talk for several more minutes about religion, what a great thing we were doing, and kids today. Here is my take on the whole thing, believe what you want to believe, it’s all good. But standing there telling us story just to prove how smart you think you are is really just vanity.
After that we started pedalling into the “ride from hell”. Maybe it was my bad karma, being so closed off to the guy, that brought on the rest of the events. As for what happened during the hellish part of the ride, Chris tells it so well I won’t bother repeating it here. Go read his journal entry for this day.
Maury
Points of Interest
Day 15 Hardin, MT to Sheridan, WY
Sunday, June 25, 2006
After yesterday’s ride I surprised to find that I was refreshed and ready to go again in the morning. We would be getting back on track with the route later today but for now we would be riding the frontage roads next to I-90 for a while.
It gave us an opportunity to stop by the Little Bighorn Battlefield. Custer’s last stand. Rolling pastures and a casino, a gas station, a campground, a stadium (for re-enactments?), a motel, a gift shop and a driving tour. Never before has the attempted genocide of a race of people and the blunders and death of an over confident general looked so green (as in money!). My mother told me of visiting this place long ago and being moved by it. She said she definately felt something looking over the empty grasslands and thinking about what happened here and what it meant. I suppose I was hoping to feel something similar. I didn’t. I’m quite sure mom came through before it became so commercial.
I don’t know why it bothered me so much. I guess I’m looking for something more authentic, you know real, someplace I can feel what it was like and really imagine it. In truth I’m finding it, just not where I expect. Drummond was authentic, sadly so was Greycliff, and, of course, all the people I’m meeting are real but I still feel I’m missing out. Maybe I’m just trying too hard.
Speaking of trying hard the rest of the day was definately a tough one. More brutally hot sun, countered by the complete lack of shade. Lots of subtle hill climbing and the only refreshing breeze was from the HEADWIND!
We passed through Lodgegrass, MT and Wyola, MT, the desolate feeling of both these towns depressed me again. There is simply nothing here. I’m sure the inhabitants are thrilled to be living so far away from the madding crowd, but I just couldn’t do it. Oh well, more power to them.
Finally we made it into Sheridan, WY where we stayed for the night.
Maury
Points of Interest
http://www.nps.gov/libi/
http://www.travelmt.com/mt-cities-Lodge+Grass.html
http://www.sheridanwyoming.org/index.php
Day 16 Sheridan, WY to Gilette, WY
Monday, June 26, 2006
Well it was bound to happen. A day when nothing really happened. We left Sheridan early but not early enough to beat the heat. We had a 107 mile ride ahead of us and it was going to be a hot day. We rode up and down and down and up. Lot’s of hills and lots of hot sun.
We reached ‘Historic’ Clearmont, and stocked up on food and drink since there was a sign warning us of no services for the next 77 miles. They weren’t kidding.
We did have one interesting adventure though. Just outside the non-existent town of Spotted Horse we ran into a major resurfacing project. So major they wouldn’t even let us ride through it. The flagger said it was because the heavy equipment wouldn’t see us. A very nice foreman offered to give us a ride to the otherside. So we loaded ourselves and the bikes into the bed of his truck.
Good thing too, the project was long, about 9 miles long and there was no road anymore in most places. We might have muddled through but it would have been a major struggle in some areas. It was a weird sensation travelling that fast and not having to pedal. I suspect when this trip is over, driving might seem unusual for awhile.
At the end of the constuction zone the guy let us out again, and we rode on to Gillette. Even with the short lift it was a very long hot day.
Maury
http://www.ci.gillette.wy.us/
http://www.wyoroad.info/highway/webcameras/I90Gillette/I90Gillette.html
http://www.ucrossfoundation.org/lo/index.html
Day 17 Gillette, WY to Devils Tower National Monunment, WY
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
We had a relatively short ride today. Only 60 or so miles into Devil’s Tower. Plus for the first 30 miles, from Gillette to Moorcroft, the road was flat and fast. Probably the fastest 30 miles yet.
We arrived in Moorcroft and went into the local gorcery store for some refreshments. The young girl behind the counter kept refering to me as “hon”.
“Do you need something, hon?”
“The ice cream is in the back freezer, hon.”
“Will that be everything for you, hon?”
It really started to bother me. I wanted to say ‘Young Lady, don’t let my boyish good looks and my petite frame fool you, I’m at least 10 years your senior”.
Instead I paid for my snacks and left. As I was leaving she said “have a nice day, hon”. As I walked back to my bike I began to wonder if I could get away with that at my job.
Professor X: “Are we connected to all the sites for my important lecture, Maury?”
Maury: “Yes we are, hon.”
I don’t think so. I don’t even think I’ve referred to any girlfriends as ‘hon’. Maybe as ‘Hun’ but then it had an entirely different connotation.
The second half of the day was slower since we had to gain and lose a lot of elevation to reach the park. The amazing thing about Devils Tower is how it sneaks up on you. Sure it stands out while you’re in front of it, but when approaching, at least from the south, we were practically on top of it before we could really see it.
We made the final drop down to the park entrance.
Just to the right is the Devil’s Tower KOA. Before we could go inside to register a guy came out to talk to us. He was working there for the next nine weeks to earn money so he could continue his own bicycle journey. Apparently he has never owned a driver’s license. He travels exclusively by bike. All he does his work to pay for the next leg of his trip and then he moves on. That’s his life. This guy was so hardcore he had a tattoo of a BOB Yak bicycle trailer on his left shoulder. Wow!
This KOA was great. They even serve you dinner at your campsite. There we sat eating our food in the shadow of Devil’s Tower having a great time. Maybe the best camping experience yet.
Later after it got dark, they played the movie “Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind” in the outdoor theater. Chris and I watched a few minutes but we needed to get to bed early, so we didn’t get to see any of the scenes starring the tower. All in all it was very cool.
Maury
Points of Interest
http://wyoparks.state.wy.us/Site/SiteInfo.asp?siteID=10
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075860/
http://www.nps.gov/deto/
http://townofmoorcroft.com/
http://www.bobgear.com/trailers/trailer.php?product_id=10
Day 18 Devils Tower National Monument, WY to Sturgis, SD
Wednesday June 28, 2006
We left early and rode into the town of Hulett, WY for breakfast. We found the local grocery store and purchased the standard yogurt, bagels, and Gatorade.
As I came out of the store Chris was talking to an old guy with a long bushy white beard. I missed the first part of the conversation but I jumped into the second half as I ate my yogurt. The guy was talking about riding motorcycles and as I got a closer look at him I realized he was probably much younger than he looked. Years of riding made him look old. I wondered how much older I was going to look when this tour was finished.
We were all agreeing that a motorcycle would be a nice way to tour the countryside and he mentioned a friend of his who had a motorcycle with sidecar.
“That thing was great, fully enclosed with a radio and a TV in it. If it was raining outside, you could be nice and dry and just wave at him.”
As we got set to leave he said, “When your in New York say ‘Hi’ from me”.
This guy must be from New York.
“They’re having a reunion in a couple of weeks, but sh*t that’s just too far to go, just to get drunk.”
He was probably right. I began to wonder if it was too far to go just say I biked across the country. Well I’m going to find out the hard way.
The rest of the day turned out to be like the last few days, lots o’ hot. By the end we were tired, in this case it wasn’t the mileage, we’ve definitely had longer mileage days, but the heat just zaps your energy. Ultimately we stuggled into Sturgis and found a campground. I managed to send off a couple of updates before going to bed exhausted.
Maury
Points of Interest
Day 19 Sturgis, SD to Wall, SD
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Sturgis, South Dakota. Site of the world famous motorcycle rally every August. This was my fourth time stopping in Sturgis. The first time was just after the rally, the next time was during the rally (not on a motorcycle, BTW) and the third time (and this time) was before the rally. Sturgis is truely the Jekyll and Hyde of small western towns. It’s amazing the transformation that occurs. In fact I would have a hard time describing differences with out using the word chaos, a lot. For Chris, this was his first time here. I tried to emphasize to him just how crazy this place becomes but it is hard to imagine when you ride the quiet streets in late June.
Much like a lot of the places we’ve travelled to and will travel to on this tour, you simply must see this places for yourself to fully comprehend it.
While we were here, we decided on another route change, this time to shorten our mileage and to remain close to I-90 and the services it offers every few miles. I think we’ve both had enough of ‘not much’, especially when its hot outside. We used the mapping software on the laptop to plan an alternate route. Again, we would be following mostly frontage roads.
The first half of the day went smoothly although it was getting very hot. When we lost our way navigating Rapid City (I know it sounds impossible to get lost in Rapid City, SD, but we did), we had to bushwhack over some railroad tracks to get back on the right road. Later, we had to bushwhack around a fence to get onto the freeway to get back on track.
After the last set of bushwhacking, I noticed my chain was skipping. We stopped at a grocery store in Box Elder and I discovered a link in my chain was scored so bad that it wouldn’t bend around the rear deraillur. It must have happened on our last off road adventure. I removed the pin at the bad link, removed two links, and pressed in a new link pin and I was ready to go. It was cool to have a major(maybe not so major) mechanical problem and be able to fix it with the parts and tools I packed. I was beginning to worry I had over packed a few items. I truely felt self sufficient and frankly would have been a little disappointed if I hadn’t had to make some sort of field repair on this tour. Now I really was a long distance tourer.
After that the rest of the day went very smoothly. Except for the two more times we had to bushwhack to hop a fenced to get back on the freeway to finally get to Wall. This mapping software sucks!
Note to self, in the future remember that a road signed “No Outlet” is correct regardless of what the maps tell you. Actually one of our missteps ended up being very cool. It took us down a an old section of US Hwy 14 outside of Wasta, SD. There we were, riding a section of road that probably hadn’t been used since the freeway was put it. It still had old pavement and even old paint stripes! It was sooooooooo cooooooooool! Most of you probably don’t know it, but I’m a road fan. (yes there is actually a name for it)
Road fans are people who like… roads. Mostly old roads, old US and state highways, decommisioned roads and routes, their history in the days before the interstates and their current alignment. For me a chance to acutally ride an old alignment of a major US highway, and to actually touch some of the original pavement is the ultimate. The downside,of course is that most of these old roads don’t go anywhere anymore. In this case the road eventually disappeared under the superslab of I-90. We had a short, barbed wire fence to heft the bikes over and then it was smooth sailing down the shoulder of the freeway until the next exit.
We pulled into the gas station in Wasta (there is only one) and went inside to cool off. While we were there, a guy came in and told us the thermometer in his car was registering 101 degrees. I was feeling OK until I heard that, and then I started to feel really hot and we still had 10 miles to go into Wall. What the heck were we thinking riding 80 plus miles on this ridiculously on this hot day. I really didn’t want to get back on the bike after that.
To make matters worse, we headed out of Wasta on a back road that was supposed to save us a few miles of freeway riding, but instead lead us to another section of Old Hwy 14 that quickly turned to gravel. Again we hopped a fence (I make it sound easy, trust me it wasn’t easy lifting a hundred pounds of bike and gear over a barbed wire fence) to get back on the freeway and slowly struggle into Wall. I’m tired of struggling into our destinations at night.
We showered at the campground and went to the Cactus Cafe restaurant for some dinner. The food was excellent and a good value too. And then it was back to camp and bed for us. Tomorrow the Badlands!
Maury
Points of Interest
http://www.sturgis.sd.us/
http://www.visitrapidcity.com/
http://www.walldrug.com/
Day 20 Wall, SD to Midland, SD
Friday, June 30, 2006
After yesterday’s heat, we both agreed to get going early and try to get through Badlands National Park before the day really heated up. We didn’t succeed but hey, its the thought that counts. Whatever the temperature, the Badlands are so worth it. Years ago my parents told me to visit and they were right. I’ve stopped in every chance I get, which usually means once a year or every other year.
This place never gets old. Pardon the the pun. This was my first time seeing it from the saddle of my bicycle and wow! If you’ve never been to this park you must go. No ifs, ands, and buts about it. I won’t take no for an answer. I’ll even be happy to be your guide. I love this place. I mentioned before how I didn’t feel anything at Custer’s last stand, but here I feel something. It takes your breath away, and thats just when you first look at it from the ridge top. Then you get to drive (or ride) right down into the middle and are surrounded by it. I don’t even want to try to describe it to you. I just want you to go there and experience it for yourself. Don’t worry, Chris took plenty of pictures, but trust me, you won’t get it until you see it in person.
After the Badlands our day turned into a ‘trip into hell’ as we headed north and east toward the town of Philip. At one point we had to fight 14 miles of pure head wind up and down over lots of rolling hills. And again it was 100 degrees plus. Absolutely the hardest 14 miles yet. Harder than climbing White Pass. I’d do White Pass over this section any day of the week. After what seemed like forever, we finally reached Philip. Of course by then I wasn’t sure I could go on to our destination in Midland, but two things changed and just like that I found the energy again.
First the storm front that was causing the headwind and the high temperatures passed us by, instantly the temp dropped 15 degrees. Secondly we turned east and any residual winds became harmless side winds. Without those two breaks I may not have gone on and instead I may have suggested Philip be our final stop that day. But on we went and finally, thankfully we saw the sign for Midland and knew our day was almost over.
As we approached town, we saw a billboard advertising a campground with hot showers and a swimming pool. A mile later we were checking in, thinking our day was over. Not so. As we looked around the campsite we couldn’t find any showers anywhere. We walked back up to the office to get the scoop.
“Oh I should have told you the previous owner destroyed the showers before we took over”, said the lady behind the counter.
“How about the pool?”
“Yeah, the previous owner destroyed that too.”
If only he had gone for the hat trick and destroyed the billboard outside of town.
The lady said she could call the local hotel and see if they still had rooms. She found out they still had a couple of rooms left and we told her we would take one. We figured after the day we had, we were not going without a shower. Besides I’m sure we both needed one.
We quickly rode the three blocks into downtown Midland and found ourselves at the front door to Stroppel Family Inn and Mineral Baths. I went inside and a very nice lady, granddaughter of the founder of the mineral baths, helped me check in. She told me we were lucky to get a room since it was a Stroppel Family reunion weekend and folks were coming from as far away as Texas and Oregon.
A little while later, after we showered, we walked the half block to the bar and grill and had a fantastic dinner. As we wandered back to the hotel to get some sleep, some of the Stroppel family clan were sitting outside on the front steps. The heat from the day had leaked into the night, but now, instead of being oppresively hot it had softened into pleasantly warm. This is the kind of summer night I like, when it is still warm enough to sit around in shorts and shirtsleeves and just relax. The whole family was very friendly and I would have liked to stay up and talk with them and just enjoy the surroundings, but we needed to get up early and get riding so off to bed I went.
Before going to bed, Chris and I discussed another change, this time a shorter mileage day to compensate for the heat. Of course, once we decided, we realized we could sleep in a little since tomorrows mileage wouldn’t be so bad. Besides, we really needed the rest.
Maury
Points of Interest
http://www.philipsouthdakota.com/
http://www.midlandsd.com/
