Day 22: Custer State Park to Rapid City, SD

Marc says, "Its starting to sink in that this is our way of life." Now that its been 3 weeks, it is starting to become a routine. I'm waiting for the trancendental qualities that everyone talks about. I'm also waiting for the weight loss that everyone talks about as well. Marc and I are starting to have a complex about our weight gain. What are we doing wrong???

I woke up early this morning as I was freezing cold in the tent. Marc and I are sharing a sleeping bag and its not the warmest blanket around. Given our free accommodations, I can't complain. I actually needed to get up early to do a load of laundry before we packed up and rode on. It was hard to leave my sister and her family but easier knowing that we'd see them again in 2 weeks when we arrived at my parents house in Ingleside, IL.

We got a late start as we ate breakfast at the local campground lodge and the service was snail pace slow! We finally rolled out around 11:15 and had to backtrack about 12 miles. When you are biking such a long route, its no fun to cover the same territory twice!

We stopped to see the Crazy Horse Monument. ( I saw it about 8 years ago and it didn't look any different.) Marc said " Hey, it least it has a face now!" He last saw Crazy Horse in the 70's so it did look different to him. After a few photos, we were off to Hill City and the Rapid City. It was an easy day with a 2000 ft decline over the 55 miles that we biked.

So my sister brought me three pies. I ate on Sunday night ( a lemon Moon Pie). It was absolutely disgusting! Today at lunch time I ate the orange Moon Pie - a little better as its reminiscent of orange dreamsicles. Then, I ate the chocolate pie (the one that they gave me as a joke). It was actually very tasty. Kind of like a Mc Donald's Pie with a mildly chocolate puddling filling.

We arrived in Rapid City around 4 PM - a bit later then expected as we had a slight detour - missed a turn that costed us a few miles and heavy highway traffic. Marc also had another flat on the way down the hill into Rapid City. Now I get to razz him about all his flats! I haven't had a flat in weeks and he's had about one a day!

Rapid City is a surprisingly cool town. I really like it here. We ate at the Firehouse Brewery and Marc was finally able to try a real South Dakota brewed beer. It was also mediocre at best. Colorado has the best micro brews by far! Its funny to see Fat Tire and New Belgium Brewery beers everywhere in Wyoming and South Dakota.

Tomorrow we are going to Philip, SD ( about 20 miles East of Wall, SD - about a 72 miler). South Dakota is a windy state and we are hoping to ride it out with some tailwinds.