Day 27: Corn Palace, the place to be

Carol:
After a hearty homemade breakfast by Barb at the Budget Inn, we were on our way to Mitchell, SD. From the highway, we saw the collapsed roof of Al's Oasis (local motel) due to a lightening strike. As we crossed the Missouri River, I remembered how someone once told me that the secret to a good life is to live by a river. The beauty of the Missouri River confirmed this for me. Luckily, the hill after the river is the last real climb in SD. For the rest of the afternoon, we were treated to strong tailwinds and flat ground. We made it into Mitchell, SD by 3:15pm and ran errands, such as buying an extra tire and slurping a DQ milkshake. With the additional time in our afternoon, we made it to the famous Corn Palace. This place is simply amazing. Using materials from 100,000 acres of cornfields, artists design and construct a new exterior to the Corn Palace every year, using12 types of corn.
After the Corn Palace, we arrived at our host's home for the evening. Dave was welcoming beyond belief and treated us not only to dinner, but also homemade creme brulee. After some great conversations on basketball officiating and nonprofits, we hit the sack in anticipation of the next day's tailwinds.

100 miles

1661 miles total.

Day 26: Racing the Winds and Storms

Colin:
Since we had cut our day a bit short the day before, we woke up and decamped early.
We hit the road full of optimism for a solid day. Then we met the same headwinds from the previous afternoon.
The winds were southeasterly and so we weren't headed directly into it,  unless the road bent southwards but the combination of a head and crossing winds may just have been worse.
Right out of the gate, construction had both lanes of the highway sharing one side giving us an uncomfortably small shoulder.
A couple of miles in, however there was again pavement on the closed road and so we walked our bikes across the grass median and had a full 2 lane highway to ourselves for the next 55 miles.
Eventually we reached normal road conditions, continuing to fight the wind all of the way. Highlight of the Day: a metal sculpture of a dinosaur led by a man on the highway (photo below).
Just as that wind shifted south to be a true crosswind and get out of our faces, the rest of the weather forecast changed to include a potential thunderstorm.
We arrived in Kennebec with plans to hit the local KOA campground. But with the storm looming behind us we decided to err on the side of caution and check into a local motel.
The woman working at the reception desk assured us that this was the right move, which was confirmed almost immediately by the emergency warnings on the tv in our room.
We got a bit of local culture (see photo of fridge) at the reataurant and bar across the street and settled in to wait out the storm.

88 miles
1561 miles total.

Day 25: The Badlands

Colin:
We left Wall just after 8. A short delay in town for a bit of maintenance and we headed for the Badlands.
At first, we benefitted from brand new pavement, though a mile or two later the bill came due and we instead got road prepared for new asphalt to be poured with grooves cut all through it.
Soon enough we arrived at the rim of the Badlands. From the northern edge, the land drops away sharply through jagged and columns and ridges of yellow and red banded stone. At the bottom the prarie continues seemingly oblivious to the disruption of the terrain.
Each walkway has warnings about rattlesnakes, and we heard at least one as a group of European tourists crowded around to get a close-up shot of the snake even as it made its displeasure known. Carol and I thought better of it and stayed well away.
For a few hours we wound our way through the park learning about how the land which had been seabed had turned first into jungle and then to praries eventually producing the unique landscape seen today.
We ate a quick lunch of salami and cheese burritos at a shaded picnic bench before finishing the loop through the park and returning to the main road.
A cross/headwind and the heat, combined with the effort of playing tourist in the park led us to decide on a shorter and more relaxing end to the day in Kadoka rather than pushing ourselves to reach a campgeound 20 miles further down the road.

59 miles.
1473 miles total.

Day 24: Do not shift under duress

Carol:
After a final farewell to Keith's parents, we were on our way to Wall, home of the famous Wall Drug (more on this in just a moment). The interesting thing about SD's terrain is that there are large stretches of flat road with an occasional hill. As a result, I'm often unsure of how much progress we've made as the scenery does not change much. It also means that I'll be caught unaware when the hills approach and need to shift frantically into lower gears. On one such instance, I heard a crack and came to the dreaded realization that I had snapped my shifter cable. Kids reading at home, never shift under duress! Fortunately, we were a mere 15 miles from Rapid City.
The great folks at Acme Bicycles were able to replace my cable while Colin and I ate lunch outside. We met Skip, a recent returned expat from Taiwan, who had worked in the cycling industry. As two Chinese language students and one cycling enthusiast, we had much to discuss. Lamenting our lunch dessert of M&Ms, Skip treated us to homemade rhubarb pie!
Filled with pie and geared up for the rain, Colin and I made our way to Wall Drug. For the uninitiated, Wall Drug is the mecca of tourist traps with highway signs every half mile, hawking its goods. I cannot tell a lie. I was and remain highly susceptible to kitsch, especially when paired with horrible puns. By the time we arrived at Wall Drug, I was craving ice water, western wear and anything else Wall Drug had to offer. Luckily, Colin humored me as I made my rounds.
Plump with milkshakes, Colin and I bunkered down in preparation for our next day trip to the Badlands.
107 miles.
1414 miles total.

Day 23: Mountain Carvings

Colin:
We got up thinking to get an early start heading down to the two memorials after breakfast at a local cafe.
We drove through Spearfish Canyon into the Black Hills.
Our first stop was Terry Peak, based on Keith's parents' recommendation. After turning off the main route and following a dirt road for a few miles we found ourselves at the summit of a ski mountain and were afforded a great view of the hills to the south and to the surrounding area.
After this we drove by Deadwood on our way to the Crazy Horse memorial. The sheer scale of the statue is hard to comprehend, as it dwarfs Mount Rushmore both in size and ambition. There is a nice museum on nomadic life on the plains before the arrival of Europeans up through the early 1900s.
We were a bit conflicted, however as we both got the impression that the memorial currently serves more as a means of wealth production and less as a memorial and educational center as it was originally intended. For the sake of fairness we'll watch the progress of work on the statue and the attached facilities before passing judgement.
From there we had lunch at a diner and headed over to Mount Rushmore. As we approached, rain began to fall and we were both concerned we may not be able to see anything. As you can see from the photos below our concerns proved unfounded. The carved faces are hugely impressive and, as at Crazy Horse, the attached museum was fun and interesting.
Sadly due to road construction we werent able to go through Deadwood on our way back and instead settled for dinner at a Chinese buffet thinking we will rarely ever get such a value from all you can eat.
After waddling back home, we mapped out our plans for the rest of the state and tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

No change.
1307 miles total.

Day 22: a central location

Carol:

Waking up next to a convenience store/RV campground has its benefits. Colin and I strolled into the c-store for warm breakfast sandwiches and large coffees, before heading out to Spearfish. We quickly crossed into Wyoming, the 4th state of our trip. After enjoying the plains of the Cowboy State, we found ourselves at the South Dakota border. Hello state number 5!
We had a snack break in Belle Fourche, the geographical center of the USA. The last center was in Kansas, however with the addition of Hawaii and Alaska, it has since moved to Belle Fourche. After an obligatory photo, we continued on to Spearfish, home of Colin's friend, Keith. The view of the Black Hills from the old highway road was incredible.
We stayed with Keith's parents and got a tour of the Spearfish's historical fish hatchery. We also learned about how the harsh SD winters have a positive effect on the local real estate market.
Colin and I spent the afternoon at the local pub, Sanfords ( thanks for the recommendation Keith!) and rented a car for our next day excursion to Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse the next day.

50 miles.

1307 miles total.

Day 21: there aint nothing in hammond

Colin:

We slept in a bit to take advantage of the real bed and had breakfast with one of our hosts. We shared a fascinating conversation about the saint labre school as well as life on the reservations more generally. Then we went down to the saint labre school itself to tour the museum and see some of the preparations for that day's high school graduation ceremony.
The chapel alone was worth the visit as it highlighted the complex combination of Catholocism and traditional Crow and Cheyenne spirituality practiced by a majority of the natives in the area.
Hitting the road a bit after 10 am we left with what we thought of as the modest goal of reaching Hammond Montana.
After some "nuisance hills" and a brief rainstorm, we ate lunch in a bit of shade afforded by the only roadside trees visible for a couple of miles in either direction.
Arriving in Broadus around 2 pm we stopped by the only store we could find for a snack.
When asked, the clerk told Carol that "there aint nothing in hammond but 3 abandoned buildings."
Our choices were to stay in Broadus and leave ourselves a very long trip or an extra day to reach spearfish or to push on another 57 miles to alzada.
Feeling good, and being foolhardy we elected to continue.
We moved right along as a large rainstorm loomed ominously just to the west of the road, but thankfully we never got hit.
Upon reaching Hammond we saw the truth of the shopkeepers words as Hammond indeed seemed to be made up of 3 burned and/or collapsed buildings, a single home and its own post office.
Eventually we reached Alzada, a relatively large community of 29 where we were invited to camp for free at the local convenience store and rv park.
The gentleman who cooked our dinner treated us to an uninvited and slightly bizarre diatribe about gun rights and an education on different categories of firearms and bullets. I still couldnt tell you how that came about.
We settled in for the evening, thoroughly confused but felt compensated by the first unspoiled night sky of our trip and the thought of the shorter day into Spearfish, south dakota to follow.

104 miles

1257 miles total.

Day 20: the little bighorn

Carol:

Heading out early, we made it to the Little Bighorn battlefield by 10am. Unfortunately, Colin caught a flat on the highway, so while he fixed his flat, I made conversation with the trading post owner. I learned how the Crow language has evolved from each syllable having a meaning, to a point where only collections of syllables form words. The site of the Little Bighorn Battlefield was very interesting in that each information plaque presented viewpoints from both the US army and Cheyenne warriors. It also made me incredibly sad that while the battle was won, the nomadic Indian way of life was lost.
After fixing 2 of my flats and one more of Colin's, we pushed on to Ashland. While 65 miles would typically not have been daunting, the strong headwinds kept us from making the progress I would have liked. Crossing 20 miles in 3 hours, I can honestly say I have never fought harder to gain mileage on my bike.
While the ride to Ashland was disheartening, we found an incredible Warmshowers host in Ashland. A JVC, our host and his 5 colleagues had chosen to dedicate a year of service to the St. Labre Indian School. As a former AmeriCorps VISTA, it was great to hear about their work and their upcoming adventures. We also learned a lot more about life on the reservation and complications facing the Crow and Northern Cheyenne people. We were also happy to share bike touring tips with our host, who was planning his own bike tour to Seattle and San Francisco.
After a filling dinner of pasta, fish and muffins, Colin and I welcomed our warm beds for the night.

89 miles.

1153 miles total.