Day 21, July 5, 2015, Lusk, WY to Hot Springs, SD, 93 miles and 2880 feet of climbing.  Goodbye Wyoming and hello Dakota!  Today we entered our 4^th state on our journey east.  It was another typical day for me.  I was on the road heading out of Lusk at 6:00 a.m.  I had spotted an Espresso stand up the road yesterday so I thought I had a plan to throw back a few shots and ride into the rising sun.  Wrong!  The shack was closed and for sale.  So off I went under clear blue skies and a temperature of 68 degrees.  Today’s route was generally downhill till mile 70 and it was fast.  I was zipping through some awe inspiring terrain at 25 mph and not breaking a sweat.  It was open range as far as you could see with an occasional hill and rock formations.  The grass was a brilliant green and was accented by white, yellow and blue wild flowers.  Being Sunday following the 4^th, there was virtually no traffic and the only sound was my tires zipping along on the pavement.   About an hour into the ride I was interrupted by a flat tire.  It was my first flat of the tour and I consider myself lucky to have gone this long without one.  I no sooner put in a new tube and one of our van came along with an air pump.  Within 15 minutes I was back on the road. By 11:00 a.m. the sun was beating down and the wind picked up.  For awhile we had a nice tail wind.  But at the 70 mile mark the wind switched to our nose just at the time we started a 4 mile steep climb.  It was tough.  As we neared Hot Springs we had a long, very steep descent into town.  However the wind was so strong and “swirling” I could not enjoy the downhill for fear of being blow off the road.  I got into town found where the Motel was and went in search of a chocolate milk shake.  Finding a Dairy Queen after a long day of bicycling is always a special and well deserved treat!!  It quickly made me forget that head wind and climb!  Tomorrow I get to get up and do it all over again!!

 

Leaving Lusk

 

Selfie while riding.  Look at tat sky!

 

Entering South Dakota

 

Today's elevation profile