Day 23, July 7, 2015, Rapid City, SD to Wall, SD, 58 miles and 1550 feet of climbing.  Well….yesterday was grand and awe inspiring, today was Ho-Hum.  Left Rapid City at 8:00 a.m. as it was a “short” day and no real hurry to get going.  Rapid City is a town of 80,000 people and it took quite awhile to work our way to the outskirts of town.  From there we traveled a service road that paralleled I-90.  It was long, straight and certainly not flat.  Steep rolling hills made for lots of strenuous climbing.  The descents were sharp and short and the ascents were long and steep.  We road through lots of agricultural and range lands.  At one point we passed Ellsworth AFB and were treated to the sounds of bomber jets overhead.  Unfortunately, due to an overcast sky we did not get to see any of them.  After  30 miles we had to get on I-90 and took it all the way into the town of Wall.  There was a very strong wind out of the south, on our right side and we had to hold on tight to keep from getting blown into the traffic.  The only real benefit to the interstate was that the hills were somewhat flatter and not so strenuous to navigate.  What on paper promised to be an easy, relaxing ride turned out to be quite taxing.  Part of the problem was that after the emotional day I had yesterday I was pretty much tapped out of energy.  But I made it in by 1:00 p.m. and got to explore the town of Wall.  Actually I got to explore “Wall Drug”, one of the biggest tourist traps I have ever seen!  It started out in 1931 as a drug store and the owner advertised “free water”, out on the highways for travelers.  Over the years it was grown into an entire city block of every type of souvenir shop you can possibly imagine.  We have been seeing advertisements for this place for the past week and a half.  It makes Frankenmuth look like an amateur operation.  I could not believe the number of people who were milling about through the place and parting with their money.  I ate lunch in a cafeteria and bought a few souveniers myself.  Tomorrow we press on to Pierre, S.D., a mere 120 miles down the road.  Our route has changed a little from what we originally had been told.  We were scheduled to go through the Badland National Park, but due to some unexpected road construction we can’t do that.  I was really looking forward to see the park too.  Oh well, just another excuse to come back out here!

 

Rick and Mary a wife/husband team.  They are originally from Michigan but now live in Texas.  I met them last year at DALMAC when they saw my America By Bicycle jersey and asked about the tour company.  I guess my review must have been favorable because here they are.

 

Ahran and Wilhelm from the Netherlands.  Great guys and always good for a laugh!  I don't think there are many countries that Wilhelm has not cycled in.  He seems to have been all over.

 

Our SAG stop was in front of the Worlds Smallest Biker Bar.  It was out in the middle of nowhere and looked to be abandoned.  Not sure they would have appreciated a bunch of bicyclist in lycra hanging out on their turf.

 

Straight rolling road........

 

View from the highway.  The temperature was in the mid 70's and it was overcast.  If not for the wind it would have been a perfect day for riding a bicycle.