DAy 22 Journal Hot Springs, SD to Rapid City, SD

I rode 76 miles today. Though it was a shorter distance today, it was not an easier ride. We had a LOT of climbing right from the get-go. It was a beautiful day with going through the Black Hills area and forests if trees on the way to our two highlights of the day, Crazy Horse monument and Mount Rushmore. They certainly named it appropriately MOUNT Rushmore, because you cannot get up there to view it without mounting up the long climbs. There were a lot of RV’s on the highways today. They scare me as some of those drivers only get out there in those big units about once a year for a trip to see the sights. I don’t imagine it is anything like driving their little 4-door sedans the rest of the year. Anyway, we had a glorious day out on the highways and byways. Several people saw buffalo roaming the open ranges. There are no fenced in areas for these big wildlife - - they roam free, and can come on to the roads any time. I saw Tim and Katherine up ahead stopped to take a photo and when I got up to them there was a pretty tame antelope standing very quietly beside the road. I think if I had thrown out some tidbit of food he would have come right up to me. But there are signs warning not to approach the wildlife. The town of Custer was interesting. It is hilly all around and there are a lot of log cabin mountain type of homes built on the slopes. The town is a little touristy though with lots of cafes, museums and souvenir shops. It is one of the last towns coming or going to the Crazy Horse monument and other sights on the way to Mount Rushmore. Keystone, SD lies just on the other side of Mount Rushmore about 3 miles away and that too is very touristy. One rider commented that it seemed like riding through a carnival. We had a SAG stop in Custer before heading UP and UP out of town. The first of the long and continuous climbing we did today. It started to rain as I was climbing those hills and when I got to the turn off to the Crazy Horse monument I decided not to go into the viewing area – wanting to get beyond the rain. I put on a light rain jacket for about 10 minutes. Just long enough to get my bike all splattered up with muddy raindrops. Had to clean the bike again tonight. It is always impressive to see Mount Rushmore and marvel at that marvelous art in the limestone. It was a screaming 10% downhill from there into Keystone where the ABB van was parked for our second SAG of the day. I signed in and went to the Miner’s Café for a veggie burger. This place is known for its BIG BUNS (Nancy bought a t-shirt there that says that on the back of the shirt). The big bun is a humongous cinnamon roll. My lunch was just what I needed to carry me on for the next climbing out of town. The last 20 miles into Rapid City was nice and the highway smooth. It was a tricky steep down the last 2 miles into the city. It sure is down here in a hole. After the long day of hills the legs were tired and I rested the rest of the day and evening.