Day 23 Rapid City, SD to Wall, SD

I biked 63 miles today. The party is over . . . . This day had some good moments -- but mostly it was a nightmare out there. The weather has changed and our cooler days are behind us. It is in the upper 90's. But the big problems today were a road was closed and I (and about 10 others who were in my sight) had to turn back, adding an extra 6 miles on to the day. Luckily the construction man gave us an alternate route and put us back on our cue sheet. After the SAG stop which was suppose to be at our 23 mile mark, but we had traveled 29 miles with the detour -- then the real big problem started. Our cue sheet said to enter on to I-90 for 18 miles. But about 4 miles on the route they were laying fresh asphalt. What a terrible mess and terrible situation. It would have been better if ABB would have checked with SDOT if there was construction going on. We ran out of road and had a horrible problem riding about 10" from the passing cars. We couldn't go on to the fresh oil and tar part. Our bike tires were quickly getting all gunked up with stones and tar. A very dangerous situation. I am very, very thankful that those of us in the lead group made it through there. Finally the highway patrol got ahold of the ABB van and told them if any more cyclist attempt to enter the construction zone they would be ticketed. They intercepted the cyclists that were still approaching the I-90 entrance and put their bikes on the top of the van and transported them in to Wall. I got in about 11:30 AM and it took over an hour to clean my tires of the build up of the gravel and tar. Some just gave up and put a new set of tires on their wheels. (We all brought extra sets of tires, but did not expect to use them because of this event). I was starved and went on down to the famous Wall Drug Store. That store is a huge tourist attraction, and a fun place to wander around. I bought a couple of autobiography books written by pioneer women who were part of the settlers in the 1800's when they came to these areas our West. I had a wonderful lunch and then came back to the motel to finish some more cleaning on the bike. Photos today are few -- had to concentrate on the road all the time. I hear the temperature in Pierre, SD tomorrow is going to be in the 100's!! We are loading the luggage truck by 5:15 AM to try and beat some of the heat on our 117 mile journey. Time to walk back down to Wall Drug and see what I missed the first time around. This place is several city block long it is so big. The population in Wall is only 808 people, but it sure does bring in the visitors to see Wall Drug.
Route rap is at 5:00 today -- I'm sure the staff is not wanting to hear from all the frickn' mad riders who endured the mess on I-90 today!!! But we survived and it is history now. Tomorrow is another day and another adventure. Thanks be to God for all the many blessings and safe journey.