|
Each day ought to have a theme. If so, today's theme is "To Be A Tourist". The schedule ride is only
forty miles, but if you go to see Crazy Horse, then it's fifty four. The two tourist stops along the way and short enough mileage allowed me to have time to enjoy them. Plus we're heading East and entering South Dakota.
We've been in Wyoming since Jackson Hole ( eight days ) longer than any other state! The road typically was hilly and luckily the wind was still with us. We hit some larger climbs and descents at mile 20. After a couple of miles, the road was similar to something that I would envision would be in Appalachia. Narrow winding with dense trees on either side. We're now in the black hills and the hills were name for it's forests not it's rocks.
The picnic stop was at the Jewel caves ( http://www.nps.gov/jeca/ ). The Jewel Cave was the first tourist stop as well. The cave was very interesting. It was the first cave that I've seen that had an elevator as an entrance!! After the cave, the town of Custer (
http://www.custer-sd.com/ ) was only thirteen more miles further. From the town of Custer, both Rick an I headed up to the Crazy Horse
Monument ( http://www.crazyhorse.org/ ). This site is
huge!!! When completed it will be an achievement. It's been a work in progress for over fifty years. Who knows, it may take another fifty years to complete!!
On the way to the monument, Rick and I had a green sports car zoom by us beeping it's horn and stopping shortly in front of us. The driver jumped out of the car and started to walk in our direction. We couldn't figure out what his problem was. It turned out that he was the publisher of the "News Letter Journal" (
http://www.trib.com ) in Newcastle, where we started our day. He found out about us after we had left town and spent the day tracking down bicyclists in order to get a story. He took a shot of Rick and Me in front of Crazy Horse asked us some questions and was on his way. I don't know if we ever made it into the paper.
When I returned to Custer I came across Jim, Laurie and Erika sharing bread, cheese and wine outside an
espresso shop. After relaxing for 30 minutes or so, I needed go to the campsite to get ready for dinner. It was so nice to sit out in the sun after a ride. It would be nice if all days could be so relaxing.
|
