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Day 4 – The 25th anniversary of 9-11. We began the day driving through the Badlands National Park. It reminded me of Death Valley in many ways. There was a red wind alert today. Pretty much a steady 20+ mph wind with 40 mph gusts. We had a picnic lunch, but it was very difficult to eat with the wind trying to blow everything away. 

See a quick video of Dane showing the wind as we tried to get gas. This was how it was for much of the day. We had planned to camp in Custer, but with the wind, we opted to find a room.  

When you exit the Badlands, you end up in Wall, SD. There is a famous place called Wall Drug Store. It is about the size of a city block, and within that area there are hallways with many kinds of gift shops. It reminded me of Gatlinburg in the old days. I saw souvenirs of every kind: western wear, trinkets like keychains, a variety of items with your name on them, turquoise jewelry, rocks, jams and honey, and yo-yos. The yo-yos were Duncan’s, and they lit up. Dane and I both recall having those as children.

From Wall, we drove to Custer SP and took Iron Mountain Rd, an adventurous road with curves and twists, corkscrews, and carved tunnels. Two of the tunnels frame Mt. Rushmore.   I was not that excited to go to Mt. Rushmore. But since we were so close, we had to stop by. I pictured it like Chevy Chase at the Grand Canyon in National Lampoon’s Vacation: he drives for hours, then jumps out of the car, smiles, nods his head in a funny Chevy Chase way, and jumps back in.  But the visitor center was nice, and we enjoyed hearing and seeing about how it was done. It was pretty incredible.

After that, we headed toward Rapid City, where they still had decent rooms available at a reasonable rate. Since it was Friday night, rooms were harder to come by. We’d also seen most of what we wanted to see in the Custer area, so we headed toward Deadwood, Sturgis, and the Spearfish area, which is our next stop anyway.

Today I took some photos with my good camera, but I will likely not have time to upload them until I get home, so I also tried to take photos with my phone to share here in the meantime. We have been very lucky so far on this trip, except that our timing has been off with the sun’s position. We often find ourselves shooting into the sun.

Click here to see some photos of the day

Day 3 – We made it to Sioux City, Iowa last night. Before we headed out of town, we shopped at Walmart to stock up on supplies and stopped by a bike shop, Albrecht’s Bicycle Shop. It is 105 years old. It was a Schwinn dealer back in the day and still had Schwinn signs. The place was huge. They had a basement with new and used bikes and parts. On the main floor, they had a large inventory of bikes and all things bike-related, plus an area with coffee and beer for group rides. I took lots of pictures. Non-cycling friends can skip past them.

Next stop was Sioux Falls, SD. They have a park called Falls Park that highlights a section of breathtaking falls on the Big Sioux River. We stopped and strolled through that area. We didn’t ride there, but it is part of 36 miles of paved greenway that would be fun to explore. Another classy town!  

The interstate speed limit in SD is 80 mph. I love it! There is so much to see and do, but only so much time, so we’re trying to balance the “driving to” with the actual “seeing and doing”. But we are even enjoying the interstate. We cannot stop and photograph every interesting, beautiful thing we see. We have seen so many old farmhouses, old barns, unusual trees, windmills, ponds, lakes, and one very old rusted Pacific locomotive that had been put out to pasture decades ago.

We could not pass Mitchell, SD, though. We had to stop and see the world’s only corn palace. It is definitely CORN-y and a-MAIZE-ing. The place smells like popcorn. We purchased two caramel corn cobbs to try later. It’s a fascinating historical place. They have a book for you to sign, and the farthest place someone listed on the page we signed was Switzerland!

SD has very nice rest areas. We stopped at one overlooking the Missouri River. It was a place where Lewis and Clark had camped. It had an enormous Native American statue and a stunning view (trying to use verbs other than beautiful, lol). As soon as we crossed the river, we started seeing a few random small black hills. 

We made it to Kadoka, SD, and are staying at Grandpa Joe’s Place, an old motel run by a nice couple. It is very old-fashioned, in an X-Files sort of way, but quite lovely and possibly the cleanest place I have ever stayed. There is one restaurant in town. Just after we were seated, crowds of people, with funny tan lines, a certain physique, and some of the men had shaved legs, bombarded the place. We knew they were serious cyclists and wanted to learn more. They were a Trek Travel group cycling from Portland, OR to Portland, ME. I would love to be back in good enough shape to do that. It was once a realistic dream. Oh! And the weird picture at the end is of a place called Firehenge, near where we are staying.

Another great day behind us. Tomorrow we will reach the Badlands.

Click here to see photos highlighting today

Before we left Rocheport, we decided to take a short ride on the Katy Trail, a 265-mile-long rail trail along the old Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad line. I rode the entire trail back about 19 years ago. Today, we went west and experienced another big tunnel. This one wasn’t nearly as dark or scary as yesterday’s tunnel. Then we went back east from Rocheport to explore. There, the Missouri River ran along one side and a rock cliff on the other side of the trail. We saw a place on the cliff side where a hole had been drilled to provide a waterspout. Above it was a carving railroad workers made in 1908.  

Next, we loaded up and headed to Kansas City for a trail ride there. We consider riding at least 5 miles as riding in a state. We crossed into KS to ride at Leawood Park. Kansas City is a beautiful city. The park, greenway, and the surrounding homes were very nice. When we arrived, the radar showed rain moving into the area. So we didn’t change into bike clothes, grab water bottles, or anything. We knew we were doing a hurried 2.5-mile ride out and back for a total of 5 miles just to check it off our list. It was perfect timing. We got back to the car and were rolling north just as the rain started. We enjoyed their greenway but were content with the bit we saw, knowing better rides are ahead. From there we headed toward Omaha and Council Bluffs. Along I-29 we saw amber waves of grain. Thousands of acres, just like the song describes.   We took many photos from a moving car through the windows with our phones, so no award-winning photos, but we still enjoyed the beauty and captured snapshots for the memory.   We saw some RR lights flashing across a field, alerting us that a train was coming, so we jumped off the interstate to film it. The John Deere tractors here are quite different from the ones you see around home! Took some photos of those behemoths. Later we caught and passed the same train we had seen previously, as the tracks were back alongside the interstate. Eventually, we made it to Council Bluffs, IA, and rode along the greenway across the river from Omaha, then crossed a beautiful pedestrian bridge and rode in NE. Omaha has become a beautiful town since I was last there in the late 90s.

We can now checkmark IL, MO, KS, IA, and NE as states where we have ridden our bikes on this trip!

https://photos.app.goo.gl/m5yb4sLnR81zhrVE9

Day 1 was fun. We stopped in IL and cycled on the Tunnel Hill trail. We went through a very dark tunnel. I have a headlight on my bike, but it only makes me visible to cars and didn’t help me see in the tunnel. It was so dark. The tunnel was straight, so I could see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. I could not see the ground or anything else, total blackness. And it was very cool inside. Near the end, I stopped and took a picture of Dane, who was ahead, stopped, and had turned back to take a picture of me. Afterward, we rode a short distance, and Dane said, “That is crazy. I never saw that man in the tunnel that you were talking with.”  Well, I was surprised because I never saw a man or talked with one! I let my imagination run away with me.  Ooooooo-eeeeeee-oooooo-eeeeeee

After that, we made it to Rocheport, MO, where we are staying in a boxcar at a trailhead on the Katy Trail. In the morning, we plan to take a short ride before heading west again toward Kansas City, then Omaha. This is a cycling town. Bikes are everywhere, both with riders and as décor. We had a great dinner at a local place where Dane had the best tacos of his life.

Click here to see photos from Day 1 – Sep 8