July 9
Monday, July 9 Rapid City, SD to Wall, SD 58.1 miles 1,770 feet of climb
What a fun ride! Here we
are in famous Wall, SD and I have been to the Wall Drug Store, of course.
This humungous tourist trap has a little of everything. I had to take a photo of the sign just
outside of town ( I’ll post it later
when the photos get home ). It said
they had homemade pie, I was SO hungry after this 58 mile ride, I went directly
to the place after checking at the motel if our rooms were ready. They weren’t
and wouldn’t be for 3 hours. I got in
at 11AM today, Wow, just like a day off,
almost. I ate lunch at Wall Drug and
like all visitors, I had a few glasses of their free ice water. The Husteads who operated Wall Drug in the
1930’s started offering free ice water to all and they still do to this day. I
stopped in the nice chapel inside the drug store. It is a design taken from a chapel in Iowa made by the Trappist
Monks in 1850. I may have to go back
later in the afternoon and visit the donut factory.
Getting out of Rapid City this morning, we sure had to
watch our route map closely. Since we
were staying on the west side of town (usually we come in and go across town)
last night, we made our way through town and out east. We had 18 left and right combination turns
before heading out on Hwy 1416. After passing the entrance to Ellsworth Air
Force Base, traffic became practically
none. What fun the roads were the
continual short rollers. From mile 12
to mile 31, I felt like I was going on a giant roller coaster. What was so fun was delighting in my
increasing strength and speed. We have
done so many hills that is it any wonder that I’m having so much fun now because
of this increased physical conditioning?
I got stung by a bee
on my hip this morning while riding down Interstate 90. Ouch! Now, it itches like crazy. After we finished the roller coaster country
road we entered on to I-90 and rode for 25 miles right up to the exit to Wall, SD. The road was clear and smooth, but we did have to stay clear of
the continuous rumble strip that ran right to the left of our bike wheels. I lost focus for a few seconds as I was
looking over to the left at some scenery and I rode on to the rumble strip. My God, I thought my eyes and brains were being
rattled around in my head.
And now for the road
kill count. South Dakota is full of
those horrible rattlesnakes and the 6 I
saw today were big ones! I had to pee
pretty bad and I rode on as long as I possibly could before parking my bike
along the Interstate and walking down the side of the hill to find a spot to
squat. Believe me, I would have left my
shorts right in that spot if one of those icky snakes slithered by!
It was so
unbelievably hot this afternoon, I was very thankful I didn’t have to be out
there in this heat and humidity. It
rained here this afternoon. Storms seem
to come up quickly and pass quickly too.
Sure so hope it isn’t like this tomorrow. We have 116 miles – an all day trip for me.
I was sitting in the
motel lounge writing this journal entry and Fr. Jim came in. He had to tell me to go over to St.
Patrick’s Church. He stopped in and saw
and incredible art collection. I walked
the 3 blocks over to the church. The
former Pastor left his fabulous art collection for all to enjoy. Just amazing. From all over the world, he collected crosses and each and every
one is unique and different. Many were
of rare woods and various metals, each one a study. Looking out from the beautiful Blessed Sacrament Chapel was a
beautiful flower garden with some unusual wood carvings. I’m so glad he looked me up and told me to
make this visit. Truly a quiet and
peaceful highlight of this lovely day. God is good. Deo Gratius