Big Ride Day 20

Photos from Day 20

What a fantastic day! This was my favorite day of the ride so far. We had to leave camp really early this morning because we had to be over one of the passes by 9:00 AM. The beginning of the day was a great flat cruise through beautiful wooded country as we crossed into South Dakota. Then we started the climbing. We kept climbing and climbing through the Black Hills National Forest until we reached a point where the road was so narrow that we had to be escorted through by a van that stopped traffic for us. That was pretty cool. After crossing that pass, we had some fun downhill sections and then entered Custer, SD. Custer is a little tourist trap of a town and everyone descended on it for lunch. I went to Dairy Queen just as it opened up and a huge line of bikers formed immediately. I think we overwhelmed the poor guy at the counter. I had a blizzard and two cheeseburgers. Leaving Custer, we had a fantastic tailwind and got to Custer State Park very quickly. That was one of the most scenic parks I've ever been in! It was fantastic. Once in the park, we climbed some more and then had a fantastic downhill section winding through the park. It was so much fun!

After the long downhill, we started dawdling and ended up at this Go-kart track. I raced Go-karts with Doug and we had a blast. We rolled into Rapid City a little late but tonight, we are bunking at a National Guard base and we get to stay in barracks (a real bed!). I iced my knees, got my bunk set up, ate dinner and then it was time to go to Mt Rushmore. The bus ride was fairly quick, but the crowds and traffic were just amazing. Mt Rushmore itself is a pretty awesome sight. The fireworks over Mt Rushmore were amazing -- some of the biggest ones I've ever seen. Now we're waiting in traffic to get back home. Can't wait to sleep in tomorrow. I'm beat!

This page modified November 25, 2000