My apologies for falling so behind with the blog. I have been so exhausted at the end of the days I usually just pass out. Last week after our 113 mile day everyone was pretty shot. Even though the other days were only 76 & 81 miles, we all seemed to be dragging a bit.
It was my first 4th of July spent in Wyoming, and probably my only I ever will. Wyoming was okay. The fireworks were cool. The town fireworks were done right over the coal refinery (really safe, eh?), and there were some little ones going off all around u. We stayed at the senior center and a bunch of folks from the town came there to watch the fireworks. Between those going and the trains whizzing by honking their horns all night, we had a very peaceful sleep.
After crossing another state border, the rest day in Rapid City was pretty cool. My parents flew all the way out from NY to hang out and spend the weekend in South Dakota. We went to Custer State Park where we saw a buffalo who came up to the road and marched alongside the cars for a bit. He was huge! I had been wishing I saw a buffalo when riding through the day before but after seeing the size of this guy I'm relieved I didn't. We also saw some wild goats who were really friendly until some dumb kid stood behind the mom and tried to play with her baby and she kicked him. He was okay so it was funny. We also went to check out Mt. Rushmore which I wasn't all that impressed with. Big rock faces, big whoop! Glad I saw it though as long as we were so close. Then we had dinner in town and I said goodbye when they dropped me off at the dorms. It was nice to see them and I can't believe they would fly all that way to spend a weekend with me!
Today we went through the badlands and it was awesome! It was a whole lot more exciting than I expected it to be. We stopped along the way and took pictures and went to the gift shop and visitors center, where we saw rocks that were 65 million years old which Laura thought might make a nice countertop. After a bit of rain this morning it cleared up, but in the afternoon we were hit with a nasty headwind. The last 20 miles we had 20 mph headwinds with gusts up to 30 mph. Jeff and I conquered the last leg together and made some cow friends along the way.
Also, shout out to Susan from Kadoka, the lady with 9 cats who works as a handyman and funeral singer and cleaning lady. She overheard a rider asking to buy a cake at the restaurant, and when they didn't have any she offered to run home and bake us one. Thanks to her we were able to have a little surprise birthday party for our director Lynn!
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