We left early and after a stop to say goodbye to Julie, we headed out of town. Our ride through the Black Hills today was one to be remembered. The views were spectacular, all around us. It got warm again but a couple of brief and timely rain showers cooled us off. 

We stopped in Deadwood, a quintessential old western town. While there, we had a beer in the Old Style Number 10 Saloon, where legend has it that Wild Bill Hickok was shot and killed on August 2, 1876. The saloon was also frequented, back in the day, by Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane.

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The final climb to Mount Rushmore was tough but once on top, I turned around and there were the faces of those Great American Icons, staring directly at me. It was awesome. We rode over to the visitors center where we spent some time looking at interpretive signage that detailed the history and construction of the massive cliff sculptures. There was a huge display of pamphlets. I had to control myself and not take one of each.

We went back to the road, to look for a spot to camp for the approaching evening. Along the road, there seemed to be so many tourists, their vehicles, and none of the calm of the wide open spaces through which we had been passing in the preceding weeks. We didn't quite know what to do. At one point, we were talking to a fellow who said it is permissible to camp anywhere in the Black Hills. We weren't completely sure that his assertion was true, but we had a lot of miles under our wheels today and were ready to take our chances at the first good spot.

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The road we were on was winding and at one point, I saw a foot path going up a small rise lying adjacent to the road. We stopped and I scampered up the wooded path. Upon emerging from the trees, a flat area with a good view and nobody around was revealed. This was it! I went back down, told Paul, grabbed my bike and hauled it up the path. Paul followed. As we began to get our camp set up, we paused and took better notice of where we happened to be. To our amazement and delight, we were on a bluff with a tremendous view. Mount Rushmore was visible. We could see the Badlands across approximately 35 miles of prairie. In another direction was a thunderstorm, with lightning, going across the plains away from us. Later on, lights were shone on Mount Rushmore, as it began to get dark. We had a great light show, with not only the lights on the Presidents faces but that thunderstorm and its lightning were still making flashes, as well. Nobody else came, so we had this place all to ourselves, all night long, with amazing vistas, and no rain got to us. This campsite would be very hard to beat... and it was not topped during the remainder of the trip.