Day 71 - ending near Reva, SD - The Great Plains Trail - Sort Of

July 24, 2023

Day 71 - ending near Reva, SD

Day 71 - Newell, SD to Reva, SD

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Copying my evening report for this day won't work - it's too short on details:

"Made it to the entrance to the campground. I won't have any cell signal when I get there so this is a short report."

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To get an early start on my long, uphill day, I'd set my phone alarm for 4:30am. Sleeping in this air conditioned cabin worked so well. I'm a little surprised that even without having to take down a tent, it took me 2 hours to get going.

I stopped at the Conoco gas station in town for Gatorade, Clif Bars, and ice. I took a tour of Newell next as I made my way to where I was going to eat breakfast: The Blueline Diner. I ordered a full breakfast plus their short stack. That turned out to be more food than I could eat at one sitting, but the owner fixed me up with a carry out container for the pancakes.

Today's destination is Reva Gap Campground located in Custer National Forest near Reva, South Dakota. I had it figured as 71 miles away, and most all the riding would be on SD-79. I got started on that at 8:11am. The southeast wind was helping as I moved north. Shortly after I left Newell a sign stated that there were no services for 33 miles. That's the distance from here to Hoover.

At 10:30am, I arrived at Castle Rock. There's nothing here but an intersection with SD-168. Up next is a 5-mile section where the highway curves east. That was a little more work, thanks to southeast wind. I was almost done with that when my noon alarm went off: 31.3 miles for the morning. I continued on a little ways to the highway's intersection with Graf Road, where I could pull off and have a break. I had 40 miles to go.

At 12:50pm I was in Hoover, or would be shortly, after a coast down a gravel road. I went into their store, but couldn't find anyone there. Finally, when I yelled loud enough, and elderly lady came out from a side room. She found me an ice cream sandwich when I said I was hoping for ice cream. We sat down at the table and talked. She's been running the store since 1976. Motorcyclists heading to Sturgis stop by, but they don't cause any trouble. Alex Hoover built all the buildings in town in 1905.

I left Hoover at 1:15pm. Crossed over into Harding County at 2:37pm. I was beginning to get worn out, so started walking up some hills that I normally would have bicycled. All this exercise didn't seem be helping my cold any. I was getting tired of coughing and blowing my nose. The wind was blowing strong now. Open water bottles whistled.

I should mention that this morning I believe I was on the Great Plains Trail, but not in the afternoon. The GPT takes off through Custer National Forest on dirt roads, or maybe even just paths, to get to Reva Gap Campground. I'd decided in pre-trip planning that I'd stay on highways here. That didn't mean that there wouldn't be hills for me. There was one, a gap between buttes that I probably would have walked up even if I didn't have a cold. I was at the top of that at 4:43pm.

At 6:30pm, I was less than a mile away from the intersection with SD-20, the highway that would get me to the campground 4 miles away. I was definitely feeling worn out at this point, so took what turned out to be a half an hour break. At least there was a place to sit. It'd been hot today. I think 97F was the high. But it was my cold that was getting me down.

I finally made it to SD-20 at 7:10pm. A pickup truck with a couple in it pulled alongside me. They said they'd seen me some 45 miles ago and here I was now. They wanted to make sure I was OK and had enough water. The fellow driving the truck said he's the Harding County Sheriff and to get a hold of him if I needed anything. I told him that'd be hard to do since I had no cell phone signal. He said, "Well call 911 then; you'll get a hold of me."

I made it to the campground's entrance at 7:58pm. Sent out my evening report (I had a cell signal now that I was past the buttes area of the national forest) then coasted down to the campground area.

There were a few other campers here at different separated camping areas. I finally settled on a site that was fairly open. That was probably a mistake because of the strong wind. I set up the tent downwind of the picnic table, then rigged guylines to hold the tent, since stakes wouldn't go into the rocky soil. This was a lot more messing around than I really wanted to do tonight. I did know that I should eat something, so I had one of my pancakes. Once in the tent, I crashed at 10:16pm. I don't think I could have gotten back up, even if I'd wanted to.

Jeff

Spent: $10.84 (Gatorade, Clif Bars) + $18.85 plus $5 (breakfast) + $3.50 plus $1.50 (ice cream sandwich, Dr Pepper) = $39.69