RAPID CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA: Discovering the City By Bicycle--A Photo Documentary

August 31, 2017

When you last heard from me, I had survived a long walk to the laundromat with a drunken beggar. He wasn't all that scary, but I kept an eye on him at all times and I sure was glad he didn't decide to keep me company after I paid him for his guide services.

An hour later my clothing was washed, dried and smelled great. I stuffed it all into a filthy compression sack and began my search for a motel. I rode to the city's north side where I booked two days in the Day's Inn. (Get it? Two "days in" a "Day's INN"? Pretty funny, eh? I thought it was so clever that I wrote this whole paragraph just to get that hilarious play on words into my journal.)

The extra day in the Day's Inn gives me all day today to explore Rapid City. I've already established that I love nature, but you might be interested to know that I also love cities. Rapid City isn't a very big one, but, at 67,000 people, it's one of the largest cities in the northern Great Plains and by far the largest on this tour.

A morning rain delayed my day of discovery, but by 11:00 a.m. the streets had dried up and I was on my way downtown. Preliminary comments complete, LET THE PHOTO-DOCUMENTARY BEGIN!

The most interesting building in Rapid City. I wished I was staying there for a couple nights instead of in a Day's Inn.

When planning my bike trips I generally don't look very deeply into the history of where I'm touring. I prefer to simply observe and report what I see rather than reporting what I've researched. Sad to say, that preference has probably caused me to miss out on some very interesting things I should have known about.

On the other hand, it opens the door to the element of surprise. In this case, I had no idea that Rapid City calls itself "The City of Presidents." Almost every downtown intersection has a life-size statue of a U.S. President. Some intersections have two or three of them on opposite corners. Since you've been reading Mr. Nice Guy Goes Bad from the beginning, you know I've already stated I'm not a big Rah, Rah, USA guy, but I enjoyed the presidential statues and I thought they were a unique asset for a city like this. Don't worry though, I'm not going to display photos of all 40-something presidents, but my touring team and I had a little fun with a few of them.

After reading the premature news of his loss to Thomas Dewey, President Truman has almost as big of a smile as G-2 (who is tucked into Harry's collar.)

Nicycle is a witness to President Jefferson's signing of the Declaration of Independence.

President Carter and Mr. Nice Guy wave to the crowd.

I grew up in Iowa, so it seemed appropriate to have G-2 and Nicycle pose with President Hoover, the native Iowan who presided over the biggest stock market collapse and economic depression in history.

It was my responsibility as a journalist to go inside and report what I saw.

I guess I've been away from civilization too long. I hadn't heard the Statue of Liberty has been transferred from New York City to Rapid City.

Today's ride: 11 miles (18 km)
Total: 637 miles (1,025 km)

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