July 4, 2023
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away
The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
Tail winds that is!!!
I left warm showers host, Gary this morning under grey skies and misty drizzles. Needing groceries for the upcoming void of services next two days, I ride to Walmart where two nasty old South Dakota Walmart ladies kicked me out for wanting to leave my bike in the entry way where the wet dripping shopping carts are stored. So I went to target instead. Maybe it’s because I feel more free being out here on my own or maybe it’s because I think everyone should be nice to me, but I am less tolerant of all these useless rules. You can’t get too close to the train engines to take pictures….why? Who knows. You can’t bring a bike into the shopping cart area of Walmart……why? Who knows. Barbed wire and no trespassing signs everywhere. I need to invest in barbed wire. Those guys probably made more money than any of the gold prospectors back in the day.
Anyhow. It took me a while and 5 extra miles to do my shopping and get out of Rapid City. It’s a pretty spread out place. But I had a tail wind and a generally flat to declining ride all the way to Scenic SD with a pretty good shoulder to boot. At times I was doing 17-18 mph which is great considering the weight I was pushing.
Low clouds plagued me all day but kept temps a pleasant 55-65 F. Then the usual dark rain cloud appeared and threatened to drench me as I got close to Scenic. I got there just in time to stay dry.
Scenic is basically a ghost town with abandoned houses and businesses. In one YouTube video I watched a touring cyclist said he was told to camp anywhere he liked. That must have been some years ago as now the place is covered in knee high weeds and barbed wire and log barricades prevent you from getting close to many buildings. The ones I could approach were boarded and locked up tight. I was hoping to get inside out of the rain and maybe even camp inside for the night. Instead I ate a lunch of peanut butter and dried cranberries on flour tortillas while sitting in the porch of an old saloon. I did get a 20 minute nap in an old bench.
There was poor cell service so I could not easily find a place to stay. Besides the closet motel or cabin was 31 miles away. As the rain had eased I decided to stick with my original plans and take a dirt road to a free camp ground in the Badlands. This was a struggle as the road was a sticky kind of dirt and headed north into a head wind for 15 miles. Strange thing….. as you enter Sage Creek Rd you seem to be in the Badlands, and there is a sign that says you are in National Grasslands. But then you travel through farms for most of the 15 miles to camp.
The camp has an oval grassy area with a road around. There are about 20 designated campsites but really any piece of grass is up for grabs. There is no water and only a vault toilet. But we got prairie dogs!!!!! And Bison!!!!! The dogs are barkin and the Buffalo are roaming.
And since there is no cell service I will post this whenever there is.
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Gary. Warm Showers host.
Today's ride: 64 miles (103 km)
Total: 1,580 miles (2,543 km)
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