Devil's Tower Ride

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Not sure where to ride to today. We must decide between Mt. Rushmore and Devil's Tower. Nancy wants to head to Devil's Tower as we have been to Mt. Rushmore. (back in 1984) So it is off to ride to Devil's Tower.

We get an early start, thank heavens it rained last evening. It cooled the earth around here off. The only bad part is it is mostly overcast. But the temperature is more normal, 74. We have local maps and find the ride that is for Devil's Tower and follow the recommended route. We head out on back country roads. They are U.S. highways, but since the interstate went in not to heavily traveled. That makes for a nice ride for us.

Arriving at the Wyoming border we take time for photo shots. After all we are tourists. Some guys heading into S. Dakota offered to snap a photo of the two of us at the border. Nice. We continue on thru rolling hills, taking curves and uphills and downhills. One steep grade was an 8% downhill grade, thank heavens for low gear!

We arrived at Devil's Tower close to noontime. We took time to just sit and enjoy the view. What spectacular scenery. I recommend everyone take the time and go see this site.

Leaving Devil's Tower the suggested route us through Sundance. We think that little town would be a great place to eat lunch. We head into town and find a corner restaurant, lots of locals heading into the place. That's where we decide to eat. Wow, typical small town - good food.

Leaving Sundance the tour now puts us on the interstate. But, wait it starts to sprinkle. We take time out and shop in Sundance for awhile. When we come out of the general store, it is still sprinkling, so we decide to go ahead and head for home.

We get out on the interstate and the rain disappears. How lucky can we be? So we head for home and warmth. Did I tell you the temperature dropped? well, it did and we were glad we had worn our warm clothes.

All in all our ride was about 160 miles through the Black Hills. What a great experience.

Our internet hookup speed is so slow I can't be bothered with trying to send any pictures.