It was nice to finally get a full 8 hours of sleep, especially in a bed. It's also easier to toss and turn and fall back asleep in a bed, so I did that until about 8 and then strolled down to Donna's Diner for breakfast. I had bacon, hashbrowns, eggs, and biscuits, and listened to the locals. I was pretty entertained as a table with two elderly couples ranted about modern society. "Kids with cell phones don't pay attention to what you tell them (does any kid, regardless of what they're doing?), I rented a video and it was full of profanities so I tried to get my money back from Walmart but for being a family store they weren't very helpful (since when did Walmart become a family store?), I tried to take one back to Blockbuster because it also was too bad but they wouldn't refund so I broke the DVD in half over the counter (since when is a video store responsible for you making a bad rental choice, and why would you resort to destroying the movie?)." It was pretty interesting but also a little overwhelming so I returned to my room and slowly packed up. I'm hoping the checkout went smooth because they never told me a time and there was nobody there when I left at 11, so I just left the room as I found it. Not a great motel if you need the service but since all I required was a bed and shower I managed fine.
The ride into Sundance was slow and pretty uneventful, but the scenery did start to improve as I entered the Black Hills. I also took it slow since my saddle sores are a little worse than I thought after yesterday. Some of you have complimented my writing saying that it feels like you're right there with me, so I'll give you the full experience. For those not interested, I apologize for the rest of the paragraph. If you're not familiar, saddle sores can emerge in the sit bone area from riding too long or having just a little something not quite as comfortable as it should be. The sit bones are the bones right above where your butt cheek meets your thigh and on any ride of significant length you want a saddle (bike seat) that contacts mainly your sit bones to prevent chafing in other areas. Now, my saddle sores are relatively mild and my educated guess is that they're cause by riding over 208 miles in the past two days. They basically feel like mild rug burns, but when you have to sit back on them to ride again it sucks. I shifted quite a bit over the day, stood up frequently, and yet still felt a sting when the pad in the bike shorts would stick to the slightly raw area. Okay, I'll stop with that, suffice it to say it was not my best ride, a far cry from the trip record of 18.7 mph average yesterday.
But I did stop at length in Sundance to snack in the park, get a smoothie, and find out that my former employer was just bought out by a rival company. Not sure what this means for me if I reapply but at least the deal can settle for the next two months while I finish this trip.
I continued to Spearfish and stopped along the way at the Vore Buffalo Jump near the WY-SD border. This is a site discovered in the '70s while building I-90 where the Native Americans used to stampede buffalo into a pit to kill them. It's estimated that over the roughly 300 years that this activity occurred, over 20,000 buffalo were driven to their demise in this natural sinkhole. They have an archaeological dig ongoing at the bottom and it was fascinating to see the excavation in progress.
I made it into South Dakota although the only welcome sign was on the interstate but you can still barely make out the sign. Finally I got into Spearfish and looked up my lodging. I just happened to stop next to Crows Peak Brewing Co, and then found out the KOA was 500 feet down the road! I set up camp and they gave me two free cookies and a goodie bag with emergen-c's, dried cranberries, and toothpaste! I'm pretty sure this goodie bag was made especially for campers. I showered quickly and on the way back to my tent talked with a man about my bike and the trip and such. As I got my water boiling he came over and invited me to dinner with his family, which is a very hard thing to say no to.
Younegseob is Korean and has been in the US with his wife and four kids for a year. They fed me Korean ribs, rice, kimchi, and an appetizer of anchovies and pumpkin seeds sauteed in soy sauce and honey. To top it off they gave me soju, a Korean rice wine! We sat and talked about my trip as well as theirs, which is a one month car camping trip around the western US. Younegseob is also an avid snowboarder so we talked about that for some time as well.
Eventually I thanked them and walked over to the brewery for a couple beers, and given my appetite, a 12" pizza. I'm glad I only have a 20 mile ride tomorrow to get to Sturgis, it will be good to rest the rear for a bit before Steph comes and we ride on Friday! Also, I'm excited for the Black Hills, from the little I've already seen they look beautiful (see picture).
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