Day 13 - Gillette, WY to Custer, SD

Today we left Gillette, WY (Craig and his buddy Barclay had come here and stayed at a boarding house just after High School - I'll have to get the scoop on that one later) Gillette is a very industrial city, there is a coal strip mine and there is tons of traffic on the way out of town. We were warned about the drivers, but we didn't seem to have to much trouble except for with one and it wasn't that big of a deal. (A shave and a hair cut type when they drive too close to you thinking they are big stuff) The first 30 miles was only 200' of climbing so we flew! Oh today was also my 'experiment' day, what do I mean? Well, after 12 days of some pretty decent riding you get a sore bum! So, I've been hearing about people who actually wear two pairs of shorts - it helps with the friction that causes the owies on your soft parts. It actually did help but I think I had the wrong pair on the inside - on the 149 mile day I'm trying it again. (Yes, PK the pic that Janae sent you I have on 2 pairs!)

We got to get a glimpse of Devil's Tower off in the distance and Susan and I stopped to take pictures. Of course when Paul came back to see what we were taking pic's of he said alright girls round it up - he didn't think the inch high looking big rock was anything to stop for! (The pics didn't do it justice so in a way he was right)

At the second rest stop, Lon and John had the trailer at this old town, it was a re-creation of Iron Town from the 1800's - it was a place where settlers would stop by on their way out west and cowboys and ranchers would come to the saloons and play cards, etc. It was cool, there are pics below of it and some old painted buggies with a train in the back ground. We were cruisin' back out on the road, each of us taking a pull and kicking it up - we were getting closer and closer to catching a coal train that was almost a mile long - when it was my turn we were literally only a 1/4 mile away from it but it was still moving, I really pushed it and let my heart rate soar - we were coming up a slight up hill and I knew if we didn't go for it then we'd miss it - so panting and giving it all I could we finally caught and passed the back end of the train - it was so incredible!!! We were elated! Sad story alert: Just after that we saw something in the distance that made you think there were big troughs out in the field about 50 yards from the road. As we got closer we realized it was about half a dozen dead cows laying on their sides with their legs out. We couldn't figure out what had happened to them poison, bad water? We found out later that a few days ago a huge hail storm as big as soft balls came down and killed sheep, cows, antelope, and other livestock. It was sad - I couldn't look at them - poor things!!


When we hit lunch at New Castle with 1,500' of climbing we had averaged 19.4mph - pretty decent. Of course when we arrived all I could think about was New Castle Ale, mmmm....beer. Dave(NB) reminded me that that was in New England - yeah, I know but a girl can dream, right!?? We had a yummy lunch and I called to check in at work really quickly and got to touch base with my girl(s) Princess was the only one there - but it was good to see what was going on. Back on the bikes - it's amazing how the body revolts even after being off the saddle for only 20 minutes. It was a slow 10 minutes of warming up before we got moving again. A few days before we had been seeing these huge concrete oval/square shaped towers - we knew they were some sort of grainery but hadn't ever seen them like that. Well, in New Castle they had one that was a cafe - apparently they are flour mills - I am still hoping to take a picture of one so I can show you. They are pretty cool looking.

After lunch we had some climbing and guess what!? We hit South Dakota - see the cute picture below with Paul, Susan, Bob (on the bike Friday) and me. It is amazing to realize that we have been in 5 states now! We'll be in SD for a few days now though.

We also entered into the Black Hills National Forest - gorgeous! We had the smell of pines all around us - mmmmm...good! There was a few miles of twisty turny downhills with a 7% grade - it was dry so I put my skills to the test and had a fun time going down - of course it was dry today too. Our route took us right by Jewel Cave - a National Monument, so since we only had 13 miles left (of our 115) we decided to see if we could get a tour. Unfortunately they were all full but we did look around the visitors center and saw some really cool pictures of it. The cave is 151 miles long!! It was discovered in 1900 when two prospectors heard wind rushing through the holes in rocks - cool huh?

When we got into town we had to stop and take a picture by the sign and I crawled up on top of it, good times! I also included a picture of a nice orderly garden, because of this trip I didn't plant anything this year and am jealous!! After doing some laundry, Michelle and I met Jim (NJ), Bob (AZ), Tom (CA), Ernie (WA) for dinner and I had more buffalo - but tonight in a stir fry at the Cattleman's restaurant - it was chock full-o-veggies! Then we stopped by the Purple Pie house - I had a piece of strawberry rhubarb - oh yes! Topped with vanilla ice cream!
As you can see from the picture below (the first one) I haven't lost any weight. Also the pics are in no kind of order - sorry they just get dropped in there. You can tell which ones I talked about above and the one is of the re-growth from a forest fire in the Black Hills. Also a map showing how far we've gone so far - again amazing! BTW- I think if you want to see the pics below bigger you just have to click on them.
Thanks so much for all the wonderful comments - love, love, love them!! I also received some nice cards at the hotels along the way what an incredible surprise! Thanks Julia and Nana!!! Julia - I knew it!! Congrats! She's going to be one spoiled little girl!
Lots of love to all!!