Gillette to Spearfish
This was another long day in the saddle. 109 miles with a bit over 5k ft of climbing. Fortunately, we had a favorable wind.
My friends, Mark Johnson and Brien Welsh, both sailors, will appreciate my next comment. It strikes me that cyclists and sailors both have keen interest in knowing what the wind is doing before casting off. For those that have taken that interest, or fear, to an almost delusional obsession, such as we are bordering on with this tour, there’s a word to describe that…Amenophobia. I believe one more day of riding into a bruising headwind will certainly push us over the edge. 😅. But that didn’t happen today.
Today was another red letter day. My old George Rogers Clark HS friend, Martin Hackworth, along with his lovely family, Megan, MJ, and Savannah are on vacation in the area. We coordinated a meeting point along our route, and they met me at our lunch stop in Sundance. Although it was a brief meet up, it meant the world to me that they would take time from their vacation to visit with me. It was delightful, and a huge morale booster.
We skirted by Devil’s Tower today, coming close enough for a picture from a distance of about 15 miles, but too far away to divert for a tour. Martin is actually a very accomplished climber, and has done a few routes on the tower. There are a few Native Indian legends about the tour. To this day it remains a sacred place for local Indian nations. The most engaging legend from the Lakota Sioux has it that 6 girls were picking flowers. They were attacked by giant bears. The Great Spirit seeing their plight, raised the ground under them. The bears pursued, attempting to climb the newly formed tower, but couldn’t climb to the top. The bears fell several times, clawing the sides of the monolith rendering it as you see it today.
Teddy Roosevelt was so taken by the tower that he had it designated as our first National Monument in July, 1906. Teddy was good about preserving our nation’s natural wonders for future generations.
More to come..
By the by, sleep remains a precious commodity solely due to an annoying dry cough. No remaining fever, no more green aliens…just a hacking cough. Dr. Nick gave me some good Rx advice. I’ll put it to use. Fingers crossed…
No comments:
Post a Comment