Written by Dave

Day 38-39 – July 5-6th

An update from Rapid City… We’ve had a couple great days here in Rapid City at Lynn’s house. She’s treated us like kings and queen, fed us more food than we should really be eating, given us unlimited use of her car and even, if you can believe it, given up her bed for Nancy and I. Lynn lives in a wonderful little neighbourhood where neighbours stay at neighbour’s home when large groups of guests arrive. Lynn is sleeping across the street at Loren’s home. Nancy and I sleep in Lynn’s bed while Curtis and Chris each have their own beds in a guest room.

If you’re wondering what it’s like to have 4 touring cyclists and all their gear invade your home, read on. I couldn’t talk Lynn into writing the entire blog today but she agreed to offer up the invasion summary below:

How to entertain 4 bicycle riders riding from the west coast to east coast.

When you’re hosting these amazing and energetic people for 3 nights and are advised that they eat a lot, believe it! THEY EAT A LOT!! The 1st  night they quickly demolished a Bicycle Rider Delight casserole (secret family recipe AKA Hunter’s Delight and Fisherman’s Delight normally serving 10+).  Always have a birthday cake handy… just in case.

Have comfortable beds, fluffy towels, lots of hot water, bathrooms they don’t have to share with unknowns and make sure you’re friendly with your neighbors so you also have a bed and bath to go to.

Have a good mailing  address to receive daily packages of bike parts a week prior to their arriving, and a garage for them to spread out for bike maintenance and storage for their 70# packs. A car they can use for sightseeing is a great extra and that nice neighbor will probably loan you their car if you need it. Be cautious about how many bike riding neighbors know they’re coming, as they’ll have questions about their own bikes from these masters of the roads, who will take time from their own bikes to help and answer questions.

Laundry machines are a must!

In return for all you have to offer, they help with the cooking, cleaning, maintenance projects around the house and yard.

A cute dog is always fun but not necessary. Bike riders don’t always realize they need a furry pup curled next to them at night until he is in bed with them.

The best part of hosting these people (now good friends) is sitting around the dinner table, learning about these amazing people, hearing stories of their travels, sharing the food, laughs, and a bottle of wine. The 3 days is far too short. Tomorrow, I’ll send them off early with full stomachs. Then I’ll dry my tears and go restock the pantry.

Thank you again Lynn – we had an amazing visit and best of all, we can all say that we now have a friend in South Dakota!

Over the last couple weeks, we shipped a bunch of replacement parts to Lynn’s home. That meant that yesterday morning had to be spent overhauling our bikes – tires, brake pads, chains and few other odds and ends were replaced. Nancy and I only had about 4,000 miles on our tires but we weren’t sure when we’d have access to a garage and shipping address going forward so we went ahead and put on new tires. The local Rapid City bicycle repair collective was happy to take our not yet worn out tires for their bikes-for-kids program.

Aside from other general chores, we also took advantage of Lynn’s generous offer to use her car and played tourist quite a bit here in Rapid City. Yesterday afternoon we headed east out to Wall Drug and also Badlands National Park. The first stop at Wall Drug was stunning. And by stunning, I mean alarmingly stunning. We arrived there in the early afternoon and it was packed with wall to wall people, schtick souvenirs and a million t-shirts. We wandered a bit before signs of PTSD drove us to a quiet back corner where we helped one of the many Chinese store workers learn how to make a cortado. The 5 cent coffee they had on offer was bad, though probably worth every penny.

Eventually, we escaped the vortex of Wall Drug and took the short drive out to Badlands National Park. It was quite windy and rain was threatening but it was great being out in the fresh air. We took in a number of nice scenic viewpoints, stopped for photos of wild buffalo and prairie dogs and generally regained our composure from the Wall Drug shocker. The drive back to Lynn’s took us through some of where we ride tomorrow – we are definitely in the grasslands now. Fingers crossed for favourable winds as there is nothing out there to stop a headwind should it occur.

Today’s tourist activity was heading west back the Black Hills and visiting Mt Rushmore. It was Nancy and Curtis’s first trip, Chris has been a few times and for me, the last time I visited was 1967 (57 years ago, according to my mother). We arrived earlyish which was a good idea judging by the crowds coming in as we exited. As for the monument, we enjoyed seeing it and watching a short film on the story of its conception and carving. Crazy Horse, which we saw a few days ago, is more impressive and seems to have a more lasting positive social impact. For sure, Mt Rushmore is something every American should see at some point. All four of our touring party have now ticked that box. We generally agreed that we’d probably come back for another look one day, if nothing else, to check further progress at Crazy Horse and Mt Rushmore just around the corner.

Tomorrow we’re back on the road, heading to the grasslands of the Great Plains. Somewhere around 30 miles out, we’ll officially cross the halfway point of our Chris Crossing America bicycle trip.  As of today, we are 1,995 miles from the Oregon Coast.