Where’s Kman

Custer, SD to Chadron, Ne
99 miles
16.8 average mph
Hwy 135
Stopped at the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, SD. Here they have found the fossils of 58 distinct male mammoths dated at about 25,000 years old. Some are colombian and some are woolly mammoths which were trapped in a sinkhole here. Also bmet a group of 30 bikers going cross cpountry with Bike and Build in Chadropn, Nebraska.

Custer, SD to Custer, SD
19 miles
15.7 average mph
Today I saw the Crazy Horse Memorial. Crazy Horse was an Ogalala Lakota warrier born in the Black Hills around 1842. The statue was begun in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski and will depict Crazy Horse on his horse pointing with his left arm towards his lands. There are also plans for the Indian University of North America on the grounds. Ziolkowski died in 1982 but the work continues on the statue today. Also went to the town of Custer where I saw 10 or 12 of those painted buffalo an the streets of downtown. I posted the photos of some of my favorites.

Rapid City, SD to Custer, Sd
45 miles
11.3 average mph
Hwy 16
Hwy 244
Hwy 87
Had 2 really big climbs today. The first was about 2 miles on the road up to Mt. Rushmore and the next was 6 miles ont he climb up to Sylvan Lake on Needles Highway (Hwy 87). There were a good number of switchbacks and I lost track. There were lots of people at Mt. Rushmore so it was really crowded. I got in free at Mt. Rushmore (10 dollar parking for cars) and at Custer State Park (also usually 10) because I was on my bicycle. I am over a mile high for the first time on my trip at 6140 feet. I hiked to the top of Harney Peak which is the highest point in South Dakota at 7242 feet. There were great views from the tp and also hundreds of chipmunks running around on the rocks at the very top. I think they could call it Chipmunk Mountain. Hello to Eric and Lacy whom I met twice today. Once in Rapid City and again at Mt. Rushmore.

Newell, SD to Rapid City, SD
92 miles
14.3 average mph
Hwy 79
Hwy 14A
Hwy 385
Hwy 44
Rode in the Black Hills of South Dakota today. It is a beautiful area to ride. There are a few hills but not to steep and not many trucks but lots of Harleys and Corvettes. Went to downtown Deadwood which is all neat little tourist shops and restaurants, hotels, and B and B’s. Also went up to the town of Lead and took a tour of an underground gold mine. The deepest gold mine in America is located there; the Homestake Mine. It is no longer in operation. Then I went to Rapid City, SD where there is another stave church replica. This one was being used for weddings this afternoon and also has a nightly lutheran short worship service (it’s a Norwegian church after all) which I am going to tonight.

Reeder, ND to Newell, SD
112 miles
16.8 average mph
Hwy 22
Hwy 79
The northwest corner of South Dakota is the most desolate I have seen so far. There are a lot more cows than people! I went through 4 towns today in 112 miles and the largest had a population of 600 people. The other 3 were just names used to fill up space on the map with only 2 buildings each. The ranches or farm houses in the area are larger than these so called towns. Luckily the first one had a gas station/store as one of the 2 buildings and I had lunch there. The area is mostly used for cattle ranching and I also saw some wheat being grown. It is rolling terrain with a butte sticking up every few miles or so. You can see the larger buttes for miles away because there are hardly any trees.