50 miles cycling, 1551′ of climbing (1837.2 tot) – to read from the beginning, click here.
Today was a shorter repeat of yesterday without the nasty lady. We got up and went to the Frontier Travel Center for coffee and some more breakfast, topped our bottles with ice water, and headed out into the already hot morning.
We knew there was a restaurant in Ludlow about halfway, but weren’t sure whether it was open or not. We got there around 11:00 and it had just opened so Dana and I had a couple of Haams beers and a lot of water that the owner Ron was very generous with. His wife. Suzette came out to join the party and gave us a tour of the place and all her cowboy and other antiques. Very interesting place, and very interesting couple, and the best thing was we had fresh cold water to start our last 20 miles.
It turned out to be another scorcher and while Dana was far ahead of me, I knew we were both rationing water carefully measuring the miles and the sips. I also had the advantage of having the ice cooler (a yeti-like cup) so I could get a little refreshment from that too. Dumbest mistake of the day: A guy stopped his car on the highway and asked me if I wanted any drinks — not cold, but air-conditioned-car-cool. I declined. Must’ve been delirious because that was stupid. I still made it to Buffalo SD, our stop for the night, and Dana was already there at a bar getting cold water and a beer. I joined her and we talked with one of the patrons Dave who gave us some tips for the next day’s trip to Belle Fourche.
We went to the campground and set up the tent and asked the owner for a picnic table. He brought out a card table, saying the picnic tables he ordered hadn’t come in yet, but we got our $25 worth cuz we had good showers and laundry facilities. I took a side trip to the local grocery store to get yogurt and fruit for breakfast. After we got set up and showered, we went to the other bar in town, Saloon #3, to have dinner — on the recommendation of the bartender at the first bar. Dana chatted up a couple, Alan & Lin, who were artists & archaeologists and had found a full Mastodon skeleton in Montana.
Then laundry and bed, and a hoped-for tailwind tomorrow to Belle Fourche, SD
