Crossing the Black Hills I kept seeing little sign-posts with the names of creeks: Poison Creek, Badwater Creek, Dry Creek... and now I'm in the Badlands. When I'm not going "Wow! This is so cool!" I think about how intensely harsh this landscape is... and how intense the winters must be. Though it's so crazy hot these days that requires a lot of imagination.
There are signs of danger:
But also of delicate beauty (I won't tell you what else I was doing when I took this picture):
I rode 75 miles today in 7.5 hours, including stopping for snacks & lunch, take pictures, lose my glasses (a senior moment I now have to deal with) and have a Squirt in a bar with a sign that said "Bikers Must Stop" (I had to comply even though I knew they meant motorcyclists).
At that bar they had several tv's on with no one watching - but one was showing a soccer game between Celtic FC (from Glasgow) and the Seattle Sounders. Celtic is Camilo's favorite team in the whole world, so it was really exciting to me to catch it, so randomly... (Pretty much everything I know about soccer is because of him.)
The wind sprang up (against me) around mile 50, and it's been blowing like crazy ever since - so I hope it dies down overnight because I have a ways to go tomorrow...
I don't think the glasses thing was a senior moment at all, more like a "I've got too many things to keep track of and transport - on a bicyle!" moment.
ReplyDeleteCowboy Chuckwagon - yeeehaw!
You're amazing! Love, m.