Rainy Welcome to South Dakota

Today we finally awoke to our first rainy day. We had faced the threat on several occasions, and some riders had been caught in scattered showers, but this was the first general rainfall, and was somewhat unexpected. Yesterday the weather services called for about a 30% chance of scattered showers, with a high of 92. What we got was widespread rain with most of the day in the mid 60's.

I left my camera in my luggage, since it is not weatherproof, so I took no pictures today. I found this one as a substitute.

It is not altogether unpleasant to ride in the rain, but it is another story when you mix in traffic, especially big trucks. Thankfully it was a Sunday morning, and the traffic was light. Here are Ilkka and Kent finishing up.




I rode alone most of the day, since it is a lot safer than riding too close to another rider and risking collision. In the dry, you have traction to maneuver out of trouble. In the wet, there is more chance of both riders going down. I entered South Dakota about mid-morning, which is a guess since I wasn't wearing my watch. I know that I got to Hot Springs by about 1:30. Ilkka, Kent, and a few others were already eating at a cafe called Sturdley'e Family Eating. I joined them and had a cheeseburger. It really hit the spot. Here is a map of the Black Hills around Hot Springs.


I will try to get some pix of my own later on today, and may add them today or tomorrow.

Addendum: After dinner, Mike (recumbent rider) and I walked a mile to the Mammoth Site, which is a fossil area that was found when excavation was being started for an apartment building. They began to dig up fossilized remains of wooly mammoths and other ice-age animals. The site was a large sinkhole with a hot spring after the last Ice Age. Animals would go into the water to drink or bathe, and then become trapped when the crumbly shale sides gave way. Most of them were thought to have died of exhaustion of drowning. We barely made it to the place in time, but had about half an hour to walk through the site, which is now enclosed. The pictures show some of the remains, as well as a hut made of tusks, which might have been used by any humans finding mammoth bones.




On the walk back to the hotel, we went through a very nice part of Hot Springs, and saw many nice houses like the one seen here at the top of the hill.