6/22/11 Black Hills (LeAnn)

Woke up and ate Malt-O-Meal. Whooohooo, gotta love the malt-o-meal!! Went around town- bike shop, library, grocery store, hardware store bike shop again after my valve on my tire snapped in half as Ben was pumping it with air. Took the bike trail/highway with no shoulder all the way out of Rapid City and to Sheridan Lake. Uphill! This was the most challenging day for me. About 20 miles of steep hills and we were loaded with more fuel, water and food. Exhausted, we finally made it to Sheridan lake and I jumped into the water as fast as I could. It was cold, but not quite as cold as Lake Superior this time of year. We continued biking around the lake to try and find a campsite. Campsite again loaded with Rvs and expensive, so we carryed our bikes up a steep hill off the road. We trudged over lots of fallen red pine trees infested by the mountain pine beetle up the hillside til we finally found an opening good enough to put up our tent. The sun sets early when your smack dab in the middle of the Black Hills. Beautiful!