Go east, to go north to go west into the wind to go south, and that’s just the first seven miles to get us back on the Mickelson Trail.  By the time we had climbed a couple hills to get us back on track, we’d forgotten the 55° it was when we started at 6:30 this morning.  After close to 400 pictures yesterday of fields and steams, “we” tried to be more judicious with the camera.  As we passed more campers waiting for the big rally, we hoped/prayed we’d seen the last of the motorcycles.  Nothing against the riders, but their gathering of 1.5 million people next week in Sturgis, has wrecked havoc on our course and finding a place to stay.

For the first few hours, we paralleled the highway; traffic wasn’t too bad at this early hour, but it was still noticeable.  Seventeen miles and over two hours of climbing through the beautiful countryside, we finally reached our first climb to 5900 feet.  We caught a quick glimpse of the Crazy Horse Memorialthen took a turn away from the highway and enjoyed a quiet, shady six mile coast down to Custer.  A quick liquid refuel and we began another climb, only three miles (5320′) and much easier.  The constant stream from yesterday was replaced by amazing rock formations in the middle of incredibly green fields.

Pulled into the saloon at Pringle for our lunch break, only to find them closed on Mondays.  Thankfully, the owner was there and could offer us something cold (water) to drink.  As we rested, a cowboy with a hat brimmed as wide as his shoulders strolled in.  Discussing our route, he said, “That’s a far bit on a dirt road.”  Having finally left the dusty trail, we had been looking forward to some pavement; twenty miles of dirt road was not part of our plan.  A highway was our next option;the amazing rock formations continued.We rolled up the highwayand past a hill struggling to regain green after a fire.We reached an almost treeless plateau of the Custer National Park and Wind Cave State Park; a remarkable topography change from the last two days.
The three amigos were anxious to tell us of their victorious gunfight and the best saloon in the park. They were quite chatty, but the wind was picking up and with no trees to protect us, we needed to push on.  One last cattle guard crossing, a downhill into the wind and we finally reached our town at 1:30.  A quick stopfor food and a cold beer, then a tour of just a few of the many sandstone buildings in town.

  The day had gotten HOT, dry (15% humidity) and dusty, we were happy to duck into A.C.  It was only a couple hours later we heard the rumble of thunder.  An hour later, an incredible hail, wind and rain storm came in and raged at our doorstop.   We began to wonder if it would stop, so we could get dinner.  A brief break in the rain and lightening and we briskly walked past flash flooding and road closures to the closet place a half mile down the road.  An easier pace back to our hotel, revealed a beautiful, yet a bit tumultuous, sky.