Last night’s storm had washed the sky clean and the dust away; all that remained was cool temps and a breeze.  We pedaled uphill for a couple of miles past a beautiful ravine with pretty rapids and then over the Cheyenne River.  Past that, was a long, straight road.  A rest at the top of one of the rolling hills and a look back on the last of the Black Hills.  We rolled (mostly up) for miles, seeing a whole lot of very little.  Though the temperature were perfect for biking (think football season), we were hungover from the vista overload of the last few days.  In reality, we were both upset we were heading south and not east, taking advantage of the incredible WNW wind.  Twenty two miles down the road we came to an east intersecting road.  We stopped and looked in the direction we longed to go.  But there was nothing on that road to be found for over a hundred miles, except for a liquor store and one hotel that was booked.  So we plodded along with the wind at our shoulder, not a hindrance, but not a help.Look at the wind on the water reeds.

We reached a ridge at the Nebraska state line and took a quick break.  It didn’t look like much more to see from here, but with a slight bend in the road and an eight mile downhill, we flew with the wind.  It was not until a few miles from town we started to see signs of civilization and life.  Another late lunch in town and then up the hill to our hotel.  Once again we looked at all the options to head east and avoid another day of our southerly direction.  Thankfully, the puzzle was finally coming together.  Though too late to enjoy the 20-30 mph tailwind we would have had today, at least tomorrow we will begin again to head towards home.  A little dinnerafter our 57 mile day.