Hank – We delayed our departure from Deadwood to wait for the rain to abate, which it was supposed to do at 1:00 pm. We had lunch at a nearby restaurant, again more unremarkable tourist food. We hit the road a little after 1:00. The rain was light, which was good. We had a long, steep climb up to Strawberry Hill where we ran into fog and misty rain. We pretty much had misty rain all the way to Whispering Pines Campground. Once there we grabbed a tent site that had some cover. The nice folks who run the place saved us one since I told them two days ago we’d be coming in on bikes.

After setting up camp, getting hot showers, and doing laundry were next on the list. Then we had dinner. I had chili mac with beef. Kathy had the lasagna. Kathy still had two small bottles of white wine. They complemented the rehydrated meals perfectly.

Kathy wanted some chocolate after dinner and opened up the Hershey Snack Bites only to find they had all melted together in the hot weather we had a few days ago. It was one solid chunk of chocolate. The pieces we broke off didn’t taste very good so we chucked it out.

Tomorrow’s weather forecast will determine our next destination. Looks like more rain and possible thunderstorms. Fun times. Also, I bet the Black Hills look a lot prettier on a sunny day.

Kathy – Today was a short ride of only 24 miles with 2,000 feet of elevation. It took us 3 hours to complete.  Our climb out of Deadwood, South Dakota was steep with construction work and lots of grooved pavement.  The fog was heavy as we reached the peak of Strawberry Hill with the elevation at 5,843 feet.  I was happy to have the climb over, but the sudden decent was frightening with the fog, rain, construction, and cars close by.  I don’t feel a need to do this one again on a bike.  🙂   After our ride, warm showers, and dehydrated dinners, we are warm and all tucked in our sleeping bags.  We should sleep well.  A side note:  We are re-evaluating our plans on a daily basis right now with so much rain and thunderstorms in the Black Hills area this week.  So, no telling where we may end up! 😉