Illini 4000

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Day 39: Wall to Rapid City

We began our morning at Wall Drug, the biggest tourist attraction ever. It was fun looking around, and most of us tried their famous 5 cent coffee and homemade donuts.We donated today’s 58.9 mile day to Kenneth, a man that we did a portrait with a little while back when he recently got diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He had surgery today, and we were thinking about him and his wife, hoping for a successful surgery and healing.The first 40 miles flew by, and we even had some tailwinds. The last 20 were much harder as we met stronger headwinds and bigger hills. The great thing about shorter rides like today is the more leisurely pace you can afford to take. We stopped, took pictures, took stretch breaks, and felt no pressure to rush.It’s amazing how many different types of scenery we have seen in one state. What began as cornfields turned into rolling hills, then giant rock formations, and now the black hills.We are staying at St. Thomas Moore High School in Rapid City. It is a very nice school and only 2 miles from downtown. We are thankful that Catherine’s parents wanted to provide dinner for us one night, and we got a discount on our dinner from Qdoba. It is always nice to change up our meals.We are very much looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. There is no event, so we will take advantage of the opportunity to rest and explore downtown.I finally got some photos to upload! Here are some from the last few days:DR