These are Real Mountains (The Rocky Mountain Chapter)

I know it has been quite a while since I last blogged (due to lack of internet access and from so many different activities going on).

Anyways, what seems like several weeks ago, I drove the car during our ride through Big Horn. This ride was extremely beautiful, although I regret having to drive, I was able to experience gorgeous scenery which was a precursor to what lay ahead in the west.

With The Big Horn Mountains leading into the Rocky Mountains, the scenery became spectacular and our first camping adventure lay ahead when we going to Yellowstone. Although the Rocky Mountains are over 3000 miles long from New Mexico to Canada and stretches up to 300 miles wide, we were still able to ride through 3 continental divides, 2 of which were in Yellowstone.

Yellowstone was unbelievable! With my first visit to Yellowstone, our day of arrival was quite interesting. Due to the fee of $12 a biker, we decided to caravan everyone into the park, 4-5 people and their bikes at a time. Although this was the only logical idea at the time, it took over 2 hours for the van to get to our campsite 30 miles into the park (Bridge Bay Campground) to unload the van and get back to the entrance. Waiting and becoming tired, many of us were not prepared for the steep incline that met us once we entered the park. Climbing up the mountains, I realized that I would never forget this experience, although late and tired, the views were breathtaking. Also, as Dana, XiXi, and I climbed up, we took breaks, some at the freezing meltwater waterfalls next to the road to cool off. As we rode higher the air became thinner, but Yellowstone was more than I expected it to be.

Never really camping before, I enjoyed the life outdoors, BUT I would have enjoyed hot water. It makes you realize how fortunate we are for the little things and how much we are given each day. Since we got a day off in Yellowstone, I told everyone that I wanted to go watch the sunrise at the park on Yellowstone Lake, which was 2 minutes away from where we camping. Many people wanted to watch the sunrise, but only Brad and I rolled out of our sleeping bags at 4:30 AM to walk down to the lake. The sunrise was amazing, although it actually came up at 6:00 AM over the mountains onto the lake. With a hike and a nap, I took the day as a rest day and relaxed, which I needed.

The next day we rode out of the park into Montana to West Yellowstone. The day started off colder than I have ever felt. Not feeling my hands and most of my body, we pedaled as fast as we could to warm our bodies up. I think these cold frigid mornings have been the only time I have been excited to climb, and climb we did. That day we rode over the continental divide, not once, but twice over 8000 feet high. As the day grew warm, so did we and we rode into Old Faithful to watch my first geyser show. Although not as impressed as I wish I was, Connie, Amy, Dana and I rode around Yellowstone looking at the geysers and other natural formations in the Caldera Boundary. Realizing that this supervolcano can blow at any moment and take the US with it, I was quite afraid, and very excited to get out of the boundary and into Montana.

Although the mornings in Montana have been by far the coldest, it has also been the most beautiful place to ride through. If you were to stop and turn in a 360 degree circle in one spot, you would see mountains surrounding you. Mountains on every side, while you stand in a perfectly flat valley. The rides have been amazing, and as we approached these mountains that lay ahead I realized that I have been so fortunate for being able to meet the people I have and that I have been so fortunate that this opportunity worked out for me.

Through towns of thousands of people, to towns of 50 (Wisdom, where we stayed for a night), the people that we have met everywhere have a common bond, their encouragement and their humanity towards us keeps us going. Their generosity and love that people have shown makes what we do worth every mountain we climb and every painful pedal worth the struggle.

Our journey ends soon, but our memories will live on forever,so will our friendships we have made, the people that we have met and impacted our lives, and the generosity that has been shown, none of that will be forgotten.

I'm Alive!

Hello! I apologize that it has been awhile since my last post but today marks the first time I've touched a computer since July 4th. While I can not update the world on the past 11 days in a matter of 20 minutes I just wanted to check in and say that I'm alive, doing well and have returned to somewhat normal civilization after having spent the past week or so in Wyoming and southwestern Montana. This afternoon we cycled into Hamilton, Montana and will head to Missoula tomorrow. It seems hard to believe that we less than three weeks away from Seattle - how fast time flys when your having fun! To be honest I don't even know where to begin this post as there are so many things that have happened in the past two weeks. We have gone from the flat lands of South Dakota through the Black Hills and by Mt. Rushmore, celebrated the fourth of July in Gillette, climbed the Big Horn Mountains where we got to play in the snow, visited Yellowstone National Park, worked as a team to find a last minute stay over after our plans fell through and made several trips to Dairy Queen among many, many other things. I'll update you on all of this stuff in time however it would probably be easiest to just start with today.

This morning we awoke in the tiny town of Wisdom, Montana where we were staying in the community center. I heard people moving around and looked at my watch only to see that it was 4:00 a.m. and that I had an additional two hours to sleep. When my alarm finally went off I'd been laying awake for atleast 30 minutes so getting up was no problem. I packed up my stuff and headed to the kitchen to put on water for the oatmeal. While I was preparing breakfast Xixi Moshered me, I tried to pass it off on Nick by handing the Mosher card to him with the team credit card (since he was driving) however as he went to put the credit card in his pocket he saw the Mosher behind it and handed it back to me. After a breakfast of oatmeal, rice and Golden Grams (all mixed with milk and maple syrup - creativity is key) we cleaned up and headed outside where I gave the daily Mosher speech. I hadn't prepared anything so I had the team form a massage circle and spoke a few words before we all sang Happy Birthday to Matt and headed on our way. The morning included a gradual climb and marked the third and final time in which we cross the continental divide. We reached the top of the climb around mile 25 before beginning our decent. I was riding with Xixi, Fei and Takaya all of whom were ahead of me. Around mile 29 I went around a bend where there was gravel and rocks alongside the road. Looking at the rocks on the side I paid no attention to the rock that was right in front of me and hit a jagged rock about the size of a tennis ball at about 32 mph (not something I'd recommend doing), when I saw it I knew it wouldn't be good and immediately after going over it I heard my tire make a hissing sound and knew I'd just gotten my first flat tire of the summer. (I'd been pondering only a few miles earlier as to if I'd be able to go the entire summer without a flat so maybe I jinxed myself.) Riding in the back of my group everyone else was well ahead of me and didn't hear me yell "STOP" so I pulled to the side and quickly began to change the flat. Cell phone service which has been hit or miss the past few days had resurfaced by this point in the descent so I turned on my cell and tried to call my group to tell them that I was ok however nobody answer their phone so I just began changing the flat. After a few minutes a man in a white truck pulled over to check and make sure that I was ok. I told him that I was fine and just had a flat tire and he went on his way. A few minutes later I looked up to see Takaya making his way back up the hill to make sure that I was ok. About a mile after my flat my group realized I was no longer behind them ad had set Takaya back to check on me worried that I may be hurt. Takaya helped put the tire back on the rim and we headed down the hill. When we got to the bottom we found Fei and XiXi sitting on the side of the road. As we approached them Nick who was driving the support van pulled up to make sure we were ok. We refilled our water bottles, grabbed a snack and I re-pumped my tire before letting the van go to catch the front group for lunch. 23 miles later we pulled into Darby MT where we ate a fabulous PB&J lunch in the parking lot of a super market gas station. From lunch we quickly made our way to Hamilton where we are staying at the Big Sky Baptist church.

After unpacking the van Andrea and I headed to the post office, the library and the grocery store where we bought ingredients to make Matt a brownie banana ice cream cake. We then headed back to the church where Andrea, Dana and I made cake and heated up the Chicago style pizzas which Matt's grandfather had bought for the team. When the pizzas were done we ate dinner which was immediately followed by our brownie banana ice cream cake in celebration of Matt's birthday. We are now watching the movie Super Troopers while celebrating Mustache Montana!

That updates you on today. Updates along with pictures from the previous two weeks will come in time. Tomorrow we ride into Missoula, a short 45 mile day meaning we will be sleeping in an extra hour!

Wyoming & Montana

Over the last couple weeks we have seen small and bigger towns in Wyoming, Yellowstone National Park and several towns in southern Montana. All of these have been great.

Hamilton, MT

Well, its been a while. Since I last blogged, I've seen some of the most amazing natural beauty in my life! We passed through Yellowstone NP, and on into the Rockies, which we've largely finished with. The mountain streams provide nice scenery as we ride, and the vistas in MT are really amazing. Some highlights from the past couple of days:

-Ice cream and sodas in Ennis, MT
-The grand opening of SavWay in Dillon, MT
-The amazing generosity of people in all of MT

I'll do my best to get some photos up tonight. Until then,

John

Hamilton! Through Chief Joseph's Pass

Today began with blustering winds and threatening rain clouds. We were reticent to exit the warmth of the community center in Wisdom, and enter the reign of the mosquitoes outside. After mustering our courage, and realizing that Matt's birthday is today, we got around to finishing breakfast and preparing for the Mosher. Sandy gave the Mosher, providing words of encouragement by referencing all that we've accomplished thus far. We had a massage circle to relax our shoulders, and completed the morning routine by singing Happy Birthday to Matt.

We set out toward an impending climb and gray skies. At mile 10 or so, the grade began to steepen. The tall pines lining the street provided wind protection, and we maintained a reasonable speed through the first water stop, at mile 20. Immediately following the water stop, the grade picked up for the next 5 miles, and provided a challenge to our legs. We climbed at a steady pace through the continental divide for the 3rd time, and began the steep descent into the valley. The miles flew by as we cut through the rock lined roadway. Before we knew it, Nick was swinging his arms wildly in a motion resembling that of an "Air Guitar," in order to wave us into the second water stop. We paused for a few minutes, and continued down hill through mile 60, where we enjoyed our lunch beside a cool stream. The fisherman seeking trout passed by in boats, and some of us tried our hand at skipping stones across the creek. After enjoying some delicious sandwiches, we continued on the road. The remainder of the ride was relatively uneventful, and went by very quickly. We arrived to a warm welcome from the Baptist church in Hamilton, and eagerly await a delicious dinner in celebration of Matt's birthday. Until then, I4K.

Wisdom

I know at first the title for this journal might appear deep and thoughtful, and that one might expect it to start out with something philosophical like, "What is Wisdom."  However in actuality it's quite plain, and the answer to that question is simply that it is the name of the town in Montana where we are staying.

Today was a great day filled with climbs, descents, and everything in between as we went over a mountain ridge into an area called the Big Hole.  This area is a large flat expanse surrounded by snow-capped mountains making for one of the most beautiful expanses of terrain we have seen so far.

Also, as we are now following the Adventure Cycling route, we are encountering more and more cross country cyclists along the way.  Today we met a guy from Indiana who is also biking to Seattle, and is supported by his wife and daughter in an RV that travels with him.  We also met two ladies who actually live in the area who were cycling the climbs for fun.  Turns out one of them actually contributes to a camp for youth undergoing cancer treatment called Camp Mak-a-Dream located outside of Missoula, Montana.  This camp is for youth under the age of 25 who currently have cancer, and allows kids undergoing treatment to still have the summer camp experience!  It sounds really cool, and if you'd like to learn more, check out there website at www.campdream.org.  Hopefully it will be close enough to Missoula that some of us can visit it on our rest day. 

One of the great things about this trip is that we get to see how cancer treatment and the cancer experience can vary depending on ones geographic location.  This camp seems like an amazing program, and I'm really glad were able to hear about it while passing through Montana.

On a slightly less serious note, (Although some would argue that it is the most serious of all notes ever in the entire universe)  Mustache Montana gained seven new supporters as a majority of the girls on the team used a dry erase marker to draw mustaches and facial hair of all shapes and sizes onto each other.  I wish I had pictures to share with the world, but take comfort in knowing that Mustache Montana is alive and well, and open to all genders.

MONTANA!

Today we traveled from west Yellowstone to Ennis Montana. The mornings here are a lot colder due to the altitude and a lot of us had to bundle up, but it quickly got warmer.  

We stopped for water at a location that once held a resort building.  However, due to an earthquake a while back it fell in to the river.  Overall, the ride was flat and we arrived quickly. We where supposed to stay at Ennis Elementary school, but was a mix-up where we were unable to get in contact with anyone there.  After a little bit of searching, a few of us stumbled upon a church where a lady was turning on the sprinklers outside.  We told her about our situation, and after a few brief phone calls we were all set up for the night!  Big thanks to everyone at the Assembly of God Church in Ennis. The time spent looking for a place to stay was put to good use in other ways as well, as a lot of us were able to get some good candy at the local pharmacy.

On a different note, today marks the beginning of mustache Montana.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this phenomenon, it involves a few brave souls gathering together the courage to wear a mustache for the entire duration of Montana.  It’s not so much about the mustache, but rather the camaraderie that all mustachioed people feel.  So far three of us are participating in this event (Nick, Praveen, and Jay), but I imagine more will follow after they see the raw maturity and ruggedness emanating from our upper lips.

Yellowstone!!

Well, here we are in West Yellowstone about 2 or 3 miles outside of the park spending our first night in Montana!

Yellowstone was amazing.  We stayed at Bridge Water Campsite along the northern shore of Yellowstone Lake, and the view was absolutely spectacular.  Most of spent the off day exploring around the Yellowstone Canyon or hiking up Elephant Back Mountain, while others used the rest day for some much needed rest and relaxation.

Today we rode the remaining seventy miles or so out of the park stopping at the many points of interest along the way, the most famous of which being Old Faithful.

We stopped there for lunch and waited for the geyser to come alive!  While we were waiting, it was amazing to see how many people approached us and inquired about what we were doing.  Many of the people even mentioned going on line to support us and our cause.  It's really amazing that no matter where we go, people everywhere seem to welcome us with open arms and are so excited to support us in our efforts to fight cancer.  Often times, people want to help us out and connect with us as a result of their own personal experiences with cancer.  While at times it is overwhelming to see how many people's lives have been affected by cancer, it is truly inspiring to see people all over the country doing what they can and uniting to combat this common problem.

Growing Up

I will preface this post by stating that its purpose is to give you, the reader, a glimpse into the minds of a select group of I4K riders.  In this way, I think you will find it to be much different from other posts.  I must apologize for selecting such a narrow topic as it may not describe the experience of your son or daughter.  In any case, I think you may find it interesting because it reveals one of the major sub-currents running through some of our minds.  Yes, this ride is about raising funds and awareness for cancer research, but it is also an opportunity for us riders to reflect and think about the future.  For those of us who are recent (and unemployed) graduates, this statement couldn’t be more true.

Tomorrow we will reach Yellowstone National Park, yet another major milestone in this year’s ride.  Reaching this point after months of planning, training, and more recently, riding has forced me to think about life after Seattle. I am but one of six recent grads on this year’s Illini 4000 Bike America team.  While John and Praveen know where they will be after the ride ends, the rest of us are utterly lost.  Graduation and the transition to whatever is next, it seems, caught us off-guard. 

I don’t know if I can speak for my peers, but I will admit, at least, that I am afraid.  I am afraid of ending up back at home; I am afraid of slogging through a job that I hate purely for financial gain.  It is as if returning home somehow means that I have failed – four years of college and I’m back where I started.  What have I accomplished?  How can I feel grown-up if I am living at home?  I know that I am not the first college grad to be in this situation (and I'm certainly not the only one this year), but it still seems frightening.  Maybe I should have been a business major!

We, the recently graduated and unemployed, will get up tomorrow morning and press on. Through conversation, exploration, and thought, perhaps we will find our passion….

Only 25 more days.

JMS

**As I have already stated, we will be in Yellowstone National Park over the next two days.  As such, we may have limited or zero internet access and cellular reception.  We will post as soon as internet access becomes available.

1 more day to Yellowstone !!!

Today we had a short ride to Cody, WY.  It was not as scenic as yesterday, there was less greenery and more rock formations,   We had our lunch in Cody.  Andrew's mom's friend, Ms. Jane Pennick bought us DQ.  Andrew mentioned free DQ in today's Mosher (Motivational) speech -- it really motivated us during today's ride.  Many thanks to Ms. Pennick. Large size blizzards are awesome!

Cody is an interesting town. It is deeply influenced by old west cowboy culture.  Walking done Sheridan St, we saw so many cowboy customer stores, cowboy gift shops, rodeo shows, etc. It was also a cyclist friendly town. We felt like we had a lot of previliges in the town because we had a seprate lane.  When we walked around in the town, we saw a lot of cyclists / cycling fans who were very interested in us.

We are so ready for Yellowstone National Park!

The Mountains of Wyoming

The day started off a little cool in Dayton. We began our ride somewhere around 3900 ft and went straight into our climb only about 2 miles out of town. The next 16 miles was an almost continual climb up to the summit of Cutler Hill at 8300 ft. We saw some of the thickest forests that we've encountered in Wyoming while riding through the Big Horn National Forest. We had some great decents and there were fields of mountain flowers. The air temperature dropped below 60 as we followed the tops of the mountains. We even got to play in some snow at our lunch stop. It was shortly after this point that we saw one of the most beautiful sights that we have ever seen. An 18 mile descent down into a gorgeous river valley called Shell Creek. As we rode our way down the scenery changed. Looming red cliffs arose before us. Large waterfalls crashed along the side of the road. The temperature slowly rose to 80 degrees as we neared the end of our downhill experience. This ride has only made us more excited for the upcoming Rockies. Two days to Yellowstone. We can't wait.  

Dayton!

Today, we left Buffalo and head for Dayton, WY. Today's ride is good us usual. The ride was 60 mile and most of the road was downward slope. Scenery in Wyoming is still beautiful. We finished our ride about noon and we went to see creek. Some people jumped into the river though the water was terribly cold because of the snow-water. Tonight we are staying at Tongue River high school in front of Horsehoe Mountain which is about 9000 feet. We suppose to climb this mountain tomorrow. Team members are preparing for tomorrow's challenging ride! See you.

Tomorrow: Greybull (long climbing and down hill!)

Pay it Forward

Today we entered the heart of Wyoming. With the exception of the large stony hills that punctuate the horizon, the landscape here is very broad and very green.   It is hot here, very hot; too hot for towns and most 21st Century Americans.  It is a landscape fit for only prairie dogs, cattle, and the kind of people Theodore Roosevelt referred to when he talked about “rugged individualism” almost 100 years ago.  I suppose there would be Buffalo here too if we hadn’t slaughtered them about 150 years ago.

That said, I write not to tell you about the scenery, though it is quite stunning; rather, I write to tell you about a simple act of generosity I experienced earlier today.  On the way back from the Buffalo, WY IGA, Sandy, Xixi and I ran into two young men carrying several packages of flour tortillas. After learning that we were cycling across the country (the shirts are a dead giveaway) these two young men invited us over to a Mexican-style BBQ at a relative’s house!  In this way, the three of passed the next few hours eating, taking, and getting to know the friends and family of the relative, Tom Saur, a pastor at a local church.

I will never cease to be amazed by simple acts of kindness like this one.  Over the past 44 days strangers from all walks of life have opened up the private spheres of their life – their homes, places of worship, and community centers – to help our team.  In a time when it seems as though we – the 300 million people who make up this country- have grown and are continuing to grow further apart from one another and write-off strangers, it is moments like this one that give me hope. 

Wyoming

Wyoming is prettier than I had imagined. It honestly look like one of those pictures out of a magazine. The snow-covered mountains I saw today looked so surreal, almost felt like it was a back drop; it was absolutely breathtaking to be riding beneath something that you'd never see in Illinois.

Several things I've been thinking about:

-The hospitality and generosity of random strangers are amazing. Random people on the streets would invite us over for dinner.
- The overabundance in food and shelter provided by these people should spur us on to become models of generosity to others.
-Jon should never shave his beard.

Getting Buff in Buffalo, WY

As we departed our restful stay at the recreation center in Gilette, we headed toward our next destination: Buffalo, WY. The ride was stunningly breathtaking - peddling up a hill as it revealed a spectacular display of snow-covered mountains. A combination of rolling hills and grassy plains covered the terrain. Although it was a laid-back 70 mile day, the heat overwhelmed us all. A side trip to Mickey D's cooled us off, though. After a pizza/salad dinner, a large group ended their day with a trip to the cinema for "Wallie." A couple others were met with an extremely kind group of strangers who generously offered them food and a fiesta.

A big thank you to:
St. Luke's Episcopal Church for your hospitality and provided food.
Grace Fellowship Church for a spontaneous fiesta invitation.
Cinema across the street who gave us a disount for "Wallie."

Tomorrow, Dayton! (and showers!)

If anyone would like to send us mail/packages to Missoula, MT we will have a general delivery mail stop there on the 16th and the 17th. The mailing address is:

(Rider name)
General Delivery
200 E. Broadway
Missoula, MT 59802

Feeling Spirited

Happy Fourth of July!!

Due to the late hour (12 AM) I am going to keep this fairly short and sweet.

Two days ago we left Rapid Cities to head towards Mount Rushmore. As I felt alive with patriotic spirit, along with the enormous amounts of people waiting to get into the National Memorial for the fireworks, I felt it a great opportunity to show our Illini and American pride. Mount Rushmore, although was built up to be much more than it turned out to be, was a great stop on our trip to Wyoming. Meeting awesome U of I alumni, I realized that this world is truly small and that you can meet anyone anywhere at anytime.

Riding through the Black Hills, I also learned an important lesson in perserverance. Struggling, due to my lack of sleep (which is one reason why I am trying to keep this short), and not having rode through mountains or large hills recently (other than the Badlands), I had several problems. I realized that although I wanted to give up several times and just wanted to quit I had to push through to not only prove it to myself, but to prove that through perserverance and a goal in mind I can accomplish anything.

As the day ended in Newcastle, WY I was also fortunate to take part in our Portraits Project where we got to talk to Scott and Susan Wiggins who were both survivors of cancer. With Scott's advice ringing very clearly in my ear, which is to always stay positive and have a good attitude, I vowed to make the next day better.

As the Fourth started, we cruised through our ride to Gillette, WY and ended in an amazing recreation facility that let us use their equipment. After playing a hilarious game of basketball and some intense raquetball sessions, I was extremely exhausted. However, that would never stop me from going to see one of my favorite things, fireworks. As few of us rode to a park to see an upclose look at the fireworks they were correlated with great patriotic rock  music, which my day was complete. After a firecracker popsicle and a nice air conditioned area to sleep, there is nothing else I could ask for, except for a nice tailwind tomorrow.

Mail Stop in Missoula!

Hey! It's getting late and with the fast internet connection I've been focusing on catching up on uploading photos so I'll keep this short and call my sister with a longer update tomorrow but I just wanted to let everyone know that we are going to do a general delivery mail stop in Missoula, MT. How does this work?

If you would like to send the team or a specific rider something you may mail it to the post office in Missoula via general delivery.

thus if you were mailing me something you would mail it to...
Sandra Moxley
c/o General Delivery
200 E. Broadway
Missoula, MT 59802

*Note - you can replace my name with another riders name, just make sure the rider knows that you are sending them mail as the rider will need to be present with ID to pick it up.
Mom - the team loves MOXLEY cookies!!!

Check out the photo updates!

Badlands, Black Hills, and Wyoming!

Yesterday we officially ended our journey through the legendary state of South Dakota and ventured into Wyoming. It might be suprising but South Dakota actually turned out to be one of my favorite states so far. Other than the boring farm lands and crazy weather we had to endured for the first three days, our adventure through SD had been filled with beautiful prairie land, gigantic green mountains, and nice people. My favorite day so far turned out to be the day we rode through the Badlands national park. We rode through some beautiful eroded landscapes and crazy mountains with steep up and down hills. My second favorite day is the day we rode through the Black Hills going into Wyoming. I was told that the Black Hills was once the holy land to the Native Americans and I can tell why. The enormous mountains were covered with tall pine trees and rock formations. Although it wasn't easy to climb up and down mountains, the ride was very rewarding.

When we rode into Mt. Rushmore, the roads were covered with cars and peole everywhere trying to get to the camp ground on top for the firework that was going to happen that evening. We met another cyclinst from Switzerland who was biking from Boston to Seattle for the Lance Armstrong foundation by himself. I was suprised at how many Illinis we met once we got to Mt. Rushmore. People were interested in what our cause was and we gladly explained to anyone that was interested.

Wyoming definitely has the wild west feel to it. The landscape seems much drier and the weather is much hotter. Fortunately, we will be riding through some pretty flat lands for a few days until we hit Yellowstone.

i figured out how to put pictures up online

They're linked to my rider profile!  Just a few of them for now...

We're in Gilette, Wyoming right now, staying at the recreation center.  The city is having a fireworks display that we can view right from the roof...we are so lucky!

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July from Gillette, Wyoming, the nation's largest exporter of coal!  We passed about 8 mile long trains full of coal on our ride in today.  Interesting.

I haven't updated in a while because of lack of internet access and time, but it's been a good couple of days, weeks, or however long it's been.  I tend to measure time in states or rest days, so it's been a good couple of states!  I expected most states to kind of blend together, but I've been amazed at how different each state is.  South Dakota was nice to bike through with pink roads, smallish hills, fields with cows grazing, and small towns.  Yesterday was one of my favorite days this summer as we rode through the Black Hills.  It was pretty challenging as the Black Hills seem almost like mountains to me, but it was beautiful.  We stopped at Mt. Rushmore which was fun to see and on our way out, my group saw some mountain goats very close to the road.  I had never seen mountain goats before and was surprised at how furry they are!  We also biked through a large area which a forest fire in 2000 had destroyed.  It was interesting to see the contrast between that barren, desolate area and the dense forest every else in the hills.  Another high point of our ride yesterday was meeting a few other bikers.  We met a guy from Switzerland who is biking by himself from Boston to San Francisco and two college students from Indiana biking from there to Seattle.  All three carried all of their gear on their bikes and made what we're doing seem easy.  The two from Indiana ended up spending the night with us at the church we stayed at so we shared stories with them.  Their approach is very different from ours as they don't plan their stayovers in advance at all.  They roll into a town and figure out where to spend the night once they're there, and they haven't spent any money on a stayover yet!    They also change their route as they please and don't have any deadlines for when to reach any destination. 

We crossed into Wyoming at the end of yesterday and today rode through very dry land with sagebrush everywhere.  It smelled delicious.  We had a tail wind today which made the ride fast and relaxing especially after yesterday's long day.  We're staying at a recreation center tonight equipped with everything we need; showers, laundry, and food!  Apparently it's dinner time now, so gotta go.