The temperature last night when we went to bed was considerably lower than it was at dinner. We put on some of our cold-weather night clothes. A couple of hours later we had on all our cold-weather night clothes. When we got up in the morning it was 47 deg. F. What a contrast to the 90s we experienced since leaving home. Breakfast was not elaborate – coffee, turkey bacon, and peanut butter rice cakes.

We put on our warm riding gear and set out for a day of touring. Route 385 is being rebuilt, so we stopped for construction and to follow a pilot car a few times. We pulled over to take some pictures at a reservoir.

Including a selfie.

After taking the pictures, Beth’s bike wouldn’t tun on. I pulled her spare keys out of my trunk. That safety fob worked, so I’ll have to put a new battery in her fob. I have several spares.

We took a break to warm up and add some caffeine at convenience store. They had one table, conveniently.

We took off layers of clothing as the temperatures rose back into the 80s. After the break we headed for the Iron Mountain Road. This is one of the most enjoyable roads in the country. It winds over itself in several places and has an overlook with a view of Mt. Rushmore. It’s a little difficult to see the spiral in the picture because of the edge of my windshield, but you get the idea.

Mt. Rushmore is in the distance, but you can zoom in on it.

The road also has a couple of one-lane tunnels.

Our lunch stop was at the visitor’s center of Custer State Park.

From the visitor’s center we followed the Wildlife loop through the park. We saw one bison walking down the road at a very leisurely pace. When he got to his path he turned off the road and ambled into the woods. He didn’t waste one extra ounce of energy walking in the heat.

There were a few groups of bison too far off the road to photograph, but there were some donkeys grazing near the road.

The next leg of the tour was Needles Highway. It’s a very winding road with a couple of tunnels. The “needles” are narrow spires of rock.

Our final rest stop was in Hill City where we went to a coffee shop. As you can see, it’s a touristy town.

Beth fixed spaghetti for dinner. The temperature is starting to drop, and I’ve added one fuzzy shirt.

It’s time to load pills for next week and plan tomorrow’s adventure route.

Statics:

Miles – 147, Time – Fun