Needed to sit and digest, so I did. Then walked around before heading back to the campground. My feet (arches) hurt from walking all day and I still had a long walk back. Picked up some cat food on the way and tried to figure out how to take a cat with me. In the morning I called a bus company and was seriously considering finishing the trip on a bus. Also thought about hopping on a plane (I could then take the cat). The cat spent the night with me again.
9/20/83. Got up and packed. Sunshine. Fixed a broken spoke. Road with snow along the edges. Over some hills, then arrived at a spectacular view of a valley with low enough elevation to not have snow, then another range with snow. Had lunch in Hardin City Park (took the 11 mile frontage road into Hardin). At the Crow Agency I debated about stopping (it was 4:30 according to my watch) at the campground but decided I had time to move on. Noticed my third! broken spoke of the day. Got about 15 miles on highway 212 (no shoulder, very rough), scaring many grouse (rough-tail?). It got weirdly dark, the sun set and the moon came up. My watch had stopped again! It was much later than I thought and I couldn't make it to a campground. I stopped at a rancher's house to ask if I could pitch a tent. I was treated like royalty. Carl Franske's family. I don't remember his wife's name but they had two high schoolers, Michelle and Monte. The family just moved from South Dakota. Carl used to drive semis. His wife made me hamburgers and fries and gave me cherry sodas and cookies. We sat around and chatted for a while, then I stayed in Monte's "bunkhouse" in the barn where they sell the beef. There are 43,000 acres of land with four families living on it. Custer noted parts of it. This summer had many fires (it's all grass and sage). Many kittens around and a huge hereford bull in a pen (they say he's very friendly).
9/21/83. Monte's alarm went off (we found out later) an hour early. Michelle had set it and he was pissed. Everybody got up. Mrs. Fanske fried eggs, potatoes and ham. Juice and milk. She definitely has her role. She's not at all happy in the small trailer as she is used to a house. They are supposed to get something bigger. If not, she says, they'll leave. Monte hates school. He is determined to flunk out, quit, or finish in South Dakota where his friends are. I'm sure it's hard moving to a new school. He doesn't like the "potheads" either. He plays drums but doesn't play in the schoool bands (rock and jazz). He likes country. Carl left for work, the kids to school. I fixed the day before's third broken spoke. Said goodbye to Mrs. Franske (she gave me a bag of chocolate chip cookies) and left. Then a flat tire. Since I hadn't fixed the last tube that went flat, I just pumped up the tire and rode on it anyway. It got me to Busbe. There I spent an hour patching tubes (the first one I patched and put on had a second leak. Ugh.) By then a tailwind developed. Cloudy and chilly all day. Expected rain all the time. Up and down. Lots of climbing. Rain in Ashland. I waited most of it out at the post office and at a grocery store. Someone offered me a ride to Broadus. I declined. Camped at Wayside Campground, three miles west of Broadus, 101 miles west of Belle Fouch, South Dakota. Charged me $3 (a trailer was charged $8). Showers. Has goats, chickens and hogs. Saw two cottontails. The day's terrain was mostly arid. Some pines up high. Saw a doe white tailed deer with two fawns. I took pictures of them and of a plant with small purple flowers (the sun actually came out for that one) and other shots later.
9/22/83. Clear, sunny skies but cool. I kept my jacket on all day. The first 30 minutes were uphill, then after that a slight headwind made riding frustrating, but not too bad. Saw well over a hundred pronghorns, two badgers (got some pictures) and a crippled jackrabbit. Got to Alzada at about 4:30; not too good time for about 60 miles. Stopped at an Exxon with a grocery store. The man there, Pete, let me stay in his garage which was infested with mice. His two ugly, obnoxious white kittens didn't help. I didn't sleep too well. The Terrain was very dry, scrub with grass, cacti, sage. Long, slight hills.
9/23/83. Left around 8 after looking at snapshots of two girl bikers Pete kept talking about. One of them got run over by a truck (the driver fell asleep) in Miles City. Pete asked that I write him. Weird old man. Worked his life at a tiny gas station in a puny town. Doesn't even have good tools. Even has stupid cats. But, leave I did. Passed through Wyoming into South Dakota which seems greener and wetter. Stopped in Belle Fourch (Beautiful Forks) for some spokes and donuts (I was starving). Got 12 spokes. Went to the city park to fix two broken spokes. Decided to tighten all my back spokes, hoping my broken spoke problem would end. Messed up the wheel royally. Was surprisingly easy to fix. The hub has indentations where the spikes rest which is probably part, or all, of the problem. While fixing it, a homecoming parade passed by. Took pictures. I received a lot of conversation from youngsters. Got back onto my old friend Highway 90 and headed for Sturgis. Got there and went to a gas station to use the phone to find out if the local campground was open. I had to wait for a woman to finish. She ended up telling me about a trailer park near where she lives that sometimes allows tenters to camp. I went there. I chatted with two fat middle-aged losers (one at a time). Could hear high school football game announcer. Smalltown, USA.
9/24/83. Got up with the sun. Ate (Ralston wheat cereal mixed with Quaker Apple and Spice Oatmeal), packed and talked with one of the fat men. Left Sturgis on Interstate 90. Got on a frontage road at Piedmont that took me into big-city Rapid City. Pulled into a bike shop (Two Wheeler?) to get a new water bottle cage and spoke wrench. When I walked out, I found my water bottle on the ground -- the old cage's last thread finally broke. Stupidly replaced it with another alloy cage. Oh well. Ate at McDonald's. Took shirt and pants off (had shorts!) and left, hoping to make Wall by 5 in case Wall Drug Store closed then. They're actually open until 8 and I got there before 4, mostly on a frontage road. HILLY but wind was helpful. Warm, but threatened to shower at any time. Got a bumper sticker, postcards, film, and groceries and left for the Circle 10 Campground at the intersection of 90 and 240. Got there, but it was closed, but I found a frontage road. Rode to Kadoka, the last hour in the dark. Luckily there was only one car that passed me. I had my French light, but couldn't strap it to my leg so I just held it. Camped at Dirks. $6.30, which didn't include coin operated showers. I was a bit pissed. Stayed up late trying to bring the journal up to date. Countryside is grassy with green deciduous trees in valleys. Many dead jackrabbits on the road. I don't think I saw any antelope.
9/24/83. Fixed broken spokes. Geez. RVers came over with a plate of bacon, eggs, and bread. I was a total bore. I talked and talked. Every time he tried to leave, I'd find something else about biking to talk about. I wrote in the journal and in postcards to John, Peggy, and Eric Taylor's mom. Finally left in the sunny heat on the frontage road with no traffic. Walked into, and immediately out of, "Petrified Gardens: Last Stop of the Badland's" when I found out there was a fee. Stopped in Okaton to cool off with a Coke and ice cream bar. The 50-60 year old lady was very friendly. I ate and drank in the shade. She pulled up another chair and brought out ice water. We chatted about snow, rocks (her husband is a rock hound), etc. Caught highway 83 at Murdo. Very nice, but still quite hilly. It would go down into butte-lined valleys, then climb out. Saw and photographed bison herds. Camped (free) in White River's City Park. Terrible outhouses, but otherwise nice. Got many of those round seed cases in my shoelaces.
