South Dakota and Wyoming

It's been somewhat rough. I went from Sioux Falls, west on I-90. I was overwhelmed with flat tires throughout South Dakota and ran out of tubes about half way through. At that point I had to do my best to catch a ride during a cold day midway between small towns. Fortunately enough I got a ride from a kid who was heading back to Montana after a couple of hours of waiting (playing Pokemon). He dropped me off at a Scheel's in Rapid City and I bought four tubes there.

I found a place to stay in a park in Rapid City then decided that the next day I would backtrack through the land I'd missed (about 200 miles) because of the ride. It was an astounding ride and I snuck into Badlands National Park on a 7-mile dirt road (which to my knowledge at the time was the only enterance) avoiding the park fee. I spent the night there and somehow managed to capture an incredible landscape photo with my itty bitty camera while hiding behind a hill to avoid the park rangers. I have many photos of this area and will post them at the next library I find I'm able to. The Badlands is an amazing area and I will not soon forget my initial reaction when I came over the hill and was greeted by what seemed like an infinite stretch of desert canyons and peaks, all asthetically divided with green prairies.

Badlands National Park

The next day I started heading back to Rapid City and went through the Badlands the intended way (which turned out to be about three times as long as my journey coming in) and rode into the wind, which delayed me enough that I didn't arrive at my campspot until around 10:30pm (quite a bit past sunset).

Since then I've been riding west again and yesterday I visited Devil's Tower National Monument which also blew me away. There are so many places in America that, although I've been all over the country many times, I'm still surprised at the beauty and wonder that it can present. Riding a bicycle is an entirely different experience than any travel I've done before.

Devil's Tower

My plan now is to cross the Big Horn mountains then head north into Montana and rejoin I-90 to Kalispell.

Hopefully I'll have pictures for you soon!

Edit: Added photos.