by Betsy Finley
The beauty of the Pine Ridge is now behind me. It’s sort of sad to leave this area I feel so close to, but the road is calling to me so my trip continues. It’s a crystal clear morning and I’m now on my way to the Black Hills in South Dakota. What an awesome site to see these hills from 60 miles away.
The scenery surrounding me are these rolling sand hills where I imagine pioneers traveling across in their covered wagons. I guess these thoughts keep coming to me since I am doing somewhat the same type of trip although they didn’t have the convenience of paved roads to travel on. My mind also travels to those famous monuments in the Black
Hills that I plan on seeing, but I have to admit that nothing can be more awe inspiring than the monumental sights I’m seeing right now. God has blessed us all with wonderful scenery that differs from state to state.
After 5 days on the road I’ve finally made it to Oelrichs, South Dakota. It’s a small community and is named after Harry Oelrichs, a rancher in that area. I couldn’t find out any more information on this guy, but I figured he must have been quite the rancher/land owner to have a town named after him. You may be wondering why it took me 5 days to go 32 miles.
Well, in the real world I’m preparing for the Thanksgiving holidays. I have family coming in from Nebraska and the Thanksgiving meal responsibility is mostly on my shoulders. But the good news is I’m still biking, maybe not as far, but the motivation to continue biking through these holiday times is there and I’m going to embrace this phenomenon. I say it’s a phenomenon because in past years if I was doing any exercising, it fell by the way side due to the extra activities that occurred during the holidays. It would take me 6 months to get started again, but that won’t be happening this year because I’m more disciplined with this imaginary road trip. I have a goal and I plan on achieving that goal. And I know that my continued riding will help me get through the added stress of the holidays.
So for all of you who may are thinking about taking a break from exercising through the holidays, try shortening your time instead of giving it up. It’s a lot easier to lengthen the time when the holidays are over then it is to get started again.
Happy Thanksgiving to you all and let’s keep going the distance.
