When last you heard from me I was in Custer, South Dakota. I have now traveled another 93 miles for a total of 690 miles. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d ever bike that far, but it’s been a fun and eventful trip.
After Custer I headed into Hill City, a quaint little town known as the “Heart of the Hills”. It’s the oldest city in Pennington County, South Dakota. It found it’s beginning with the mining rush in the 1800s, but is now a tourist hub in the Black Hills with a variety of tourist shops to browse through. Of course I had to do a little shopping in all those shops. And on my way out of town I stopped at the Mistletoe Ranch, a Christmasshop open year round. This place is so full of Christmas it can put a smile on the Grinch’s face.
From there I rode into Rapid City taking time out to go through Reptile Gardens. I know a lot of people are against confining any animal, reptile, etc into an enclosure, but I was truly amazed at the variety of reptiles this place holds. What’s even more fascinating is the number of flowers you see inside this building. When I was a little girl my folks took
me and my siblings there. At that time they sold tickets for rides on the giant turtles. I wanted so badly to ride a turtle, but my mom just knew one of those turtles would bite me so I was never able to ride one. And now, thankfully, they no longer do this, but those giant turtles are still there.
I did decide to bypass Bear Country since I was on a bike. I’ve gone through Bear Country on previous trips through the Black Hills. I think it is a place that is well worth a look see although the last time I was there this one ornery bear kept trying to attack the front tire of this one mini-van. Maybe it didn’t like the color of the van.
From Rapid City I found myself back on the Interstate heading toward Sturgis. It wasn’t the most exciting part of my trip for I’ve decided that Interstate travel can be quite boring, but it does give one a more direct route to their destinations.
Once in Sturgis I had to take in some of the sights. Luckily for me it was not August when they hold the big motorcycle rally. I was able to go through the Fort Meade Cavalry Museum, the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum and ended my tour of Sturgis at Bear Butte State Park. There was so much history at each of these places that it was almost mind boggling. It would have been nice to be able to spend more time there, but the road was calling me.
So back on the Interstate I headed to Spearfish. This is a beautiful town nestled in the valley of Spearfish Creek and surrounded by 3 mountain peaks. Spearfish is known as the Queen City. I found a nice RV park to spend the night and get ready for my trip to Devils Tower and to ponder on all the grand people I’ve met on this bike trip.
And as I type this in my real life, I think not only about the distance I’ve traveled on my imaginary trip, but all the real places I’ve lived, jobs I’ve held, and people I’ve met. There’s such a diverse difference among all of these people, places, and things in my life much like the diversity of areas I’ve ridden on my virtual bike trip. It makes me know
that we have all been placed here on this earth for a purpose and that God has truly created us as individuals. We may not always agree with everything and everyone, but if we learn to let go and let God we can see the good in people and our lives seem so much easier to deal with. I think me learning to let go and let God has helped me conquer somany seemingly impossible hurdles.
And with each hurdle I’m able to overcome comes a serene feeling of knowing I am EXACTLY where I’m supposed to be. Whether it’s recovering from the holiday rush in my real life or rallying with new found friends in Sturgis. Life is good. And now that we have passed over into a new year I hope to start making faster progress getting from one virtual attraction to the next. May God bless you all and as always, let’s keep going the distance where one day we’ll all meet–in heaven.
Going The Distance Blog 
