2278 Miles Day 3

Today, Thursday 7/10, we had a few fiascoes! We had a great night at the Badlands and enjoyed our interpretive show at 9pm in the outdoor amphitheater; however, the family camping next to us set of their car alarm twice in the middle of the night. Lovely! Then I wake up after Sean and as I drag myself out of the tent I notice the entire contents of the car are on the ground...at like 6am! He proceeds to rant and rave about losing the key to the bike racks. I spent another 1/2 hour searching over in case he had missed them. Soo...we drove into Rapid City and called a lock smith. The funny part was the only bike locked was Sean's road bike. The locksmith picked it for a bargain of $10! We stopped at the local bike shop to locate the best local mountain bike trail. Just out of town was a sweet 12 mile loop in the Blackhills. Considering how little sleep I am getting and the long days in the car, my legs were not happy when I started the ride. I warmed up though and couldn't get over how beautiful of a day it was! Despite the beauty, the thermometer rose to the upper 90s and started to roast me. I had the bonk of all bonks about 3 miles from the finish. The only thing keeping me going to the weight of legs on each pedal strong, that is if I was on the biking and not walking! It was embarrassing and horrible! I kept telling Sean to ride to the car and I would find him. He said he was concerned about my ability to do so and stayed with me. I think I averaged about 1mph the last mile. We drove down the mountain and saw Mt. Rushmore then through Custer State Park thinking we find a campsite by a lake. Custer State Park is BEAUTIFUL; however, everyone else thinks so too. There were no vacancy's. Take a couple with no sleep, a bonking hungry Melissa, and at a splash of Weddell and Huston we have a problem! Luckily, we found a private site off the main road and are happy to report we have showers and a laundry facility! We head to Montana tomorrow and Glacier on Saturday.