Sixty Eight Into Devil's Tower

To day was only sixty eight miles from Gillette to Devil's Tower, with no mountain pass. I just realized that normally I would consider a ride of 120 kms to be a really big ride. How one's perception changes.

It was 35 miles out to picnic, so there was no rush. We cruised though a lot of rolling county side, before we came to this huge coal fired power plant. On the side waiting to get unloaded was a train of coal cars which was over two miles long. It was truly unbelievable how long it was. I tried to get a picture but it didn't work out. So here is a picture of the siding.

Picnic was in this small town called Moorcroft (pop 804 elev 4206). As it turns out it was Jubilee day in Moorcroft so there was a parade and lots of crafts sales and people selling all the usual stuff, such as kettle corn. Every horse for miles around was in it, the mayor was in it with his Shelby Mustang, the scouts, people with dressed up dogs, a model T truck which kept stalling and people would run out and push it. It just doesn't get an more small town America.

As it was starting to get hot I didn't stay for the whole parade. I still had 33 miles to cover and the route sheet indicated that there were several climbs to do. The climbs didn't amount to too much and some clouds blew in cooling it off so the rest of the mileage was easy. The big surprise was coming over the crest of a hill and below is a valley and on the opposite side is Devil's Tower. It is on weird rock. I'll explore it tomorrow and give you a full report.

Tonight we are camped at the KOA at the base of Devil's Tower. Tomorrow is a day off. It is going to be so good to have a rest day. The week was long and tough. This completes the first three weeks of the nine week trip. This is the hardest part of the trip mileage wise and climbing wise. Time to put it in cruise and enjoy the ride

Terry