Interior to Philip July 15, 2022

Interior to Philip

July 15, 2022

Today was the day to ride through Badlands National Park with a scheduled 65 miles and 2050 feet of climb.  The forecast was also for 100F in Philip with winds out of the East at 10-15mph.  As this did not really appeal to me I decided to take a short cut.  This cut the route down to 38.32 and 1352 feet of climb. 

As I was looking at the alternative route last night I had several other riders approached me and before I knew it I had 12 other riders wanting to take the short cut. The short cut also had the advantage of not having to ride the busy road from Wall Drugs to Philip which was straight east, and had fresh tar and very poor to no shoulder.

We started the morning with a cold breakfast in the parking lot of the campground in Interior and headed north to the café inside the park gate where we had a breakfast burrito waiting for us.  My little troupe headed north through about 10 miles of the park before exiting the park.  There is a big Conoco truck stop right there so we pulled in to refill our water bottles and pick up an extra drink as there would not be further services until we reached Philip.

On the north side of the Interstate is the National Minuteman Missile Museum.  So we pulled in to tour the museum. This museum documents the history of the Minuteman Missile. It was a solid fuel missile, and update to the liquid fueled Titan missile which was costly to build and maintain. The Minuteman could reach its target on the other side of the globe in just 30 minutes. Originally there were 1000’s of missile silos throughout the western plains, however under the Start agreements a lot of them have been decommissioned. It was a totally fascinating place to visit, and a sobering reminder that even though the cold war maybe over the threat of nuclear Armageddon still over shadows us all.

Back on the road we have 12 miles straight into the east wind. As not everyone stopped at the museum my troupe was down to 5 of us.  Graeme the big Australian and I took turns pulling the group and before we knew it the miles were behind us.  The road we were on was a very nice road which paralleled the interstate so there was absolutely no traffic.  I think we only saw 3 cars the entire time.

Turning north with only 16 miles to go and the stiff head wind was now a great cooling side wind.  It was a good road with almost no traffic and we made great time. 

As we rolled into Philip it was just 11:30 and time to find lunch.  Saloon 73 (yes it was almost as dingy as the name suggests) filled the bill.  A hearty plate of chicken fingers and fries washed down with a cold beer was just what I needed. 

Stepping outside after lunch was a real shock as the temperature was now close to 100 F.

Forecast is for a thundershower tonight, hopefully that will cool things down.

What a great day!

Terry