Day 67 - 8/13/16 Midwest to Casper, WY

I wasn't planning on riding to Casper but, it is one of the bigger cities in Wyoming and I needed some stuff for my bike, a new tire and a few tubes to get me the rest of the way to the West Coast.  If you can consider my time in Chicago as the halfway mark on this trip then the 2nd half has been dramatically different than the first – not in a bad way, maybe even for the better.  I have a place to stay tonight through Warm Showers only because Casper is a bit of a city and it was easier to find someone than it would've been to find a place to camp.  

But the last time I stayed with someone was on my last day in Iowa.  I stayed in a couple motels in South Dakota but, looking back on it, thise rooms were a completw waste of money.  There's no need to spend cash on a place to lay your head for the night and is it the end of the world if I don't get to shower or do laundry for a week or two?  I guess meeting and ridin with Derek made me realize how self-sufficient a person living on the road can be.  

And spending a night in a hotel just takes you away from the excitement and unpredictability of the road, numbing you with a steady drip of TV IV to make you forget how boring it is inside a makeshift "home away from home".  On my way into Wal-mart today I saw 2 people bogged down with massive hiking backpacks and a little dog.  It's almost impossible to contain the excitement of seeing someone else who's living on the road.  Bret and Julie and their little dog, Pluto have been hopping trains and hitchhiking together for the last year or so.  They looked weathered and dirty and they probably stunk worse than me but, seeing the joy on their faces made them seem like dust-covered angels.  Bret was really interested in what it's like traveling on a bike.  "You can really get anywhere ya want on that thing, can't ya?"  Something like that is what he asked me.  He said they sometimes wait for days for a ride some place.  Julie said they play a lot of card games to pass the time.  Pluto didn't say anything but he didn't seem to mind being led around by the vagabonds holding his leash.  They were both from the East, like me.  Bret from Jersey and Julie from Pennsylvania.  There the 3 of us stood, thousands of miles from home becoming points of interest on each other's journey.

Day 64 - 8/10/16 Custer, SD to Newcastle, WY

It wasn't hard to find a service road that led right into Black Hills National Forest.  It's funny how many campgrounds I passed in this area when it's no big secret that National Forests are fair game for free camping.  Sure, there's no modern amenities but, for me, it's all I need.  Back on the main road my ride started by going downhill quite a bit.  I hate to complain about going downhill but, so early in the morning it was like taking a cold shower.  It certainly woke me up.  

Another beautiful ride filled with long hills and lots of switchbacks through the outer edge of the Black Hills brought me into Wyoming.  This is the 9th state on my journey which is kind of nuts.  

If I were home, I would be having that end-of-summer anxiety where work starts to get busy again and the warm weather is starting to turn cold and thoughts of that dreaded "W" word start to brew in the ol' brain.  But I'm not home.  I feel like summer hasn't even started yet.  Summer for me will be when I get to warm, sunny California.

Day 63 - 8/9/16 Rapid City to Custer, SD

With less sleep than I had hoped for, I was not so excited to ride to Custer which, I was told, would be a pretty hilly ride.  It didn't take long foe the streetlights to turn into the tall trees that make up Black Hills National Forest.  Sure, the hills were in no short supply but, tobbe back in a forest was just incredible.  

I couldn't help but be reminded of areas in Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire.  South Dakota is just full of surprises I guess.  The 40 mile ride almost wasn't long enough, I wouldn't have minded another 10 miles on the bike path from Hill City to Custer.  

Back to the small towns.  Although, with all the motorcycle traffic, Custer actually feels like a bustling little place.  Now in the early evening, most bikers have cleares the area and the rumbling of thunder has replaced the steady sound of motorcycle engines.  

Afternoon thunderstorms seem to be a characteristic of the Midwest.  I'm hoping it pours soon just to get it over with.  I can't camp at the park I'm currently sitting in so once it gets a little later I'll ride out of town and camp somewhere in the National Forest which is always a free campground.  

I'll be leaving South Dakota tomorrow which means I just have 3 more states to ride through before getting to the Oregon coast.