Michelson Trail Here We Come...

Six hours out of Denver and you're in another world. The tiny hamlet of Edgemont, South Dakota is, as the locals might say, a fer piece from the hustle and bustle of the big city. That big city now stretches almost to the Wyoming border what with the pace of new development along the I-25 corridor but once you cross the border into Wyoming the pace becomes more sane and instead of tract homes and retail centers one sees mainly the wind-blown prairie. Though I'm sure Wyoming is undergoing its own modest growth only noticeable change Sophie and I see as we head north is that the speed limit has now been raised to 80mph from the 75 in Colorado. I'm dating myself but my first trip to Yellowstone was back in the Jimmy Carter years when the national speed limit was 55. On the way home that trip I received one of my first speeding tickets when the friendly folks of the Wyoming State Patrol nabbed me blistering down the road at a staggering 65mph. Of course in today's world everyone seems to tack on another 5-10 over the posted speed limit so in the great state of Wyoming 85-90 is the new norm.

Getting off the very well-beaten path of I-25 at Wheatland the road that beckoned took us on a meandering path through Lusk, WY and then to Edgemont where we're camped out at the Cowboy

Inn where Glenda, the manager, couldn't be friendlier if you'd known her for a lifetime. Such pure, open, welcoming friendliness sadly takes some getting used to for us city folks but I suspect that 'come on in, we're glad you're here' is the norm in these parts so Sophie and I will do our darndest to adjust. It's a tough life but hey.... Oh, and the rooms are clean and comfy, the AC is downright frigid compared to the scorching heat outside, so what more could we ask for.

Tonight we're packing the bikes and BOB trailer. Tomorrow at the crack of dawn we set off on the

George S. Michelson Trail for a 6 day jaunt to Deadwood and back. We'll pass through Custer, Hill City, and Rockford along the 109 mile path to Deadwood where we'll turn around and head back the way we'd come. It's not often we get to ride a trail both ways so we're looking forward to some leisurely 35-50 mile days in the saddle taking in the scenery of the Black Hills. So enough for one night, pardner, we'll catch up out along the dusty trail...