Day 7: August 11th, 2007

Distance: 54.5 mi.
Time in Motion: 3:44:11
Average: 14.7 mph
Max Speed: 29.2 mph
Miles of climbing: 21.1 mi
Miles of flat: 8.87 mi
Miles of descent: 24.6 mi

I have to admit that I didn’t write a journal entry for today.  I do recall that it was a quick, uneventful day of riding. 

Along the way, I rode up "Dog Den Butte." Here's the view from the top. This was interesting because I just read about this place in Military Life in Dakota. The commander of Ft Stevenson in 1867 described this place as follows:

Dog Den is a bad place to travel across any time. There the terrain is broken by sharp hills and narrow ravines, very favorable to ambuscades. This time the danger was greatly increased by the presence of the Unkpapahs (Error: It was the band of Medicine Bear), hostile Indians who stole five mules from us last week. (page 138).

I have been enjoying that book a great deal. It is interesting to read about the interactions of the various tribes that lived on this land with each other and with the new military posts. Thankfully, today I did not have any problems with hostile natives, sharp hills (though it was quite a climb) or narrow ravines.

I stopped at the Max rest stop, cleverly marked with a sign “Welcome to Maxico.”  They were giving away free cookies.  As I was munching on my free cookie I visited with Ed and Vi.  We shared e-mail addresses, said our goodbyes, and finished off the tour.

The tour ended with food in the Garrison City Park, near Wally the Walleye (pictured above).  Wally is always the “finish line.”

It’s always fun to be riding on the tour.  But it’s also always nice to climb into my pickup and drive down the highway at the end of a long week of pedaling.