Mickelson Trail

Hi all,
Whew, starting to get warm here, we are getting into the 80s. Not hot by most of your standards I know. We drove to Rapid City today and as we returned to the park at the east entrance it was 88, by the time we got to Stockade Lake it had dropped to 78. That shows what 1,000 feet of elevation and a few pine trees can do.
 Wendy and I aired up the bike tires the other day and headed for the Mickelson Trail. The trail is on  old railway bed that runs 109 beautiful miles from Edgemont, SD to Deadwood, SD. It has been rated one of the ten best scenic bike rides in the U.S.

 As we had not rode much lately we started off at the Custer trailhead and rode about 6 miles to a view of Crazy Horse. We have done portions of the trail other years north of Hill City, a nice way to see it a little at a time. This portion of the trail runs pretty much up hill and even at 4% grade started to get a bit tiring. But what goes up- you know the rest the return ride was a little more pleasurable.
  As we write this we are anxiously awaiting the arrival our son Nate and grandson Alex. They are driving in from WI today and will be spending about four days here. Wendy and I have taken time off to play tourist guides. Alex has never been to South Dakota and Nate hasn't been here since he was very young so we really look forward to showing them why we keep returning here each year.
 Nate would give us heck for returning to the same place and we would say we are going to keep coming here until he comes to see us. Uh-oh wonder what we will do next year.)