Today was intended as a day of relaxation. We've been keeping up a hectic pace since we left, and decided to just take it easy and enjoy the Spearfish Canyon Lodge. We slept in late, and didn't even get coffee until 6:30.   Remember, we're on Mountain time now, so that's 8:30 Orlando time. This hotel is one of the few that does not offer a free breakfast, just free coffee. So rather than go to the expensive restaurant next door, we decided to run errands instead. We needed to go to the Post Office to see about shipping some old excess stuff home so we could buy some new excess stuff. Of course, we sort of forgot it was Sunday (since everyday is Sunday to us), and the post office is closed. The lobby in Lead was open, so even though we couldn't mail it today, we could get a free box. Main St in Lead is torn up, so there was construction and detours everywhere. It took us several tries to find the Post Office, but eventually we were successful.
     According to Around Me, there was a coffee shop nearby in Deadwood, called the Pump House so we were off on a mission . Unfortunately, since it was Sunday morning, they were having a 5K run with everyone in South Dakota participating.   They just held up traffic for about 20 minutes while the bulk of the runners passed through, and then letting cars pass through one at a time as the slower runners went by. We were stuck there for about a half hour. When we finally made it through to Deadwood, the Pump House turned out to be a converted Texaco gas station - that's why the clever name. It was filled with gas station memorabilia of the 50's and had great coffee and muffins. The last stop on our errand run was to be at Wal-Mart to get a new cooler as the last one we got leaked - of course it was probably our own fault for discarding the inner hard liner, But before we went to Wally World, we may as well visit the infamous Sturgis. We were in the area and as it really is the Biker version of Mecca, we shouldn't leave without paying homage.
     Sturgis is about what we expected since it wasn't Bike Week, but we did find a couple of t-shirt places open and were able to buy the obligatory Sturgis 75th anniversary t-shirt . So it was off to Interstate 90 to Spearfish and the Wal-Mart Supercenter. They take their Interstates seriously around these parts, the speed limit was 80!
     Of course, the real reason to go to Spearfish was to get to ride the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Highway US-14A, a beautiful 20 mile cruise through Spearfish Canyon - hence the name. So I set up the GoPro to record the momentous event and all was going smoothly until we got about halfway through. Since Bridal Falls was visible from the road, there was no way to continue without stopping. So we stopped, and checked out Bridal falls which were awesome. We took a few pictures and headed back onto the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Highway which actually ends at our hotel. That was the end of the riding for today.
    Just for fun I checked the elevation on the Garmin, and we are at about 4800 ft. On the way to Deadwood, at the top of the mountain, it read 6190 ft. They were having a bicycle rally this morning also, and all the cyclists were pedaling there way from 4800 ft to 6190 ft as they rode to the top of the mountain . It made me tired just to watch.
     We got back from our morning adventure about 1:00 and decided that it would be just the perfect time to try out the hot tub. Both hot tubs were unoccupied, so we donned our suits and spent about a half hour in the tub. These hot tubs are outdoors on a second floor deck, with mountain views all around. It was wonderful, and very relaxing.
     We had noticed earlier that there were several signs around the property talking about hiking trails. Now that we were fully relaxed from our time in the hot tub, hiking seemed the obvious choice for activity. We talked to the lady at the desk, and indeed there were 3 separate hiking trails, each about a mile long. Two went to waterfalls, and the third climbed about 1000 ft up a mountain. Obviously we skipped the mountain climb and concentrated on the two waterfalls.
     The first was called Roughlock Falls, and the path was relatively smooth and flat, just the kind of easy hike we needed. The falls were beautiful, and I'm sure the heavy rains of the spring did a lot to add to their beauty . The second was Little Spearfish Falls, and I'm not sure why they call it little but it was a pretty impressive drop, with the mist from the fall blowing across the creek and getting everyone a little wet. To get across the creek was a precarious metal walkway bridge with a mesh floor you could see through. It was an interesting feeling looking down through the deck to see water flowing over a dam below.
     Tomorrow we are back on the road. With the Devil's Tower National Monument only about 80 miles away it should be a great Close Encounter. It will be a round trip loop, however as we are staying here in Spearfish Canyon Lodge for one more night

73.7 miles today
3571.6 miles total

0.0 gallons today
87.402 gallons total