Day 2

Day two was longer and colder than yesterday. We traveled a little over 570 miles today and it was fairly cold and windy. We ended the ride in Salina, KS where it was 46 degrees before we called it a night at 11:30pm. You might notice that Salina is nowhere near Sioux Falls, SD, our intended destination when we began the day. Well, we've been checking the weather forecasts the past few days and noticed that Monday in Rapid City they are forecasting 40 degrees and 80% rain. That was the day we were planning to see Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills, and the Badlands. So we decided in Kansas City to head west to Denver where they are forecasting sunny and in the 60s the next few days. We can visit Pikes Peak and then head north on Tuesday to Wyoming, Montana, and then on to South Dakota after all the cold, wet weather passes. It will still be fairly cool, but they're saying sunny in the 50s instead of rainy and 40.

We had a good ride today and got a chance to use our cold weather gear. We pushed pretty hard today but did take the time to stop and see the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Very impressive. The Cardinals were playing the Brewers downtown so it was pretty crowded, but it was a nice diversion from our cold ride.

We're getting up early tomorrow to head to the Rockies. I'm excited.

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