Day 11 - Rapid City, South Dakota to Murdo, South Dakota
147 miles
3180' climbing

Richard and I rolled out together, but something didn't feel right. I just didn't seem to have any energy. I had been taking these all natural energy tablets from a company called Excel, but didn't take one that morning, and now given my lack of energy I suddenly was convinced that they worked. Either that or I had caught the cold that was going around. We were fighting headwinds again, and I was losing.

We reached Badlands National Park, and fortunately the scenery was so inspiring I didn't think too much about how bad I felt. I went through an entire roll of film. The landscape is more like a moonscape. It's a result of wind and rain and erosion, and is a barren, jagged, but absolutely beautiful sight for miles and miles.

I've tried to figure out why we had headwinds so much during the trip. I really thought that predominant winds came from the west, but we seemed to also encounter a lot from the north, south and yes, east. This afternoon was no exception. The winds, while nothing like the West Yellowstone day, just slowed me to a crawl.

When I finally reached the motel I was worn out and depressed. My throat hurt, my head hurt and I felt weak. I knew I had a cold, but I also was convinced I needed more of those energy tablets. I then proceeded to act like a junkie! I called Terry and left a message to please get me some and send them to the next town. I then called a friend in Boston and left the same message. I went to the store and bought lots of juice, and vitamin C and some sandwich meat and carrots for dinner. I felt lousy and didn't want to sit in a restaurant. I just went back and crawled in bed and ate carrots, hoping for more energy the next day.