July 16 2014 De Smet to Watertown SD

Today was one of the shortest days on the tour at only 60 miles and with only 1100 feet of climb an easy day.  Being so short we were granted an extra 30 minutes to sleep in.  This caused a major amount of moaning and whining from the crack of dawn crowd.  What?? Load luggage at 6:30 instead of 6:00.  It didn’t seem to matter as the zippers were flying at 5:00 Am anyway.   I lay in bed until 6:00 and enjoyed the warmth of my sleeping bag and tent.

Ed W was riding to day so we set out together and with no wind we flew down the road past the corn fields. The howling North wind was gone and the weather was still cool so it was absolutely perfect riding weather.   Soon we were at first water at the 18 mile mark.  It was set at the Bryant Parkview Care Center.  Cycle America has been stopping in at this old folks home for as long as anyone can remember and they had a picture book of riders going back to 2002.  One of the residents is 102 and she says it goes back much further than 2002.  She was very with it and was quite an amazing person.  They had lots of cookies and squares for us as a special treat.  Derek sings in a barbershop quartet and has been organizing a choir group of riders.  So they got up and performed several songs which were quite a hit.

Picnic was at the 36 mile mark and was right under the water tower in the berg of Hayti.  Apart from the huge new steel elevators, it looks like the rest of the town is pretty much closing down.  Ed had indicated that there was a great place to have a burger in Watertown, so don’t fill up at picnic.  So we rolled through picnic pretty quick and were on the road.

We rode the remaining 24 miles down to Watertown and pulled into Dempsey’s Bar and Grill.  I remember stopping in this place for burgers back in 2010.  It is a microbrewery and have a huge selection of beers. The place is crowded with their awards for the beers and the food.  The burgers were all ½ pounders. They were great and I had a German Lager which was excellent.

Terry