Watertown to Montevideo

July 21, 2022

This morning I totally slept through my alarm and didn’t wake up until 5:37 AM.  Not sure what happened as I know it was set on my phone.  So everything seemed like it was in a rush this morning as I was now 20 minutes behind.  Last to load luggage, last to eat breakfast and yet I still managed to roll out of camp at 6:48, not bad. 

Today was  another day of riding through the corn fields.  Although as we have headed east the fields have gotten smaller and there are a few trees which grow along smaller draws and line a few of the fields. The tour took us through several small towns and most of them looked even more boarded up than they did in 2018.  I guess this is also reflected in the declining populations which is reported on our route sheets.

The north west wind which has been blowing quite hard and steady for the last few days served us well today as we were headed almost due east. This tail wind resulted in an average speed today of 17.3 mph.  Just got to love those tail winds.

Highlights of the day was seeing a huge house being moved, and leaving South Dakota and entering Minnesota.  Also saw an original Skelly gasoline station, a relic from the 1950’s.

Just before picnic I caught up to a large group of riders and had a bunch of fun taking pictures of them.  I rode ahead and then got down on the pavement to take a shot as they rode past. Some great action shots.

Just another day on Greg’s Magical Coast to Coast tour.

Terry 

 

De Smet to Watertown July 20, 2022

De Smet to Watertown

July 20, 2022

 

Yesterday’s howling tail wind was today’s head wind.  The route was a series of north and east legs arranged in stair step fashion.  Of the 61 miles approximately 45 of it was north and 16 of it was east. With the wind just howling out of the North West a person had a head wind about 75% of the time, and a tail wind about 25% of the time. 

The first leg was a 15 mile section which ran straight north.  This put the wind coming at you at about the 10:00 o’clock position.   Working as hard as I could I could do about 12 mph.  It was a terrible road with a 24 inch shoulder which had a rumble strip reducing the actual riding area to something around 16 inches.  And then there was the trucks!  Huge side dumper trucks with huge “B” units. They were going both directions and you were passed every couple of minutes.  I was so happy to make the turn.

About 6 miles down the second leg, which was heading east so I had a tail wind, I thought my rear tire was soft so I stopped and sure enough it only had a few pounds of air in it.  I thought I had a puncture but when I removed the valve cap there was a huge rush of air. The little valve had come out of the valve stem.  Ken T came by and he helped me thread the little valve back into the valve stem and we pumped the tire.  It fixed the problem and I rode all day on it.

Today’s picnic was right under the water tower in the little town of Hayti.  The central business section looked pretty much closed up but they did have some really huge silos.

The route was though a lot of corn fields which alternated with some sort of bean crop.  Barry and I had fun in one of the corn fields taking pictures and marvelling at how high the corn is.  The corn stalks are at least 7 feet tall.  It is just amazing that it has gotten to be such a huge plant in such a short time.

On one of the little lakes we rode past a lone pelican was catching fish.  It looked like the pelican was doing ok as I saw him catch a couple of fish in the short time it took me to ride by.

Even though it was only 61 miles I was glad to get in as the wind had just worn me out.

Terry   

 

Sunshine Bible Center to De Smet

July 19, 2022

The horrid SW wind continued almost all night causing the tent to flap constantly.  I was kind of worried how I was going to roll my tent up in the morning. Fortunately, the wind had stopped when I got up and started rolling things up.  However the calm didn’t last long and the forecast wind out of the NW started howling just after I got packed up.

The first 14 miles from Sunshine Bible Center to Miller was straight north directly into the wind which by now was blowing at a steady 25 mph.  Jon and Eric, the two English fellows showed up and the three of us took turns pulling into the wind.  It was a life saver as we covered the distance to Miller in just under an hour. 

As we turned east we now had a howling tail wind.  Flying along at 20-25 was totally effortless.  The remaining 77 miles would be eaten up quickly. 

Just a few miles down the road was the “Chalk Celebration”  which marks the half way point on the coast to coast journey.  Everyone stops and signs the road in chalk and takes a picture.  After I had signed and rolled on the local police showed up and were grouchy about cyclists making chalk marks on the road.  Obviously this was the biggest crime being committed in Miller SD and  who better to assert their authority over than cyclists.

At the 44 mile mark of the route we came to the actual half way point in terms of mileage.  Marked on the road was the point where it was 2158 miles from the start and 2158 miles to the finish line. It was in kind of a busy point on the highway so stopping do take a lot of pictures was kind of out of the question.

Picnic was in the town of Huron where there is the world’s largest pheasant.  Another must stop for a photo on this magical mystery tour.

After picnic we still had 31 miles to go fortunately the howling west wind was still blowing and Ken T. and I rode into De Smet and camp in just over an hour and a half. 

As it was only 1:00 Ken and I decided to go find something to eat. In the local dinner I had the meatloaf lunch special.  It was great and washed down with a lot of ice tea.  I know what you’re thinking picnic, then 90 minutes later lunch.  True but supper will not be until 5:30 pm

Thanks to the howling tail wind the 91 miles disappeared in just 5:17 hours with and average speed of 17.1 mph.   

De Smet is the birth place of Laura Ingalls Wilder who wrote the Little House on the Prairie series of books. So, everything is named after her.  The streets, the parks, the buildings, the schools.  

Terry   

 

Pierre to Miller July 18, 2022

Pierre to Miller

July 18, 2022

Today we were supposed to be riding to Miller however the school in Miller exploded back in January when a drum of waste oil in the agriculture wing blew up.  So instead we are in the Sunshine Bible Academy which is 14 miles south of Miller.   It is a very nice place unfortunately there is nothing what so ever near it. In fact there isn’t even a vending machine to get a cold drink.

I rolled out of the Ramkota Hotel in Pierre at exactly 7:00 am into what had to be a 15-20 mph head wind and 70F temperatures.  The route followed the east side of the Missouri river in a south easterly direction which was directly into the wind.  As I rolled out of Pierre I saw that there is a really interesting looking military museum in Pierre.  Too bad I didn’t know about it yesterday as it would have been a good place to spend some time in the AC on my rest day. 

The route was to leave the Missouri river and go directly east at about mile 25.  I kept thinking that when I got to this point the head wind would become more of a side wind unfortunately that never happened. It was really quite demoralizing as you ground up one hill then have to pedal down the other side. Best that I could do was around 10 mph into the head wind.

As the day wore on the temperature just kept going up, as did the wind.  The shoulder or what there was of a shoulder was rough and broken up.  Grinding and more grinding.  I thought picnic would never show up.  Finally I arrive at picnic. It took 4.5 hours to ride 48 miles. 

At picnic there was a little store so I got a 24 oz bottle of Coke.  I poured the Coke down along with a couple of wraps and headed out.  By now it was well over 100F and the wind was just howling out of the SE.    

The farmers are busy harvesting the winter wheat and boy do they ever have some monster machines to do it.  The cutter head on this machine must have been 50 feet wide.  I stopped to take it’s picture then realized I was going to be hit by the straw which being ejected out the back and was being whipped by the wind straight at me.  I had to pedal like mad to avoid it. 

The corn is also looking pretty as it is well over 6 feet.  There were miles and miles of corn fields to day. 

Finally the pay off when we turned north for the final 4 miles into camp.  I hit 26 mph and wasn’t even pedalling. 

I don’t think anyone had a fun day.

Terry 

 

Pierre SD Rest day

July 17 2022

Today we have a rest day in Pierre SD.  The Indian Learning Center where we have stayed in the past was not available this year so we are staying in the Ramkota hotel in Pierre.   It is by far the nicest place on the tour.  Staying in such a beautiful place is a real treat. Just having AC in 100 F weather is great.

Barry and I are sharing a room which is right across from the laundry room in the hotel.  There is only one washer and dry in the hotel so with the 45 riders plus staff and everyone wanting to do a load it has been lined up constantly.  This morning at 5:00 am there were about five people gathered outside my door all yapping.  I opened the door and told them to shut-up people are trying to sleep.  They had already been told to cool it by the people next to us. Rudeness knows no bounds.

About 6:30 Am I gathered my laundry up and got in line.  While I waited I got my blog and pictures for yesterday done and posted.  With my laundry done I headed down stairs for the obligatory hotel waffle and coffee for breakfast.  Next on the chores list was tent drying, bike cleaning, and of course the sorting of all the gear back into some sort of order. Seems like by the end of the week everything is jumbled no matter how hard you try to keep it straight.

For lunch Barry and I went down to DQ for a burger.  It is just too hot to walk any further than a couple of blocks.  On the way back to the hotel I detoured to look at the old railroad bridge which is close to the hotel.  It is a very interesting bridge as it was completed in 1909 and is the only swing bridge left in SD. It is still in use today.  Once you get up to it the size of it is really impressive.  Some of the bolts holding it together have to be 10” across. 

Tonight is the group supper in the hotel.  What a treat to eat off real plates with real cutlery rather than paper plates and plastic cutlery.  Although Barry was saying he thought he was getting the hang of it as he only had two paper plate collapses (one bowl and one plate) this week.   

Well better run as it is getting close to time to eat.

Terry 

 

Philip to Pierre SD July 16 2022

 

Philip to Pierre SD

July 16 2022

Last night was a huge lightning storm.  I lay in my tent and watched as the bolts of lightning flashed for at least a couple of hours before falling asleep.  I think that it then rained most of the night as I awoke a couple of times and it was raining.   At about 4:00 am I looked at the radar to see where the rain was and the radar had the rain ending about 5:15 am.  I was worried about what rain gear to wear, but with it ending a couple of hours before ride time maybe I could escape.  The rain was good as it would take some heat out of the system. The radar was right and the rain stopped at 5:15.

I was on the road at 6:55 Am and with 87 miles to go I wanted to make as much time as possible before the afternoon heat and winds came up.  We were also entering Central Time so I would lose an hour. 

The route was straight east for 25 miles, straight north for 25 miles and straight east for 37 miles. The first east leg was very nice with a good shoulder and no wind.  The rain had cooled it down to around 65F so it was a very pleasant ride.  Being a Saturday morning the traffic was very light and I made good time.  When I got the north leg temperature was getting up and so was the wind.  Fortunately the wind was out of the south so it was a bit of a tail wind.

Most of the way had been a lot of ups and downs where the ups and downs were about a half mile in length.  No matter how hard you raced down the descents you always wound up grinding up the last part of the climb.  

Just after I made the last turn and started east was picnic which I had made by 11:00 AM.  It was clam chowder which was excellent.  I didn’t linger as the clouds looked really threatening and I had elected to bring only a light jacket.  However as I pulled out from Picnic the wind came up and was now out of the East North East at around 15 mph.  The highways department had been out and put down this really rough chip seal.  Making 10 mph was a tough slog. The wind blew the cloud cover away and the temperatures went to around 95F.  My early arrival was no longer possible.

As I crossed the Missouri river I changed my watch to Central time. 

The entire tour is staying at the Ramkota Inn in Pierre SD.  It is a beautiful hotel and conference center. It is by far the nicest place we have stayed in so far.

So ends week four of the tour. 

Terry   

Interior to Philip July 15, 2022

Interior to Philip

July 15, 2022

Today was the day to ride through Badlands National Park with a scheduled 65 miles and 2050 feet of climb.  The forecast was also for 100F in Philip with winds out of the East at 10-15mph.  As this did not really appeal to me I decided to take a short cut.  This cut the route down to 38.32 and 1352 feet of climb. 

As I was looking at the alternative route last night I had several other riders approached me and before I knew it I had 12 other riders wanting to take the short cut. The short cut also had the advantage of not having to ride the busy road from Wall Drugs to Philip which was straight east, and had fresh tar and very poor to no shoulder.

We started the morning with a cold breakfast in the parking lot of the campground in Interior and headed north to the café inside the park gate where we had a breakfast burrito waiting for us.  My little troupe headed north through about 10 miles of the park before exiting the park.  There is a big Conoco truck stop right there so we pulled in to refill our water bottles and pick up an extra drink as there would not be further services until we reached Philip.

On the north side of the Interstate is the National Minuteman Missile Museum.  So we pulled in to tour the museum. This museum documents the history of the Minuteman Missile. It was a solid fuel missile, and update to the liquid fueled Titan missile which was costly to build and maintain. The Minuteman could reach its target on the other side of the globe in just 30 minutes. Originally there were 1000’s of missile silos throughout the western plains, however under the Start agreements a lot of them have been decommissioned. It was a totally fascinating place to visit, and a sobering reminder that even though the cold war maybe over the threat of nuclear Armageddon still over shadows us all.

Back on the road we have 12 miles straight into the east wind. As not everyone stopped at the museum my troupe was down to 5 of us.  Graeme the big Australian and I took turns pulling the group and before we knew it the miles were behind us.  The road we were on was a very nice road which paralleled the interstate so there was absolutely no traffic.  I think we only saw 3 cars the entire time.

Turning north with only 16 miles to go and the stiff head wind was now a great cooling side wind.  It was a good road with almost no traffic and we made great time. 

As we rolled into Philip it was just 11:30 and time to find lunch.  Saloon 73 (yes it was almost as dingy as the name suggests) filled the bill.  A hearty plate of chicken fingers and fries washed down with a cold beer was just what I needed. 

Stepping outside after lunch was a real shock as the temperature was now close to 100 F.

Forecast is for a thundershower tonight, hopefully that will cool things down.

What a great day!

Terry

 

Rapid City to Interior SD July 14, 2022

Rapid City to Interior SD

July 14, 2022

The forecast for today was hotter than Hades but not as hot as Phoenix, with a wind out of the north changing to the west.  As the mileage for today’s ride was only 72.8 miles with climb of only 1130 feet, nobody was worried about the mileage but everyone was worried about the heat.

With luggage loaded and breakfast eaten I was on the road by 6:33 Am.  I think this is the earliest that I have been on the road yet.  At this time of day it was really pleasant at about 75F.  The wind hadn’t come up yet.  As I turned east on hwy 16 east it was a really busy four lane road.  Fortunately 90% of the traffic was headed into town and I was going out of town.  About 6 miles out most of the traffic had disappeared and it became a two lane road. 

It wasn’t the most scenic route as it was just a highway through large pasture land.  In the very far distance you could see some hills.  This continued all the way through to picnic which was in the village of Scenic.  It looks like the town is pretty much abandoned.  All of the stores are closed and most of the houses seem to be derelict.  Picnic was in the community hall grounds and it is the only thing which seemed to be in use.  I had arrived at picnic at 9:33 and already most of the riders were there.  The special of the day at picnic was gazpacho soup. One of my absolute favourites.  After a couple of bowls full I was back on the road at 9:55 AM with only 31.1 miles to go.

The highlight of the after picnic ride was the route cut through a corner of Badlands National Park.  It was just a taste to the things to come on tomorrow’s ride through the Badlands Nation Park. 

Even though the wind had picked up considerably and was providing a tremendous tail wind I was glad to turn into camp, the 99 F temperature was so draining.  In camp the luggage needed to be unloaded fortunately there were a lot of riders to help so it went quickly.  By now the wind is really howling and I had a 45 minute wrestling match trying to get my tent set up.  I can’t say I have ever had such a difficult time.

I am really hoping that this wind is going to blow some of the heat away. 

Terry