Half Way Point.

To day we reached the half way point. At 2.6 miles out we crossed the 2100 mile mark. It was pretty neat hitting the half way point. Cycle America had drawn a line on the pavement and we all stopped and signed your name on the pavement in chalk.

The ride down to DeSmet was only 77.5 miles, and it was almost dead flat. I think someone said that there was only 1000 feet of elevation gain today. The tail wind for the first 45 miles was great and I zoomed down to picnic in moments. On the way we passed the town of Huron where the worlds largest pheasant makes his home. They also have a really large bison but he isn't the worlds largest, even though he is larger than a pickup. I guess everybody wants a claim to fame. Vegraville has the worlds largest Ukrainian Easter Egg, and Chauvin has Suzie the worlds largest soft ball. Tom was saying that there is a coffee table book out which documents all of these roadside wonders. Picnic was home made pizza cooked over a gas barbeque. It was great!

I think the highlight of the ride was about 17 miles out the train tracks paralleled the road, and I could see this train coming up behind me. It was coming relatively slowly, however I didn't realize how slowly it was gaining on me. Finally it gets along side and it is a small local with only 10-12 cars and a small single engine. The locomotive engineer blows his whistle and waves to me. As the train passes, "I think I can get this train". At this point I am 9 cars back, so I jump on the pedals and go for it. The train is doing maybe 20-21 and I can do 22, so over the course of about 7 miles I work my way up to 3 cars back from the locomotive. At this point the road curves slightly away from the tracks and takes a slight incline. I can see that the train engine pumping out black diesel as it hit the grade. However it left me as I was topped out. It was a fun run over several miles.

The town of DeSmet Is the home of "Little House On the Prairie" as written by Laura Ingalis Wilder. You can cruise around town and see all the original buildings as described in the book and as seen on the TV show. It is kind of neat to see this bit of Americana.

To days blog is being posted at a DQ wifi hot spot. I guess what ever works is what you do.

Lets Ride!

Terry