Day 22

7/6

Mon

Today was a long day - I logged 126 miles. I took a slightly different route than the other riders today. I veered off to see New Underwood, the town in which I was born. At the same time I also visited the grave sites of my grandparents. It was a nostalgic trip. It also added another 20 miles to my ride. After that I joined up with the rest of the riders and proceeded down the Rapid Creek valley. The old highway put us near the Badlands and I had a lunch stop at Scenic, SD (it's anything but scenic). Scenic is a pretty wild place - at least on the weekends around the bars. Other than the bars, it has a postoffice, and old jail and a gas station. It is also one of the entry points to Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. The grass was so green and high. I don't recall ever seeing it this green so late in the year. I felt great finally being back in "tall grass" country.

Fortunately it was cloudy all day long. It didn't even reach 90 in the Badlands. It was only as I was climbing out of the Badlands that the clouds broke and the sun came out. The sun playing over the Badlands is a wonderful sight to see. I was very lucky today, because if it had been hot, it would have been very tough going. The ride was very scenic, but I suspect other riders might have different opinions. I like the prairie and its own special beauty. Others might have found it boring.

Okay - that's all. Later ... rkw

Day 22
Day 23

7/7

Tue

Today was bright and filled with sunshine. It was also very hot and there was a strong wind blowing into our faces for about 30 miles of a 90 mile ride. Most of the day was through prairie and farmland. At one point I was so overtaken by the height of the grass that I stopped, got off my bike and waded out into the grass. It was up to my waist and I managed to get a couple pictures. The day was largely uneventful. There was so little change to the scenery that it was difficult to gauge how much progress we had made. Moreover, in many places the road seemed to go on forever. It was not perfectly flat, but rather rolled through a series of small hills. However, the hills were sufficient to slow me down - especially when the wind was blowing in my face.

The highlight of the day may have been when I visited the town of Belvidere. Outside the town there was a small grain elevator with two large, metal grain bins. One of the bins, however, had folded up on itself. It looked as if a large tornado had struck it at one point. Given the heavy thunderstorm we experienced last night, it would not surprise me if that had happened. However, talking with one of the locals, she said that a year ago they were unloading the grain. The person augering the grain didn't realize it would not come down uniformly in the bin and the combined weight and suction of removing the grain caused the bin to collapse. I snapped a few pictures. It was an interesting site to see beside a scenic little lake (that had several swans in it). I'm sure most of these towns have many stories. I'm at least going slow enough to pick up a few.

Okay, that's it. More tomorrow when we leave the west and head into farm country.

7/8

Wed

The day started very early. When we crossed the Missouri River we entered the Central time zone. Consequently, staying on the west side of the river last night, we were told to adjust our clocks and start on central time in the morning. I lost an hour of sleep somewhere. In any case, switching time zones may have been the highlight of the day. We've left ranching and cattle country and are now in farming country. There are more farm houses dotting the landscape and the fields of wheat, oats and, toward the end of the afternoon, corn and soy beans, dominate the landscape. The road today was the definition of straight. Once we made a gentle curve out of Pierre, the road ran due east. The wind was from the east, northeast almost the entire day. It was hot, flat and covered with fields. It isn't my preferred scenery, but I'm certain it has its own quiet beauty. We're now in the midst of eastern South Dakota where the days are hot, the weather is humid and the land is flat. Tonight's campsite is a real treat - in the midst of a city park. Last night was in the middle of a newly mown alfalfa field. We have a lot fewer grasshoppers with us tonight, although the mosquitoes will be thick when the sun starts to go down - it's too hot for them right now.

That's all.

Day 24 . . . . . . . . . . Day 25

7/9

Thu

Today was another easy day (except for the heat, the humidity and the head wind). We wandered through the farmland of eastern South Dakota, able to see everything for miles and miles and miles. The big excitement today w as the fact that the road briefly turned south and then back east. That there was a bend in the road was a welcome relief. Actually I had a wonderful time. In the morning I stopped with quite a few bikers at the first town outside of Miller. There we f ound a little craft store/coffee shop. The coffee was great and it was hard to get us to move from the bench out in front of the store. In Huron I stopped at the Dakotaland museum and enjoyed the amusing array of collectibles that have been assembled. T he old photographs of the area were the most appealing to me. When I arrived in DeSmet I immediately headed for the old Laura Ingalls Wilder homestead. It was a little ways out of town, but very pretty. So too is DeSmet. The town is at the edge of som e rolling hills (actually, they're hillets) and has huge cottonwood trees everywhere. Like Miller, it is quite lovely.

I want to thank everyone who has sent email. However, it may be that you've sent something and I've not received it. Email delivery at this end is a bit spotty - I figure I'm receiving about 40 percent of what is sent. If you do send something, send it to bigrider@gte.com. In the subject line make sure you include: 1301 Rick Wilson. The 1301 is my rider number and that is how the email is sorted. In the meantime I'm doing well and feeling very strong. So far no health problems and I continue to enjoy the outdoors and the scenery.

That's all for today.

7/10

Fri

Yea, today we entered into our 6th state -- Minnesota. We also changed from pancake flat and straight roads to winding roads with small hills. We have also entered the land of 10,000 lakes and I saw my first one. Minnesota also has trees -- this was a cause for great celebration for many on the trip because the last several weeks have been treeless.

The day started out like most of the past several days. There was a heavy dew on all of the tents because it was very humid. The sky was clear, with just a few small clouds, and it promised to be very hot. Starting out early is an advantage, because by 9:00 am the wind begins picking up. Once again it was a headwind. One of the highlights of the day was going to Brookings, SD. Brookings is a college town, home of South Dakota State University (the "fighting jackrabbits"). I found Nick's Hamburgers, an apparent institution down on main street, when I had several. Because the town is home to the Ag school, they of course had a dairy bar. I headed over there and had a wonderful Black Raspberry shake. The ice cream was very fresh (I was watching them make a batch) and very rich. Thankfully I'm getting plenty of exercise each day. I also toured several of the museums on campus, including the art museum which has a nice collection of native South Dakotan painters. A second highlight was crossing into Minnesota. The local American Lung Association group welcomed us at the border. Polka music was playing, we were baptized with a refreshing spray of water (I hope it was lake water) and we were given frozen popsicles. Given that it was in the upper 90's, it was a very nice welcome. Unfortunately, nothing was done at the border to stop the wind from blowing. It was just as well because this particular corner of Minnesota produces a large amount of wind-generated electricity. There were hundreds of huge windmills on the tops of hills as we came into the state. Hopefully tonight will cool off, the wind will die down, and the mosquitoes will continue napping. I suspect that none of the above will come true.

Day 26 . . . . . . . . . . Day 27

7/11

Sat

Okay, so I've been lax the past few days. It's been hot and I had a day off. Besides, the scenery hasn't changed all that much. Here's the poop:

It was hot and humid - again. The road out of Tyler was wonderful and, believe it or not, we passed through more farm country. We've switched now from wheat and oats to corn, corn and more corn. There have been a few scattered lakes in this part of the country, but not many. I haven't even been tempted to jump into any, but if it stays hot, I might. On the way I found a delightful city park in Springfield, Minnesota. There I had lunch all by myself. No one else on the ride bothered to take the turn and they missed a cute little park hidden down on the banks of a river. When we arrived in New Ulm the German Heritage Festival was going full blast. This meant lots of beer and brats. It might have been worth this leg of the ride.

7/12

Sun

Today was a day off in New Ulm and that is exactly what I did. I spent the morning reading, writing postcards and rotating the tires on my bike. I bought new tires before I left and they seem to be holding up. However, the back tire wears faster than the front and so I switched them around. Yippee, that was the big task for the day. During the afternoon I toured the Schell brewery - purportedly the second oldest family owned brewery in the US. It is fairly small, but has wonderful grounds that include a huge garden, deer and peacocks. The beer was passable, but I wasn't sure, so I sampled them several times.

Tonight I found an Amateur League Baseball game. Admission was $2.00 and the park was very nice. The caliber of play was pretty good. It turns out that these leagues are popular in this part of the country and teams are made up of a lot of college players trying to get some summer playing time. I had fun and the stadium served lots of Schell's beer - cheap. It was a good day off!

Postcards!Postcards!Postcards!

Postmarked 6/18, Pasco, WA

Dan --

It's Day 4 & we're resting. We're still not across Washington, but we've been taking it pretty easy. The scenery has been great & varied. The weather cooperated the last couple of days. Hope all's well at NSF.

-- Rick

Postcards!Postcards!Postcards!

Postmarked 6/25, Elliston, MT

Cheryl --

Here I am on Day 11--somewhere between Missoula and Helena. We're out in the boondies--there's plenty of nothing everywhere. Even so, I'm having lots of fun.

--Rick

So far....