Month: July 2005 (Page 3 of 4)

The Corn Palace — the facade is covered in corn of various colors.

The yellow hills of the Badlands, SD.

Chris and I in the Badlands.

The Pig Dig in the badlands.

The Longhorn Saloon, Scenic, SD.

Just some things I didn't get to in the last post.
If you are ever in Pipestone or I-90 in western MN, it's worth the side trip here just to eat at Lange's Cafe. What a menu & selection of baked goods – pie to die for.

It's funny how different things become just crossing a state border. The road maintenance changes of course – SD had better shoulders but MN does a much better job on the cracks — and so far, NO CHIP SEAL!! ;). Anyway, Chris & I both independently observed that MN is much neater (in the clean & tidy sense) than SD by far.

And much more populous. I won't be lacking somewhere to stop (I hope I'm not speaking prematurely).

There's a national park here at a quarry of soft red stone which the Indians carved into pipes & traded all over the country. I did a quick tour just to see what it's all about. Also, every August you can come here for the annual Hiawatha pagent, where they put the play "Song of Hiawatha" on.

Well, Chris is leaving today – after brunch he's heading west to catch a plane & I'm going east. ;( I spent a good part of the morning packing things to send back & getting only the essentials in the BOB.

I hope to be at the Hanlon's tomorrow.

Mitchell, SD to Pipestone, MN 93 miles

5 states down, 15 to go. Just over 2000 miles so far.

Today was pretty routine. Sun, sunscreen, wind, riding, and more riding. Really wanted to get SD out of the way. Rode from Mitchell to Sioux Falls, and we stopped at Harlan's Bike & Tour to have my bike checked out — have a funny random clicking going on and it's driving me nuts. The noise is still there, but at least I know it's safe. Also, I bought a spare BOB axle, just in case. Estelle, one of the staff on the Cycle America tour insisted I have one. Also, had to buy a new flag.

Have to run. The library I'm writing this at is closing. More later.

This won't be a complete post since I haven't finished riding for the day, but I thought I'd write while I had access to a computer.

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” ~ Ernest Hemingway

I'm in Wessington Springs, S.D. Started early today in Presho and have come 89 miles, and am now well over the halfway point in mileage. Chris is going to execute a Hyperspace Jump* for me and we'll end up in Mitchell, SD, so we can see the Corn Palace. After that, I plan to ride 20 or so more miles and call it a day. Minnesota is getting closer.

By the way, I forgot to note yesterday that I entered the Central time zone. Wasn't even thinking about it, but Chris saw the sign. Could've really used that hour of sleep that I lost, though.

I'll update again when we have a place for the night.

*- The Hyperspace Jump is a cool North-South move that saves or uses no mileage. It was used once before in jumping from RT 44 to the Badlands Scenic Loop (though that one did cost me an extra 9 miles, it was well worth it). I will certainly miss the Hyperspace Jumps when Chris leaves on Friday.

Presho to Mitchell, SD 111 miles

Forgot to relate in my earlier post that I crossed the Missouri River this morning, 1000 mi after I first did that in Montana.

After the hyperjump from Rt 34 to old US 16, I added 22 more miles & we ended up in Mitchell, home of the Corn Palace, a building which, while garrish enough already, is redecorated every year with frescos made with 11 shades of corn. An auditorium-basketball court-all purpose building where one could buy every manner of corn-related merchandise ever made.

After an excellent Mexican dinner, we restocked supplies & I spent the night washing my clothes & mending my favorite cyclin' shorts.

I'm only 75 miles from MN, again thanks to Chris' superb sag work, & should make it there tomorrow.

Cactus Flats to Presho, SD 98 miles.

As much as yesterday was a vacation wonderland, today was a slogging workday. My goal was to make it 120 miles to Reliance, but after fighting energy-sapping headwinds on bottom-bashing, speed-sucking chip-sealed roads all day, I threw in the towel 22 miles short of my goal. Still, 98 miles was good progress, and I'm way ahead of where I would have been without Chris' help. If everything works out, I might be out of SD by Friday.

Today wasn't without it's high point, though. We stopped for lunch in Murdo at the Pioneer Auto Museum. This complex was almost as big as the Wall Drug store, but was full of not only antique cars, but bicycles, farm machines, motorcycles, whole schoolhouses & train stations — almost anything old, it was there.

Tomorrow, I'm going to try to knock off half of what's left of South Dakota. That's the goal, anyway.

Rapid City to Cactus Flats 101 miles

Imagine "Mongo" from "Blazing Saddles" growling out the subject line.

Today's ride was wonderful & jam packed with things to talk about. I took lightly travelled route 44 instead of riding on the Interstate, thanks to Chris' sag support. Gently rolling hills on either side of me, & only rarely did the road go over one.

Chris met me in the little wayside town of Scenic. 4, maybe 5 buildings, most of them with 'Longhorn' in their name, decorated with many skulls of long-dead cows. There was the Longhorn Food & Fuel, the Longhorn Saloon, & the Longhorn Emporium. I had a very refreshing grape popsicle at the Food & Fuel, waiting in line as three obviously inebriated Native Americans were trying to figure out how to pool their cash to pay for their gas & a bottle of whiskey (It was about 10 AM). Not a pretty sight.

One of my concerns about riding through reservations in SD was the high rate of alcoholism among the men, and the fact that they drive in that state. One of the three, Harold, very obviously & purposefully stayed behind to talk to Chris & me & eventually asked for a handout. When nothing was forthcoming from us, he quickly moved on to a carload of people getting gas.

After Scenic, the landscape quickly changed, becoming more sandy & barren — I had entered the Badlands, a beautiful & strange landscape of multi-colored layered rock & thick mineral-laden streams. A giant 'Silly Sand' sculpture.

Chris met me at mile 70 & sagged (transport by car) me over the 9 mi gravel road into the national park, where we got to see the 'Pig Dig,' an active archeological site where four paleontologists were busy digging through the earth with brushes & small metal picks (like your dentist uses). In 20 years since some tourists stumbled upon a fossil here,they have unearthed an about 20 x 10 patch & over 13,000 bones of all sorts of creatures who used this ancient watering hole.

We decided after the pig dig to head into Wall at the eastern end of the Badlands scenic loop, but it took us quite a while to get there as there were so many cool 'viewpoints' to stop at and gawk at nature's wonders, including a small buffalo herd & prairie dogs.

Wall is the home of Wall Drugs, a block-long americana wonderland of free ice water, 5 cent coffee, chintzy souvenirs,& cheesy tourist attractions (like a hugh plastic T-Rex that growls every 12 minutes). We had buffalo burgers at the cafe & wandered around for a while amazed at the shear excess of it all.

After our later than planned lunch, we headed back to the badlands loop so I could finish my ride. 30 miles later, I had a century in & we parked ourselves at the Circle 10 campground/Motel in Cactus Flats, ready for a good sleep.

A bath. And my first real bed in 3 weeks. Ahhhhh.

Hit Mt. Rushmore early & avoided the crowds. Before hearing that Chris was coming, I was planning on taking a tour or hitching to the monument. Having a car was a real advantage, and I'm still happy with my decision to skip the Black Hills, especially if I had BOB in tow.

We did get one big treat today – bighorn sheep lulling by the road in Custer stste park. Got a couple nice pics.

Going to enjoy the luxury of a bed again tonight, and conquer the Badlands tomorrow.

Day 21 Gillette to Devils Tower – 68 miles

Today, though hot, was a relatively easy day. The first half of the ride was mostly flat, past long, long trains carrying coal (Did you know that Wyoming coal supplies 6% of the world's power?)

The picnic lunch was held in Moorcroft Wyoming, where they had a Jubile Parade going on. Complete with Cowboys on horseback & Shriners and a very refreshing iced cherry-lemonade.

There were a few hills on the rest of the ride, and it was getting hotter. But a cold Pepsi at the one building town of Carlile gave me enough of a boost to haul BOB over the remaing hills. These hills almost magically started sprouting dark pine trees – a dramatic switch from the dry grass of the high plains – the end of the high plains and the start of the Black Hills.

The KOA at Devils Tower had a pool and after throwing in a load of laundry, I joined many of the other cyclists and jumped in. Now that felt good.

Since services are sparse at the Tower, some of the staff threw a party – and my friend Chris made it in time. We joined the party while waitng for the mechanics to finish tuning up Jake – his last professional servicing before my solo effort.

After loading Jake & BOB into the car, I bid everyone my bittersweet goodbyes. I got really attached to this group in the last 3 weeks and we had a lot of fun together. I resisted the many requests to stay on, and am really looking forward to doing South Dakota with Chris' help, and then striking out completly on my own. So, Chris & I left the tower and
my new friends behind and headed to Rapid City.

Buffalo to Gillette, WY 72 miles With BOB.

Today was a hot one. My bike thermometer read 113 in the direct sun. Lots of sunscreen & water made that tolerable. We were on Interstate 90 for 66 of the 72 miles. Easy riding on the big wide shoulders & really very clean – except for the tire debris that claimed my tire.

Yes, I had my first flat of the tour. With over 1500 miles done, I consider that really lucky. In fact, I was reluctant to mention my avoidance of any flats in fear of jinxing my good luck. Others have been getting quite a few. I actually got the flat just before an exit where there was a water stop, and a short distance from there was a tree for some shade. So, after a short walk, I had plenty of water, relief from the sun, & five fellow cyclists offerring pumps, tubes, cookies & moral support. I'm going to miss this group – the camaraderie can really help getting through tough days like yesterday. And there's always somebody behind you to help.

BIG NEWS (& a big surprise): My friend Chris Fahey is picking me up in Devils Tower tomorrow & is going to sag me through South Dakota. That is going to be so great to have help getting through there, especially with the dry heat that's taken over the region.

More on that later. Tomorrow is my last day with the tour & I still have 68 miles to the tower with BOB in tow, & temps are forecast for over 100. Gotta get some rest.