We debated the merits of the various routes across South Dakota last night. If we travel straight east we pass through very, very remote areas. Most of the towns listed on the map are in reality "mail drops". In the Midwest the small towns took a beating when the interstate freeways were developed. Drivers don’t usually take alternate routes. Businesses are established primarily along the interstate corridors. Many of these more remote communities have dried up. I looked in the phone book for listings for grocery stores, motels, restaurants…few to none. Prepared food and motel rooms might be unavailable. The Weather Channel has tornado forecasts to the north and severe afternoon thunderstorm warnings for the next couple of days.

In the morning we headed south on Highway 34. We decided to take the "safe" route to avoid consequences of being stranded during the afternoon storms. It wasn’t just the lack of services that made us decide to take this route. I was afraid of being out on the unobstructed plains in a storm of any type (hail, lightening, wind, rain). This road was heavily used, but still had a safe shoulder. South Dakota is NOT flat.

I didn’t get coffee before we started. The first town we came to had no coffee either. We ate dried fruit and rode on. We had to ride at least 20 miles before I got my cup of coffee. I didn’t like that! I started off crabby.

After breakfast in Whitewood we rode adjacent to the freeway on the frontage roads. Occasionally we had to hop onto the freeway. South Dakota has the worst shoulder of any freeway we have ridden so far. There was lots of debris. They were all chewed up. We had to watch very carefully.

On the skinny frontage roads there was no shoulder. People didn’t want to give us much room even on straight sections. It was not a happy day.

It was about 90F and moderately humid. I think I may be becoming acclimatized to that. My knees are hurting. I took some Advil this afternoon.

The hills are still rolling grasslands. The grass appears to be very thick even though the locals are bemoaning the drought conditions.

Our first vitriolic encounter…a spike moussed, green-haired teenager yelled at us to "get off the road" while we were riding in a construction area in Rapid City. We waved at him and his friends and rode on. After 2000 miles to have only this one person yell at us is very outstanding.

We stopped at the AAA office in Rapid City to pick up a map of the entire USA. I am finally ready to color in where we have been. Until now it seemed like an indomitable journey. Now that we are heading east and have covered some territory, I am ready to visualize the progress.

We weren’t ready to stop for the day. The women at the AAA office we very helpful. They let us call ahead to confirm that rooms were available in New Underwood. They also directed us to the bike path alongside the river which we rode out of the city.

There were no visual signs that there was a storm approaching. Within a half hour of our checking into the motel in New Underwood, the Weather Channel had severe thunderstorm warnings posted for our area. Soon, children’s toys, cardboard and roofing fragments whipped sideways through the parking lot. Bob struggled to return from the laundromat. The weather changes so fast here. The center of the storm passed 25 miles north of us with winds up to 70 mph. What would that have been like out on the open road?

By the time we reached Wall I did not want to ride any further. The wind was fierce. He wanted to keep going to "make more miles".

We got back onto the freeway, and I was being blown all around. There was an army convoy on the freeway. Many big tanks and trucks steadily passed us. I stopped the bike. I wanted to go back to Wall before we got to far away from it. I could have still walked back there. I don’t think I could have ridden back. Each truck that passed us blew me sideways a foot. I don’t know how he did it, but Bob convinced me to go on. I knew that the road turned southwest in the direction of the wind, but I was scared the wind might change direction. Once we made the decision to go we flew! We rode through an occasional shower. A cloud dropped on us, then it passed through.

Bob had seen a sign for a KOA 20 more miles down the road, and he tried to convince me to continue on even further today. Bob is very lucky that we did not continue riding. We had already ridden 76 miles, and not that it was hard, but it was a mother of a windy day. It started out with 25-35 mph winds and gusting up to 40 mph, it ended almost at 50 mph. Luckily it was mostly pushing us.

We checked into the hotel room in Kadoka, closed the door, and I peeked outside to view the torrential, sideways rain which had started only seconds before. The parking lot was instantly flooded. The front desk clerk called our room to say, "Aren’t you glad you got here when you did?". Once again we were just ahead of that BIG, BLACK DRENCHING CLOUD!

Bob is one lucky mother, because if we had been out on the road heading for the KOA I would have been seriously yelling at him.

Not very much to do here in Kadoka. We showered, then walked all the way through town to view the bank, hardware store, library, lumber yard, grain silos and a bar. We had a beer then walked back to the motel before the next rain started. When we walked across the road for dinner, we could hardly stand up against the wind. The velocity was almost double this afternoon’s speed. I’m really glad we weren’t still riding.

One of our friends from the bar was at the restaurant when we arrived for dinner. All the customers already knew that we were in town, where we had been and where we were going. Everybody in town watched "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" together. It was a big deal here. Life in Kadoka. That’s it!

The wind sweeps across these plains with no obstructions to stop it. We’re trying to figure out the easiest way to get north to Highway 14. When we go north, we’ll be riding pretty much into it because the winds have been predominantly from the northwest. We’ll see what happens.

We woke up, and it was still windy. All night long I kept waking up and listening to the wind outside. It was whipping by the motel. I didn’t want to go out. But once we got out, it was at least somewhat with us. Some of it was sideways since the road changed direction periodically. It was very tiring to pedal with that strong of a wind. It was 30-35 mph with gusts. People who don’t ride think only of a rider’s legs being worn out. No, the arms and shoulders take a beating as well, especially in the wind.

Lunchtime in Murdo. We only traveled something like 43 miles, which is not a bad day’s ride when you consider it. We decided to hang it up and checked into a motel room. I took a short nap this afternoon because I slept so badly last night. I could not have ridden another 50 miles to the north today into a northwest wind. If we had started it, we would have been committed. We’re hoping for an early start tomorrow and no winds. The winds have totally died now, and the evening is still. It’s great but it’s too late to start, so hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to make to Pierre.

We walked around the town of Murdo. It is very similar to Kadoka, except it is on more of a hill. At the top of the hill are the grain silos. There is one grill, one bank, and one hardware store. There are not many businesses, but the people are very friendly. We are getting to know waitresses and motel operators across America.

We bit the bullet. We knew we had to get north to pick up mail in Miller on Hwy 14. The forecast was that the winds would drop, but this morning it was raining too. We knew that it was supposed to rain all day, but still it was sad to wake up and discover that the forecast was correct.

So, we get on the road and ride ten miles to breakfast in the rain. Afterwards we rode another 12 miles on the freeway, then headed north into the wind on Hwy 83 toward Pierre. Now the wind has dropped. We are only riding into 15-20 mph headwinds. AND, whoever told Bob that SD was flat is still mistaken. We went up and down and up and down. They are not big hills; we rode them in the middle ring going into the headwind and the rain. It wasn’t the most fun day I have ever had.

    Bob in SD Grasslands in the Rain

At the top of a ridge we looked out over the prairie. As far as the eye could see is waving grass. Forever is just grass. Not even any horses.

Forgot to mention that this is the day we crossed the Mighty Mo. We dropped down into Fort Pierre on the west side of the river. It is a large river. I have to mention again that South Dakota is not flat. We went from elevation 2800 to 1400, but it felt like we climbed all day.

Is the state roadkill the turtle or the skunk? I’m thinking the turtle has a few more kills noted than the skunk. Bob thinks so too. Gophers are a far back third. There are a lot of land turtles trying to cross the road. Why? The prairie looks to me to be the same on the other side. They just can’t get up to speed to make it, not like those fast little chipmunks.

We arrived at the post office 20 minutes before they closed. They close early on Friday. There are no 8-5 standard hours for the many post offices in the rural areas of this country. If you have a mail drop planned, call ahead to find out when they are open. If the post office had been closed, we would have been in Miller until Monday or gone without our maps. For those of you who know me, I love my maps and I would have been dismayed to leave them. When Bob walked into the office, the postmaster and the clerk were talking about him. They were wondering when this Mr. Becker would arrive for the mystery package.

All day long it threatened to rain. For the first 50 miles the ride was a gradual incline. It was almost flat, but with a slight grade. We had to pedal the entire 75 miles with not an inch of coasting. Although once we got to the town of Highmore, which was the high elevation of the day, we did speed it up and pedal downhill a little faster. For being flat we were not going very fast. The wind never did blow at our backs; it was at our side or nothing. It took a long time. A long, slow day.

We saw mostly birds, a couple of deer. We flushed some pheasants out of the bushes. Oops, there are no bushes…out of the grass. Grass, grass, grass, only grass.

We ate at DQ for dinner on Friday night. Bob didn’t want to walk to town and I didn’t want to get back on that damned bike after getting cleaned up. DQ, fried food. Yuck!

The town of DeSmet cordoned off Main Street for a regional 3-on-3 basketball tournament. High school aged jocks from all the local counties competed on the 10 courts set up. Parents and friends sat along the sidewalks cheering. Soda pop vendors rang up brisk sales. We found an elegant B&B, which had just been refurbished, and sat inside with the owners and a cold ale in the air-conditioned coolness. They had a photo album and were very proud of their remodeling accomplishment.

    Deb at the Giant Pheasant

I thought the tent would blow down around us.

This part of South Dakota is much more scenic. It’s close to the "Great Lakes" region of South Dakota. There are many small ponds and lakes. This morning was so calm that the lakes were glass smooth with the clouds reflected in them. Lots of little farms and ranches overlooking the lakes.

None of the lakes had any boats on them whatsoever. I don’t know why because every fourth vehicle was towing a boat. Maybe they just drive around with a boat stuck to the back of their cars. All the guys were out for Father’s Day. We saw a lot of them buying fishing licenses. Part of the reason we decided to stop early today was that we figured that every boat we saw going out to the lakes would be coming home this afternoon, and we wanted to be off the road.

    Typical South Dakota Highway

We had good shoulders, then we had no shoulders, then we had partial shoulders, and also they had bump, bump, bump, bumps all along the cement. The cement slabs were laid in 15 yard sections so also you have to bump over each connecting section. It was uncomfortable. I’m beginning to hate these cement slabs. Oh MAN! My butt and crotch are hurting today.

Bob bought a new shirt today. It’s so nice to see him in something other than that awful rayon thing he has been wearing every night. It’s a gray T-shirt. He actually bought himself a medium instead of a large. Pretty soon he’ll be able to button his shorts.