Day 24
Day By Day Notes From The Road
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This document updated July 24th, 2004
Miller to De Smet South Dakota - 77 Miles
By Erwin:
Today we finally received the tailwind we had been waiting for for three days! Combined with a flat landscape and pretty good road surface, the tailwind made our going very easy.
I rode the first 40 miles without stopping in under two hours - it was a really nice workout, starting slowly and building up to a sustained effort.
At the forty mile mark, we reached the half-way point in Huron, SD. Yep, we are now more than halfway to DC! It was nice to celebrate with some popsicles and a long rest. Seeing the other riders come in was great, as some had put in amazing effort to come this far.
After arriving, I waited for Lucija to also come. And I waited, and waited, but she did not show up. I am sure she will tell all about it in her section...
Tonight, we are camping in a city park in De Smet, a small town near the Minnesota border. The local Chamber of Commerce cooked us the best grilled hot dogs and mashed potatoes ever. While we were eating (as usual standing up), we experienced a massive thunder and hail storm. Hail of about 1.5cm in diameter came down almost horizontally. We stood under a little roofed area and saw our tent weather the storm (successfully!).
Tomorrow, we cross into Minnesota, our 6th state! The day should be ok, with a cross wind and generally flat terrain. Looking forward to it!
By Lucija:
Okay okay, I win the stupid award today. Every morning we receive a sheet of paper with the directions for the day. I have to fold the paper into 3 sections in order to fit it into the plastic holder on my bike. Today, I managed to skip a section, which meant that I missed our halfway party in Huron, South Dakota. Predictably, all of a sudden my directions got very confusing, and instead of joining the halfway party, I twirled around Huron on my own until the group caught up with me. So I learned the hard way to pay a lot of attention when flipping over the folds on my cue sheet!
Photos:
Another typical scene - still flat, still planted by corn. Though I do find the bales of hay quite pretty.