We woke up pretty early to the sound of a train right near the park we were camping in. The train must have got there around 3 or 4 in the am and was there for a few hours. The engine was running and there was this aweful clanking sound that just never stopped. We fell in and out of sleep for a while, but the train left eventually. We layed in our sleeping bags for a while because it was too cold to get out of them yet. When it was time to get up, we had oatmeal again and then stopped at the gas station real quick to wash our bowls. It was nice seeing everyone all dressed up for Easter Sunday. Today was nice and sunny and the wind was a lot calmer. For the first 15 miles of the ride the wind was primarily at our back which was a nice change of pace. Joe got another flat about 10 miles into the ride so there may have been something in the tire that we missed. Once we turned west again we rode on a service road right next to the 90. Compared to NY, there is hardly any traffic on this part of the interstate, and bicycles are even aloud to ride on it out here. Nonetheless, we still took the service road because there was virtually no traffic. When we arrived to the gas station that was 3 miles from the Badlands, we found a bunch of little white prairie dogs that were so cute. The gas station was open only for fill up with a credit card as the main building/gift shop was closed for the season. We sat on the benches outside of it and made some Spaghetti O's for lunch and finished up the rest of the cookies we bought yesterday. We were so excited to be almost to our fist big destination. Luckily the park accepted my debit card because the only cash we had left was Canadian (we used our last cash in Midland because dinner was cash only). We had such a great time riding through the first part of the Badlands. What an amazing view it was all around us, especially since there has been nothing to really look at for days. There was a board walk where we could venture out into the middle of the rock formations a little which was very pretty. After riding for only a few more miles we made it to the visitor center where we made the decision that we would definitely continue to ride through the remainder of the loop tomorrow (we were debating whether we should because we would be forced to ride on a little bit of the 90 right out of Wall in order to get to a service road that would take us to Rapid City). The ride will be well worth it though. Our other choice was to go through the Prairie, but we've seen quite a bit of that kind of land in the last few days. The small town of Interior is only 2 miles from the visitor center, so we decided to find a place to camp. The first campground we came to we found a man sitting outside. He was the owner of the campground and when we asked if it was open, he said "Not officially, but we have everything except a shower." Of course for us, since we hadn't had a shower in 6 days, that's all we wanted. But, he offered for us to shower in one of the hotel rooms and said we could camp anywhere. We were so glad to be able to have a shower! It was great to be all clean. We made some Mac and Cheese and enjoyed our Easter dinner looking at the Badlands. Once we get to Rapid City we plan to go to a buffet for a real Easter dinner, just a couple days late. I am so excited to ride through the rest of the Badlands National Park, and the good news is the wind is supposed to be even better than it was today, and today wasn't bad at all compared to previous days! We rode 38.69 miles today (we might have ridden more, but we decided to go through the park tomorrow). What a great day, Happy Easter!
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We were very slow to get out of bed this morning since we knew that we would be battling the wind again today. We just layed in our sleeping bags not wanting to move. The next town was 26 miles away and we figured with the wind it would take us about 5 hours or so to get there and that's as far as we planned on going. Once we had some oatmeal and had everything packed we got back on the road. We could feel how tired we were as soon as we left Midland, but we knew that it would be windy every day and that we had to keep riding because there is no escaping it. There was a wind advisory today so the wind was consistently strong and the gust were even worse. After about 7 miles of riding, we found out Joe had a slow leaking flat tire so we had to stop to change that. The wind is so much worse than it being too cold or too hot, or even raining because it just doesn't quit. Even when you stop to take a break, it really isn't too much of a break because the wind is still there. We continued riding for another hour or so before stopping to snack on some Graham crackers for lunch. It took us 2 hours and 50 minutes to do 15 miles (which we can normally do in just over an hour). Although we knew we would eventually make it to Phillips, the wind was just torturing us. Joe knew that I wanted to try to catch a ride with a pickup truck again because of the wind and said I should try. Not 10 seconds after he said that a truck went by and I jumped up and down and waved my arms, to my surprise they turned around and seemed very willing to give us a lift. With our bikes in the back (and us back there too because there was no room in the cab) we were flying down the road. Within 10 minutes we were to the town, which would have taken us at least 2 more hours to get to with the wind. The nice man dropped us off at the gas station and we went in to take a rest. We've never asked for a ride before while riding, but I guess there is a first time for everything. Guess we can cross off hitchhiking on our list of things we have done. There were a couple older men sitting at the table and chairs in the gas station and one of them ended up buying us a drink of whatever we wanted (Joey had a Coke and I had a Propel Grape drink). We had a good time talking with the men before continuing on down the street to the park next to the Fire Hall. Again there was a pavilion with picnic tables that we camped under (even though it wasn't supposed to rain). We stopped at the grocery store to get some hot dogs to cook with our mac and cheese again along with some oranges and cookies. We made dinner and then relaxed the rest of the evening, going to bed earlier than normal. It worked out ok that we took that ride because then we had a little more time to give our bodies a rest. We only rode 15.87 miles today (+11 miles in the back of the truck). Another day we were defeated by the wind, guess you can't win a losing battle. Hopefully tomorrow will be better, at least there is no wind advisory for tomorrow, yet.
We woke up pretty early and packed up camp before heading to the Dakotamart to get some cereal and milk for breakfast. We met a man in the parking lot who inquired about our travels. He said he has a relative that lives in AK who flies a bush plane. He asked if we had a website, and we gladly gave him one of the little business cards I made last night (it sure was nice having something all ready to hand someone instead of having to find paper and a pen like we had to do before). After breakfast, we headed out of Pierre and crossed the Missouri River. Upon doing so, we crossed into the mountain time zone. Our phones didn't change right away like they did last time, but they changed by the end of the day. As we were leaving Ft. Pierre, the "next services sign" said 66 miles. This didn't seem that bad until the wind started to pick up again. What another horrible riding day it was. The wind was so strong that for the first 40 miles, we road sideways because we had to lean into it so much. After about 35 miles, there was a little roadside park where we stopped for lunch. We planned on having Ramen, but the wind was too strong to even use our stove, so we just snacked on some marshmallows and Graham crackers. While we were huddled next to the wall of the little bathrooms that were there, a lady drove up in her car. She offered for us to sit in her car for a few minutes to get out of the wind and warm up. So, we at the rest of our snack in her car. She was a very nice lady, but had a lot of crazy stories. When it was time to get back on the road again, we weren't very excited. Back to fighting the wind. After about 5 miles, we had to turn South, which put us with a straight head wind. The next town was 22 miles away, and I think that was one of the longest 22 miles I had ever ridden. We were already exhausted by the time we reached our turn from fighting the wind, but we knew we had to make it to that town because there was nothing out there. No trees or buildings we could camp behind. This is getting personal, but I had to pee for 3 hours and there wasn't even a patch of trees I could find to go in. There was also pretty consistent traffic, so there wasn't really a way I could go. Today's ride definitely made it on our top ten list of most difficult days of riding. There were so many times that I considered waving down a pickup truck to take us to town, which is something that I never thought of doing any other day while touring. I broke down in tears about 5 times today from exhaustion and frustration. I really didn't think that we were going to make it to Midland. There were a few times that Joey didn't think we were going to make it either, but we had to, there was no where suitable for camp. As we counted the miles down til we arrived at camp, we kept pushing ourselves to keep riding. At one point I even walked up a hill because my arms/upper body was so tired from holding the bike up and straight. Somehow, incredibly, we came to the top of a hill and could see town. When we had about a mile left, the wind calmed right down and we flew down the hill coming into town. I was so happy to see a gas station and teared up that we actually made it to town. We decided to grab a bite to eat somewhere in town because we were too exhausted to cook and clean it all up. There was only one restaurant/tavern so that is where we went. We both ordered cheeseburgers and charged or phones for a few. We set up camp in the local park under the pavilion. Just as we got there, it started to rain. We lucked out that there was a pavilion to keep us dry. I was so exhausted that I had to wait til morning to write my blog. We each had a candy bar and went to bed. We can't wait to be in the mountains. So far, SD has been our least favorite state because its just ALWAYS windy here. It's days like today that make us want to give up and go home, but we know it's just another challenge thrown our way and if we just keep going, we will make it. Somehow, we managed to ride 63.35 miles today.
We slept in a little today since we didn't have to get up to get on the road. After making some oatmeal and packing up camp, we headed to the library in town. We spent about 5 hours uploading pictures, doing a little research, and updating our website a little (thanks to Ward and Jacky for the idea about ice cream, etc!). By the time we were done, we were very hungry and headed over to Subway for lunch/dinner around 4. Just after leaving the library, a lady pulled over in her car and asked if we had ridden through Hartford. She was a relative of one of the guys we met at the church where we had the all you can eat breakfast. How funny it is that we happened to run into her! Before returning to the free campground where we stayed last night, we filled up on water and stopped at the grocery store to pick up some more food (since there won't be much until we get to Rapid City in 3-4 days). We enjoyed some Neapolitan ice cream sandwiches and I made some make shift business cards out of index cards with our website and names to hand out to people who ask. Today wasn't as peaceful at the free campground as yesterday since it was windy again, but it finally died down as the sun was going down. What a relaxing, productive day we had. We rode 5.07 miles today (just around Pierre).
Last night was the perfect night for camping, it was cool, but not freezing and it didn't rain. It was pretty chilly in the morning so we didn't get started on our day til around 9. After having some oatmeal we packed up camp and headed down rt. 34. Today was a fabulous day for riding; it wasn't too hot and there was hardly any wind (and what wind there was was at our back). After only 12 miles, we stopped at the last gas station there would be until we made it to Pierre (which was 49 miles away). Since we were both still hungry, we split a can of baked beans which filled us up enough to tide us over to lunch. I don't know what we are going to do on our way to AK, we are alway hungry early in the day after having oatmeal for breakfast (this wasn't a problem on the last tour because we always had cereal and milk). Once we left the gas station, there was NOTHING for miles and miles. Most of the day we were on rolling hills that were right in the middle of fields with nothing in them, most of them didn't even look like they had been farmed, and there were practically no trees. We thought Iowa was bare, but this area has much less. It was a beautiful ride though because it looked like the land was hardly touched by man and it was so serene. Its areas like this however, that I am glad I have my little solar powered radio. After talking with some of the people at the church on Sunday, we learned that ND was for the most part really flat with no trees, so we figured it was probably like our ride today. Thank goodness we decided not to go to ND. The 3-4 day ride up and 3-4 day ride back would have been really boring and we might have had to fight the wind a lot. Now we have a little more time and don't have to be rushed. At one point, we rode up on a group of horses that had an incredible amount of land to roam. All along the entire road today was farm fencing, but the horses almost look like they could have been wild horses. Eventually, the road we were on came close to the Missouri River. It was so beautiful and kind of amazing because there was still nothing around and hardly any trees. It was nice to see a river without a bunch of houses and human activity around it. We found a little public access park to have our lunch in. We made some Ramen noodles and sat with our feet hanging off the edge of the bank overlooking the water. It was so enjoyable. We cleaned our dishes in the river, had a candy bar for a snack and then peddled off. At that point we were only about 15 miles from Pierre, and we were flying. The road had gotten really flat near the river and the little bit of wind was pushing us along. Soon we saw a billboard for McDonald's... at last civilization! I can't wait til we are on the way to AK, we are going to go days without seeing any towns. We stopped at McDonald's to use the internet and look up where the free campground was (we also got a drink and some fries for a little snack). After stopping at the Dakotamart to pick up a couple groceries, we found the free campground and set up camp. What an amazing place to camp. There was a bathroom close by, a covered picnic table, a place to plug in our phones to charge, and to top it off we were right next to the river. The Missouri flooded last summer, so right now there is no grass in the area where we are camping but it's still a great camp stot. We might take our rest day early and go to the library tomorrow to do some research and catch up on uploading pictures. Today was a fantastic day. We made some mac and cheese with hot dogs for dinner and watch the sun set over the river. We rode 63.52 miles today.
We woke up early this morning and made some oatmeal in the microwave. It was really cold and the wind was so bitter. After about 5 miles of riding, we crossed the halfway point between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. After about 15 miles we arrived in Kimble where we took a quick break from the cold and wind. Once we started to head out of town we began going North right into the wind. It took us almost 4 hours to ride the 23 miles to where we were going to turn West again. It was almost unbearable how strong the wind was. There were times i just wanted to cry because of how hard it was fighting the wind and how tired it was making me. We entered Buffalo County and one of the first things we saw were buffalos. This was very neat because there was hardly anything out there since we left Kimble. There were hardly any trees and we rode for 15 miles before seeing a house. Finally, we arrived in the little town where we planned to have lunch. The sign for the town had a sign that said pop 12, but when we asked a lady that we saw if that was accurate she said the population when everyone was there was about 60. It sure felt like the pop could have been 12...there was no one around and most of the few businesses that were there were all closed down with the exception of the ity bity post office and the courthouse(this town was the county seat). We found a doorway for the old store that got us out of the wind a little. We made some ramen and we ate the rest if the biscuits that were given to us at the all you can eat breakfast. Although we were dreading getting back on the road because of the wind, we had hope that three wind would be with us a little once we turned towards Fort Thompson. To our surprise the wind helped us right along and we were riding at a normal speed again. After about 15 more miles we stopped for a candy bar break. Shortly after we were riding and could see the Missouri river which made me pretty excited. There was what looked like a mini fairgrounds in Fort Thompson where we found a picnic table and made some mac and cheese for dinner. There was some kind of gathering place where bleachers were set up in a circle with a big area in the middle. Since Fort Thompson was on an Indian reservation they probably had a special use for it. We ended up setting up camp in between some trees behind an old church on the outside of town. Hopefully the wind will be kind to us tomorrow. It is amazing how many emotions you can feel throughout the day, from being frustrated with the wind,to being plain angry at the wind, and to being happy because of a simple thing like a candy bar or really excited because you are wing the Missouri river for the first time. We rode 62.23 miles today.
We woke up early to go to mass at 7:10 this morning and then enjoyed a nice breakfast with the sisters. Lee, the seminary we met yesterday had planned to go to Mitchell this morning to visit with the priest at the convent, so we had a chance to see him again. Sister Nancy made us scrambled eggs and we enjoyed some homemade cinnamon rolls. Before we hit the road, the sisters gave us a deck of cards, some apples and oranges and apples, and a loaf of bread to go with the ham that we were given at the breakfast yesterday. We bid our farewell and headed to see the corn palace before we left town. It was pretty neat to see how they put the corn together to form all of the murals; but I thought that it was funny that people in SD call it the worlds largest bird feeder. On our way out off town we stopped at a gas station to see if we could get some mayo to make our sandwiches. They ended up having packets of mayo that they just gave to us. Today was pretty cloudy all day and not quit as hot as yesterday. It was really nice that we had a chance to stay at the convent because it gave me a chance to learn a little more about the catholic faith through talking with the sisters. We rode for 25 miles before stopping for lunch. We were able to sit inside at the little diner attached to the gas station to make our sandwiches and ended up ordering a glass of pop on the side. While we were eating, there was a nice man who we talked with for quite a while. He inquired about our travels and also gave us some tidbits on SD history. Once we got back on the road, it was a lot chillier and the wind had picked up a lot. The remainder of the ride went very slowly. The wind didn't have gusts as bad as a few days ago, but it was strong and steady. The wind makes the ride so unenjoyable and wears you down because you have to put out so much effort and still not make it far very fast. The road was very flat today, even flatter than yesterday and there were virtually no houses or traffic which was nice. The road parallelled the 90 again, which we could see a couple miles off in the distance. We slowly rode into a little town called Winter Lake where we stopped at the gas station for a break. We called Grandma to check on the weather for the rest of the day and for tomorrow. Since the forecast for tomorrow looks better, we decided that we wouldn't kill ourselves trying to fight the wind and decided to take a room in the little hotel next to the gas station so that we were out of the wind and possible rain. It was nice to be able to just relax, watch tv, and catch up on my blogs (whenever we stay with people, I always want to visit with them instead of typing). We only rode 38.02 miles today.
We woke up early so we could go to the all you can eat breakfast. We rode back to the church with Greg's wife Mary. It was another very foggy morning. The breakfast was amazing; there was everything you could ever want for breakfast: scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast, sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, toast, fruit cups, etc. We both at two full plates, it was wonderful. There were so many people at the breakfast who were interested in our trip; we also got to see everyone from last night again. Before we left, we met a seminary, Lee, who we also spoke with about the trip. After finding out we were heading towards Mitchell, he mentioned that we might be able to stay with the Sisters in the Convent there. So, he took down our phone numbers and said he would call them later in the day to check for us. We left the church around 10:30 and found that the wind was with us for the morning. For the first 20 miles, we flew. As the day went on, it got really hot (we found out later that it had gotten to 92). For the second half of our ride, we were going a little slower because it was so hot and the wind had changed a little. The ride was pretty flat and the traffic was light which made for an enjoyable ride. Because we were parallelling the 90, there were no semi's on our road, which was great. Because it was so hot and sunny today, we both got pretty burned (even though I was wearing sunscreen). We were so tired by the time we arrived in Mitchell. We stopped at a gas station to fill up on water and then saw a McDonald's and decided to get a soda and use the internet. We noticed Joe had a missed call; it was one of the Sisters letting us know we could stay with them. After we got directions to the convent, we were on our way again. While riding there, an SUV slowed down next to us to ask if we had a place to stay tonight. It turns out he was a Warm Showers host. We didn't look for a host in Mitchell since there was a chance we would stay with the Sisters. What are the odds. Yesterday, there was a lot of Warm Showers hosts in Sioux Falls, none of which were able to host us, but when we had a place to stay, and there was only one host in town, he happened to see us. Once we arrived at the convent, we put our bikes in the garage and were just minutes away from a beautiful meal. The sisters showed us the room we would stay in, and then we headed upstairs for dinner. They made chicken Alfredo, peas and carrots and salad. Everything was so yummy. We enjoyed conversation with the Sisters and even got a tour of the convent after dinner from Sister Loretta. The convent was built in 1991 and the Sisters pretty much designed the layout. The place was way bigger inside than it looked outside, and was 3 floors. Before bed, we played cards with the Sisters. They taught us how to play Scratch and Kings Corners. What a fun evening it was. We both took showers before bed and again, were so happy to get to sleep in a bed. We rode 60.95 miles today.
We woke up around 7:30 this morning and the sign at the community center said it was 45 degrees out. Reluctantly, we got out of our sleeping bags and I went across the street to the grocery store to buy some cereal and milk while Joey started packing up camp. By the time we were finished with breakfast, it had warmed up a couple degrees but was still pretty chilly and windy. We washed our bowls and filled up on water at the Subway across the street before heading out of town. It was a very foggy morning again. We rode for about 6 miles before reaching the IA/MN border where we took our picture with the IA sign since we couldn't on the way in, and with the MN sign. We were only in MN for about 15 miles, but we still got to ride through a little bit of the state. Originally we had planned to cut into MN earlier and head towards ND, but we ended up enjoying riding in IA so much that we changed our route a little. Almost every car gave us ample room on the road and people going by would always wave or honk their horns to say hello. This might have something to do with the annual bicycle ride across the state that is very popular, but whatever the case, it was very enjoyable. Right before we crossed the border into SD, a dog from a farm came to visit us as we were riding by. The golden lab was so friendly, and had an important job of watching a sheep, which had somehow managed to jump his fence and kept trying to jump back in. Although there was no sign at the SD border, we knew we were in a different state because the road changed to a reddish/purple color. We'll have to get a picture with the state sign on the way out. We continued to ride until we reached Sioux Falls, which is the largest city in SD (except for Sturgis during the bike rally of course). We stopped for lunch at Subway to use another gift card from Gram and then went to a local bicycle shop to pick up some needed parts. Today the temperature had to have reached 85 degrees, because it was very hot. Although we weren't exactly sure which road we were on going out of Sioux Falls, we used our no-fail plan to just head west. We found our way to Hartford where we decided to fill up on water and take a break at the gas station. There, abc family was on the tv, so we watched a little bit of a movie. They also had popcorn available that was FREE, so we definitely had some of that! On our way out of the gas station, I saw a flyer for an all you can eat breakfast at the church down the road for tomorrow. Needless to say we decided we would stay in Hartford so we could go to that in the morning. We decided that we would have ice cream for dinner, so we went to the grocery store. For the last week, we have been debating whether we wanted to ride to ND. Although our major goal for the trip was to ride through every state, we didn't have any destinations in ND. We kept going back and forth on whether we should ride there, but in the end, we decided that we would rather have a little extra time to explore SD since there is so much to see here, so our route changed a little. We figure that we can take a short tour sometime to ride through WI, MN, and ND to see a little more of those states in the future. After looking around the town for a little bit, we didn't really see any places that looked suitable to set up our tent, so we decided to go back to the church where the breakfast would be held. When we arrived, there were cars in the parking lot, so we went in the church to ask if we could set up our tent in their back yard. The group at the church was just finishing up getting things ready for breakfast in the morning and had no problem letting us set up our tent. We had a chance to talk with the people at the church and even enjoyed a beer/wine cooler with them. Some gave us information on the best routes to take as we traveled through SD, and others mentioned there might be people they know that we might be able to stay with. Although we were going to set up our tent, one of the gentlemen, Greg, offered for us to get a shower and sleep in a bed at his house (which would be impossible to turn down). So, we grabbed what we needed for the night, left our bikes inside the church, and rode with Greg to his house. We enjoyed hot showers, had a chance to do laundry, and got to sleep in a bed. I continue to be amazed at the generosity of strangers. Bicycle touring is amazing because you never know what your day will bring, we definitely didn't expect to get to sleep in a bed tonight, but it sure was wonderful. We rode 57.16 miles today.
It rained a little last night, but it must not have rained for long because our tent was pretty dry. Once we had everything packed up, we moved over to the picnic tables in the park to make breakfast. A dog came to visit us while we were there (his owner was taking him for a walk) and all he wanted to do was play. As we were beginning to clean up, a man walked across the street from his house to see where we were traveling to. He offered us a shower and anything else we needed. We gladly washed our dishes in the sink in the apartment attached to his house and enjoyed talking with him. His son, who had served in Iraq, is touring the country by foot/hitchhiking, so he was very interested in our travels. The idea of taking a nice hot shower was very tempting, but we would have been pretty behind schedule, so we gratefully declined and got on our way. The morning was a little chilly and cloudy, but we were comfortable in our cycling coats so it wasn't bad. Soon, we arrived in Spirit Lake, where we picked up a new memory card for my camera and refills for Joey's razor at Wal-Mart. We took a very early lunch after only riding about 15 miles around 11pm because we were already hungry. Somehow we decided that we would go out to eat again. It is always so hard to not want to go out to eat after riding so much, seeing all the restaurants, and knowing that our diet consists of mainly mac and cheese and oatmeal. We went to a pizza/chicken buffet. It was amazing! They had salad, pizza, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, potato logs, mac and cheese, really good vanilla soft serve ice cream, and a bunch more. We were full for the rest of the day, and we both noticed that we had a lot of energy this afternoon, which could be from the buffet we had last night and today, and/or the wind being with us. Whatever the case, we felt great. The road had rolling hills for most of the day. We had one dog who decided it wanted to chase us today; but she was not ferocious, she just wanted to play. When I got to the top of the hill, I saw Joey petting her/holding her collar because there were a few cars near. She came to say hi to me and I had to do the same thing. Soon enough her owner came to get her, which was great because I was worried she would get hit in the road. She was so cute, and looked a lot like Lilly (family dog). After we left Spirit Lake, the way the towns were set up was different. All of the small towns we passed were about a mile or so off of the main road. We made it to Rock Rapids, where we made camp behind the library/next to the fire hall. We cooked up some Mac and Cheese and used the wi-fi from the library. Around 8:30 a bunch of cars met in the parking lot of the library. Cars/trucks would come and go; it was just a bunch of kids just driving around, its kinda funny that they chose to meet in the library parking lot. At least we had some entertainment for the evening. We rode 69.94 miles today.
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