Rain in South Dakota

On Wednesday we left Sioux City heading into South Dakota. We had strong (what other kind?) easterly winds i.e. sidewinds. We just were a mile away from the motel when it started to rain. Not a wash-out but steady. After a few miles and out of the city we took shelter for a while. When it seemed that the conditions improved, we headed on. In Jefferson, the first little town we entered in South Dakota, we stopped for lunch and to dry out a bit. Fortunately the terrain was flat like at home. When we started after the break we ran right into some heavy rain which stopped just when we had made it to the next little town. In the evening in Vermillion we had to dry almost all of our clothing (especially the shoes). The heater in the room was running half of the night.

The next day it was cloudy and cool, but it stayed dry. When we passed through Gayville on our way to Yankton, we wanted some warm food. We hoped to find a eatery in town but the people told us, that the new gas station just 1 mile outside of town (we passed it but ignored it) would be the only place. Greg Pirak, the owner of a Farm Supply Company was very helpful: "You can use my old truck if you bring it back within one hour!" And so we did. We parked our bikes in the barn, jumped into the truck and after a 2 minutes invitation into the shifting of the gear we run back to the gas station, had an excellent (and cheap) meal including a coffee and parked the truck back by the barn within 50 minutes. Thank you, folks!

 

Peter borrows a farm truck

 

After this short interruption of our bike trip we made it into Yankton where we booked the smallest room we have had during our entire trip. We had to take off all the panniers on Maren's bike to store it behind the bed.

On Friday we saw the sun coming out. There was again a strong NW-Breeze. But we hoped that we could make it to Springfield, because the distance was not too bad. We had to battle against the wind all day. After noon, we moved to a smaller road, and ran into "Road Works Ahead". As usual, I planned to walk/push the bikes through the 500 feet gap in the road. But after about 50 feet I was stuck. The mud blocked the wheels from turning. Nothing helped except carrying all the stuff across. Fortunately Maren had stopped her bike on the safe side to watch me. I ended up carrying all the panniers and the bikes across the gap in the road and after that cleaning my bike's wheels (with the knife) to make them turn again. This took us about 40 minutes. 

 

Stuck in the mud 

 

We just had mounted our bikes when the next "Road Works Ahead" showed up. This time we made a detour. (1 mile East, 1 mile North and 1 mile South again on gravel).  That afternoon we arrived in Springfield and took a room for two nights until Sunday in the only Motel in town. The room was furnished with microwave and fridge so we could live very well. The old couple who ran the motel were very friendly and helpful. He even wanted to help me cleaning my bike from the dirt! From Saturday to Sunday it was the coolest night since (38 F).

 

Missouri River near Springfield

But on Sunday the weather was great. Sunny all the day and only a light breeze from the Northwest. The streets along the Missouri River were even more traffic free than on normal days (although traffic is of no concern to us in this State). There was again no place to stop during the day but it was so pleasant that we just stopped by the road. We saw a herd of bison in the distance. I tried to get closer to the animals to get a good picture but I fear I was still too far away. We passed through an Indian Reservation with the Fort Randall Casino. We stayed in Pickstown (169 people).

 

    

Missouri River - seen from Ft. Randall Dam

 

Monday started with a rain shower and a strong SE-Wind which was mostly a side wind for us. After that it cleared out and the sun came out for the rest of the day. The lunch break was made in Boonesteel in the grocery. The young lady there even cleared the table for us to sit down and eat. Every visitor of the grocery had to pass our table which led to many nice conversation with the locals. After the break, the wind had increased to a storm. We had to make 20 more miles with this storm. We were very exhausted when we finally arrived in Burke, another town of less than 1,000 people. But they had a nice and very friendly little motel, where we could stay.

The weather forecast predicted southerly winds only for Tuesday, on Wednesday it should blow from the Northwest again. During breakfast on Tuesday we decided to try to run 70 miles to make it to Chamberlain. It was sunny and warm until into the afternoon. And we had the same storm from the South like yesterday. Most of the route was into Northern direction but there were also some miles towards East and West. 

 

 

We crossed the Missouri River (or Lake Francis Case) again back to the East side. The climb out of the river valley was the hardest of the day. Later the day we had an 18 miles stretch with full tailwinds where we made it at 15-20 mph. We were lucky when we reached Chamberlain in the early evening. One hour later a big thunderstorm crossed the town.

 

The Thursday morning started with sunshine and ended the same. But by noon it rained for a while. We had the predicted NW-wind but our goal was only about 25 miles away, Fort Thompson. This community is in an Indian Reservation and has also a casino. And they have another dam to block the Missouri and create Lake Sharpe. The motel in town was good and cheap to attract the visitors and gamblers. 

The last step was into Pierre, some 60 miles away with nothing but landscape inbetween.

       

A ride in Nowhere Land

 

Fortunately the headwind was not so strong as predicted. After 12 miles there was a gas station where I inquired for a lift. But nobody wanted to drive that way. Looking back, it was not too bad. We enjoyed the landscape very much. The hills were not too steep and the wind died out after noon and changed to a light tailwind. But OK, 60 miles have to be pedaled! On our way into town we twice met a lady on her mountain bike. We did not stop but just waved Hello. But in town we stopped and talked to her. She gave us the advice how to reach the motel. Again we were very happy to made 100 Km that day. Maren invited me to a Mexican dinner in the neighborhood of our motel.

Yesterday (Friday) when we arrived in the lobby for the complimentary breakfast we found a message from that lady on the mountain bike attached with some sun protection cream for Maren's legs because she had seen Maren's red legs the evening before. Maren was moved. And during breakfast another man introduced himself to us. It was Charlie Porter from Carbondale, IL who is riding the L&C with his son. During our conversation we found, that we had met in June 2002 in Kansas during breakfast. The world is small, isn't it! We walked to the library to check the e-mails, passing the State Capitol. 

 

This town has only 13,000 people. In the afternoon Maren got a long needed haircut. Coming back into our motel we found another message from Carol (the lady with the mountain bike) inviting us to dinner that evening. She picked us up at 6 PM. We had a great dinner with Salad, Steak, Red wine and Beer and Rhubarb-cake. It was a wonderful, peaceful, and interesting evening with Carol and her family. Thank you folks for the great hospitality shown to unknown cyclists!