Mile 2208.01 – Riding the same miles in my own shoes

One other thing about Day 27, I passed two of the worst smelling cattle ranches I’ve yet been past. Since I was riding into the wind, I picked up the smell a good mile before I got to the source. Where the other cattle ranches I’d passed were wide, green ranges of pasture for the cows to graze on, these two, within a couple minutes of each other, had scores of cows in a relatively small enclosure, living on a large pile of mud and feces and eating out of a trough. I understand that for cost-effectiveness, this is a much cheaper way to raise stock. But a cow is still a life, and the cows able to roam a bit and graze seemed much happier.

Anyway, onto Day 29.

I woke up in Huron, in the motel that stands in the shadow of the world’s largest pheasant. It was carved in the 50’s and serves as both a symbol and landmark for the town of Huron. I packed up Penny and prepared to ride the same road I had driven the day before. Since I had reconnoitered the route the day before, I knew I had about 18 miles of 6’ paved shoulder out of town, followed by the 2’ paved + 4’ unpaved shoulder for the following 35 miles. I also figured that De Smet would be a good place to stop for lunch. I was back in a part of the country were the towns were placed along the road usually 6-14 miles apart. This is much better than those places where I’d ride 70-80 miles between towns.

While there was the same 15mph headwind most of the day, my morning was going pretty quickly. I was saddened a bit to leave the comfortable 6’ paved shoulder, the traffic was light enough to not be a major issue once the shoulder narrowed.
De Smet, SD, is the town Laura Ingalls Wilder lived in as a girl and is the setting for her series of Little House books. I could tell that because a good 5 miles outside of town, I started seeing her name all over the place. I crossed into town, and there on the corner of US 14 and Laura St is the Laura Ingalls Wilder School. There are a half a dozen Ingalls locations in and around town, though if you follow the sign that says Ingalls Wilder tours, 4 blocks, it leads you to another sign takes you another three blocks, then turns again and you end up, not at the Wilder House or the Ingalls Homestead, but at the gift shop. I did not go in. I did stop at the Silver Lake Prairie View spot to admire the view.

I also stopped at the dairy queen in town for lunch, striking up a conversation with a couple of guys about cycling and wind power. There’s got to be a solution to the infrastructure issues in the state, and unlike coal and natural gas in Wyoming, the wind in South Dakota is never going to run out. I hope you guys figure it out, because it’s a fantastic resource that is really underutilized.

Speaking of wind, about an hour after I left De Smet, I was riding along into the wind, and, suddenly, the wind seemed to forget about me. It took only a few seconds to realize that the resistance I dealt with all day had slacked, I popped the chain down several gears, lowered my head and sped forth. I picked up 7-8 mph from the wind stopping alone. Sadly, this lasted only 15 minutes or so, then the wind remembered that I was there and then tried to overcompensate for how easy my last 15 minutes were.

As the day pressed on, I took a few breaks, stopping in the large Lake Preston City Park that was peopled only by myself and a couple grounds keepers. I stopped again by a roadside lake and finished the last of the pistachios I had brought from New York. Finally, I hit the split of where 14 continues into Brookings and the 14 bypass swings around north. I headed into town, passing a couple kids on bikes on the way.

I got back to Main and went the block up to Sioux River bikes to show off Penny fully loaded. Unfortunately, they close at 6 and it was now 6:14. Oh well. I took a quick picture of Penny outside the shop. But people, go to Brookings and stop in at Sioux River Bikes and get yourself a new bike. You deserve it, don’t you?

I crossed town on 14 and stopped in at Jimmy Johns again for dinner. What can I say, it’s something I can’t get at home. Then, since there was still a good hour before sunset and I had only 18 miles to go before the Minnesota border, I wanted to press on. Just after crossing interstate 29 just east of town, I reached mile 2200 for the trip. Woo hoo.

I went another 8 miles, then found a perfect spot to camp off the highway in the corner of an empty field, shielded from the traffic by a large tree and tall grass. I could see the wind farm on the horizon that signaled the line between the states. I knew it would not be long in the morning before I got there.

Day 29 – Huron, SD to Camp 10 miles east of Brookings, SD
88.01 miles in 7:51:43. Totals: 2208.01 in 188:39:24 and a high speed today of 21.6mph