Diary

Mileage:  72.5 miles (116.5 kms)

Elevation Change:  1745 feet (532 meters)

Weather: sunny, cooler, and WINDY!

Morale:  Great!

Incidents: Christopher’s 14th Birthday!!!

Daily Summary:

Mother Nature threw us a curve ball today.  The wind for our two days in Sioux Falls was howling out of the south, and the temperature was over 100.  Today the wind was howling out of the north, blowing much colder air in, and the temperature was only 82!  The cycling was difficult and slow, as we weren’t getting any push at all out of the wind, but at least it was cooler!  We rolled out of Sioux Falls at 7am and took a very nice bike trail along the river to get through town.  We popped out on the northeast side of town and rode through the large and very stinky stockyards.  Then it was back out to the agricultural countryside.   We had a 3 mile detour straight north at one point into the teeth of the wind, but it was to avoid another tar pit road construction disaster, so was worth it.  The scenery here is lush and green, with lots of corn and soybeans, sprinkled with frequent stinky pig farms.  Fabulous and numerous grain elevators continue.  We are clearly in the Midwest—we are even starting to get some humidity to show for it!  There must always be lots of wind here.  We passed several wind farms, plus the place is apparently famous for its windsurfing.

 

Back at the hotel we gave Christopher his presents.  I now have TWO boys plugged into MP3s!  I talk to myself in the room and nobody hears me!   Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.  A package from Hawaii (thanks John!), a phone call from Daddy, phone calls yesterday from Oma and Opa and John, all to wish Christopher a happy 14th.  Too bad we left South Dakota today—the driving age there is 14!  

 

In the photos below you see Raymond and I at the Minnesota state line—our 5th state!  Then, Christopher’s birthday cake celebration with the group.  The staff gave him a staff polo shirt because of the good job he’s been doing helping out.  Nice!