Written by Dave

Day 44 – July 11 – 72 Miles, 1,260 feet climbing (Huron to Oakwood Lake SP)

We all recovered well overnight from yesterday’s efforts in the heat and wind. It might have been the massive feed we had at the Quality Inn brekkie buffet. I ate one of everything and dang it, if I didn’t accidently still end up with a leftover waffle. What to do but lather it with PB&J and slide into the plastic bag I just happened to have in my pocket. Yes, it was most appreciated later at our morning tea stop.

Today East River South Dakota delivered on the promised flat roads and big farm visits. We had a taste of them yesterday. Today it was pretty much what we had all day. We had a pesky side wind for the better part of 55 miles but it was pretty light and we rotated the person on the front throughout the day. Riding 12 miles less today was a nice relief also, as it got us out of the heat sooner.

Yesterday we trusted Komoot and ended up with 10 miles of dirt roads. This morning, after 20 miles on Highway 14, we reached the small town of Iroquois where Komoot wanted us to leave Highway 14 for the day. We liked the nice wide shoulder on HY14 and there was minimal traffic. We asked a retired truck driver that happened to pull up to chat with us at the servo and he suggested that staying on HY14. He said that the shoulder was good, but that it wasn’t tarred. Staying on HY14 guaranteed us paved roads and 6 fewer miles so we decided to go for it.

Right out of town our 4 foot paved shoulder became a 2 foot paved shoulder with rumble strips all the way across and a 3 foot dirt, non-rideable shoulder. While that sounds bad, the rumble strips were barely noticeable on the bike and traffic stayed very light. The wind was from the right so we could stagger off the edge until cars can up from behind, and then ride over the rumble strips without issue as they passed. We got a couple toots from truck and our paranoid brains couldn’t help but think that they were upset with our decision to ride HY14 – of course, they had no idea what decisions we’d made that day. I’m calling them “honks for support” and sticking with it.

At one point while I was on the front I thought I spotted some bikes in front of us. I notched the speed up a little to try catching them and before long we did. They were a male/female couple about our ages, riding from Seattle to Chicago. They had full panniers and seemed cheery, or at least as cheery as one can determine when you talk to someone passing them on the highway. We saw the couple a few other times but never did get a chance for proper introductions. Maybe in the next couple days…

Out here in East River, we are enjoying the flat. Somewhere from as few as 5 miles out and as many as 10 miles out, you can start seeing the next town’s water tower. On our last crossing it was the town grain silos that served as a marker but they don’t seem to be as tall as the water towers. If you are on the front of the bunch, you can almost always make it to the tower, they are good mental markers. Though to be honest, the 10 mile visible towers are sometimes a lot further away than you first thought and those last few miles hard on the front.

It wasn’t until the last few miles that the sameness farm scene gave way to trees and lakes. We rolled into the Oakwood Lake State Park and it was so green and so blue (the water that is). We had prearranged to stay in a dry cabin at the park. It’s larger than our last dry cabin and actually pretty nice. It has AC and bug screens so we won’t have to deal with mossies at a camp site. There enough beds in the cabin for Pete and Curtis to join us but I don’t see that happening so we’ll just spread our gear out. At first the park ranger gave us the cabin furthest from the amenities block but we managed to get moved into a much closer ADA cabin. None of our crew was keen to have to walk ½ a mile to use find a bathroom at night.

Tomorrow we head for Marshall, Minnesota. That’s right, our 6^th state. I’m not sure how I feel about heading to the land of a thousand lakes after all the mozzies we’ve seen here in South Dakota but the show must go on. We can always get a hotel room if they are too bad, so long as we can find one… (Senior editor’s note – looking diligently for hotel options as we speak…)