Got into camp last night, set up and then I scampered off to the shower. By the time I came back out, the hot dogs were done and the campfire was blazing. Felt good to cozy up to the fire although honestly it wasn’t cold out. The conversation around the fire last night was a joy to listen to, simply because I don’t know that I’ve ever heard Kim and Larry laugh as much as they did last night. Not a guffaw, a chortle or a snicker…it was flat out laughter. And the source of their amusement? Our tendency to arrive after dark which prompted humorous comments on every option I came up for today’s route and lodging.
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Didn’t think I’d have any
trouble falling asleep last night after a long day on the bikes but I did. I lay there waiting, waiting and waiting some
more for Sandman to work his magic but I must have been last on his list of
people to visit because it sure took me a while to fall asleep. But eventually I must have because I was
wakened in the wee hours of the morning by a low rumbling voice. At first I thought it was Larry talking in
his sleep over in his tent but soon abandoned that idea because a woman’s voice
joined in. Didn’t take but a few more
seconds to realize that I was hearing dialogue to a movie or TV show…and
whoever had it on hadn’t turned down the sound at all before going to sleep. And
doesn’t it seem that sound is magnified in the dark? Anyway, Kim hadn’t heard it during the night
but heard it upon waking and set about finding out where it was coming
from. Didn’t have to go very far because
it was the camper in the site right in front of ours. Maybe 8:30 a.m. or so it was shut off and a young
man stumbled out of the camper. Maybe he
was up watching TV all night or uses a loud TV as his white noise.
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There were no eggs this
morning but Kim did whip up a batch of pancakes while I started packing up.
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We made reservations for a
cabin at the Belvidere East KOA and the route we planned was 294 miles and kept
us off US 90. So it would be another 300
mile day but if we arrived after dark at least we didn’t have to put up the tents.
And we would lose an hour by crossing into Mountain Time.
**Update: We arrived at camp at 5:30, a couple of hours before dark. 😎**
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Our route out of Pipestone
was Highway 34 and the cornfields carried over the state line into South
Dakota. But the cornfields soon gave way
to hayfields, sunflower and sorghum fields. There were cornfields occasionally but
appeared to be more for livestock purposes than ethanol.
The sunflower fields were
plentiful and most were looked healthy but they all had their heads hanging
down away from the sun. I always thought
that sunflowers followed the sun but not these.
This is the explanation I found on the internet: Although popular culture has embraced the myth that
sunflowers always follow the sun, this is inaccurate. Only young flowers “move” to face it throughout
the day. Once they reach maturity, they stop sun-tracking—their blooms forever
turned eastward. And though I didn’t
catch onto it as I rode past them, these sunflowers were facing east. Interesting.
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Probably the first 100 miles
of the day were ridden in constant wind.
The kind of wind that birds can’t make any headway against…the kind of
wind that tries to rip the helmet off your head and doesn’t really care if your
head is still in it…the kind of wind that keeps you on high alert constantly
and therefore is very mentally and physically fatiguing. Thankfully the wind wasn’t an issue after we
headed north toward Pierre. But was an
issue the entire day was the sun and heat…temps reached into the mid-90s and
what I wouldn’t have given for the sky to cloud up a bit. Absolutely no
escaping the heat and the only relief was air conditioning. But, on the plus side the road was good,
traffic was light and we were in camp before dark. However, the guy checking us in tonight
warned that the next couple of days could see temperatures above 100o. Yuck!
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We debated about the need for
a campfire since the air was still so hot when arrived at camp. But when the sun went down the air cooled
down so a campfire wasn’t a silly idea anymore.
We could have gone in the cabin and watched TV but sitting at a campfire
is a much better way to while away the time.
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Small town of the day: Vilas, South Dakota. The town sign listed the population as 19;
however, they are up to 29 as of the 2020 census. We rode through it today but I can’t find it
on the map. Hmmm…
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I overheard Louie and Moxie talking about Jeffro becoming a member of the Ape Hangers.
Louie: "Moxie, what can we have Jeffro do
as a prospect? Wipe the bikes down each day before heading out?
Stay up and watch the bikes all night? Shine the helmets? What?"
Louie: “Whaddaya mean you took care of it?”
Moxie: “Well, I said he could join the group if he agreed to be nice to me all the time. He said he could do that so I told Karen to add a patch to his vest when she made it. She did and now he’s one of us.”
Louie: "Moxie!!"
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Today’s
miles: 298
Total
miles: 1085
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