Day 23
Thar she blows!!! 

This morning we had nearly 10 miles of right-left/right-left city cycling, the longest stretch without a turn being 2.4 miles.  Last night in route rap, I joked about taking odds that no one would get through the first 5 miles without making a wrong turn.  The riders were through three-quarters of our route sheet before getting out of town!  Everything was going pretty well for the first 9 miles when I got a call from the white van that the road was closed ahead...it was just a mile from the last turn before getting to highway 1416.  When I got up there to check it out, most of the riders had already gone through and no one had called the vans to say that they had run into any trouble.  With that, it was find a way through with the vans and catch up with everyone.  When they hit Hwy 1416, it was up and down over rollers but straight ahead to the SAG Stop in New Underwood.

The riders were smokin' today.  The winds were really strong and a bit to our back, but with the strength of winds comes handling problems.  Many riders were a little uneasy with being blown around all morning.  For the most part until the last 10 miles the winds were quartering tailwinds from the left.  The tandems and triple especially had issues, but worked their way through their difficulty.  To say they had an easy day with kicking tailwinds would not describe the day...it was work to stay upright.  When it's that way, it's hard to enjoy the nice push they got too.

Today we are back into grasslands with rolling grassy hills and fields of golden wheat dominating the landscape. The road was undulating (left) and in places the rollers were perfectly spaced for effortless climbing. The other dominant items along our route were Wall Drug Store billboards.  We've been seeing them ever since we left Astoria, but now they appear every mile or so--something like the Stuckeys and fireworks signs on the east coast route to Florida.  Each has it's own message, such as "Free Coffee to Honeymooners," or "Classic Western Art at Wall Drug." 

I would like to know how much they've spent on advertising over the years as there must be a million signs all over the world pointing to this place.  It started out as a small drug store that was off the beaten path so it got little or no traffic.  It was the wife's idea to entice travelers with the offer of free ice water.  It caught on when the owner and a friend started putting signs out on the main road to advertise.  Last year the mayor told us that Wall Drug now has a $300,000 annual advertising budget...that's a lot of signs.  By the time they got back from putting out the first signs, people were lined up . . . that's the power of advertising. 

They still offer free ice water and they have more than 2 million visitors a year . . . it all started over a glass of ice water . . . the rest is history.  Now for THE REST OF THE STORY . . . the water tastes (and smells) horrible!   Something like a combination of tar and sulfur. At least it did today. Shortly after getting to the motel, I walked across the street to a convenience store and bought bottled water for tomorrow. Wall is just a spot in the road and would be more aptly named "Hole in the" Wall, but tourism keeps it going.  Only 818 people live in Wall, here, but the town can seat over three times that in their restaurants, and there's over 2,000 available motel rooms. 

Yep, this is a tourist trap...and we are tourists I guess.  Everyone took the afternoon to take in the sights...a couple went to a grasslands museum that also serves as the town's visitor center.  It's really interesting to see how people survived in this area in years past and how they settled in this harsh land.  It was a restful afternoon.  Now hopefully everyone will be rested for a tough day tomorrow...it will be long and windy again.  Hopefully the winds will stay at our back.