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Day 27
We're beating the heat...for now

ROUTE: Mitchell to Sioux Falls SD DISTANCE: 72 Miles WINDS: North 10-15...cross winds on final leg
WEATHER: Sunny and warm...hi 89 TERRAIN: Mostly flat TOTAL CLIMBING: 800 feet or so...probably the flattest terrain so far

DAILY REPORT: 

It was nice this morning to sleep in a bit.  We didn't load until 6:45 since Bonanza didn't open for breakfast until 7:00.  Several riders ate at the motel and got on the road early in anticipation of arriving in Sioux Falls in time to do some presightseeing.  Most everyone finally got on the road before 7:30...another great day in the saddle...another great day on the road.

Our terrain today was almost totally flat and we are definitely getting into crop land...a precursor to Minnesota and Wisconsin.  Everywhere you look you now see corn, soybeans, or wheat fields.  It's nice to start seeing farm houses along the road and it reminds me of home with all the silos and red barns standing behind the houses.  Someone said the reason the Soviet Union didn't launch their nuclear missiles at us was because they saw all the silos in the mid west and mistook them for strategic weapons.  Their strategic planners thought everyone in the United States had their own personal defensive missiles in their yard...they didn't understand there was only silage in them.  So we really owe the farmers of the mid west a debt of gratitude for warding off the Soviets during the Cold War.  We may address this at a later date...stay tuned. 

Only one SAG stop today at mile 40 at a corner grocery adjacent to several grain elevators. Today, like much of yesterday, riders rode pink highways, the chips in the chip-and-seal being that color.  Some of the chip and seal was fairly fresh, but in most places it was well worn in. We rode through cornfield after cornfield, the houses few and far between and sitting like small treed islands in a sea of corn.

The cornfields in this part of the country must be filled to overflowing with pheasants.  Today I saw a "ring-neck" (male pheasant) fly across the road right near where I was parked waiting for riders.  Yesterday, I saw at least half a dozen female pheasants that had been killed on the road by passing cars.  Now when you think about how scarce cars are on these roads, that's a very high number.  And why all female?  Maybe the female pheasants in this area took the "How to cross the road" course from an Alabama armadillo.  There's never been a successful road crossing ever recorded by an armadillo...that's a fact. 

It seems the people who laid out the state lines needed to do some research and keep all the topography the same in each state.  For instance, as we came across SD, it appears the eastern line is too far east.  Minnesota should have this area we are in today since it matches the rich farm land there.  It's the same in Kansas; if you moved the state lines about 80 miles to the west, then all of Kansas would be similar...Colorado would have all the mountainous regions and Missouri would get the eastern Kansas hill country.  Then Kansas could just be...Kansas.  I guess every state should have a bit of variety though.  Speaking of Kansas, after we left Mitchell this morning I thought we were in Kansas Toto.  As we were closing in on the small town of Hanson we could see their grain elevator for about 10 miles out...the first one I've really noticed.  In eastern South Dakota, like in Kansas and Illinois, you will see a grain elevator about every 10 miles or so no matter how many, or how few, people live in the area.  These little towns sprung up every 10 miles because in the early days that's how far a steam engine could go without refilling with water.  It's nice to start seeing civilization every so often which is much different from just a few days ago.

I think everyone is ready for a day off and enjoyed the flat terrain today.  This is probably the flattest day we've had so far.  I think we had only about 700 feet of climbing before we got to Sioux Falls...that's just a bump compared to what we've done over the last few days.  Even though we are in scenic farm country, there is still nothing out here except the occasional convenience store.  If we get into trouble, there's also a few farm houses, but other than that, not much.

The days going into rest days are usually pretty busy for the staff.  We try to get all the maintenance done, bike shop runs done before dinner, the vans straightened out, and several other odds and ends before the new riders come in...a busy time for everyone.  After all the hustling before dinner, we gathered next door for a buffet meal and to say goodbye to Tracy who will be going home after riding two stages of this year's ride.  We'll welcome one new rider tomorrow, David Odell who's ridden with us on several other occasions...welcome David.

Tomorrow we don't ride.  We'll pull out on Monday to enter our next state and to begin the rest of our adventure.  We really don't get another real day off until Niagara Falls since we will ride the ferry across the lake on our next scheduled day off.  Hope you'll tune in again on Monday to see how we do in Minnesota.  See you then.
DID I REALLY SAY THAT?:

"Are you sure we're not in northern Indiana?"

"My butt was so sore, I was happy to see that hill at 50 miles."

"I was going to load my luggage on the 'Baby Budget' truck."
"I understand, it's only day 27.  I can see how you might mistake that little Budget truck for ours...both have Budget written on the side."
"Hey, I didn't miss breakfast."
"Have you eaten yet?"
"No, but I haven't missed it...have I?"

"Did you enjoy the Corn Palace?"
"Yes, and the entrance was free!"
"Was it worth it?"

 

 

 

 DID I REALLY DO THAT?:

Today we get to recognize a couple of our finest...Mike D and John.  Seems Mike came to the luggage truck this morning carrying his smoke detector battery...what, no luggage?  Seems his smoke detector started chirping this morning around 2:00 A.M. so he removed the battery to stop the noise.  This morning he took his bike out of the room and decided he'd turn in the battery to the office.  Upon arrival at the office, he found it wasn't open until after loading so what to do?  He figured he'd better go back and load his luggage.  When he arrived back to his room, he found his door shut, locked, and his luggage inside...guess where his key was...laying on top of his luggage.  We couldn't figure why he showed up to the luggage truck with his battery...guess he thought he might as well load something on the truck and it was easier to throw that on the truck than his luggage anyway.  It took a little while, but he finally got the office open to make him another key...loss of a little sleep snowballs into late load. 

But no matter how late Mike was, John K. gets the "Did I Miss Something" award today.  Today we had breakfast at 7 so we loaded at 6:45 so we could ride to breakfast and leave from there.  Everyone signed their luggage in except John.  We looked for him but thought everyone had gone to breakfast so he must have forgotten to sign in, but we'd go try to find him to make sure his stuff was on.  Almost everyone had finished eating and was on the road as Karen started to drive away in the Budget (luggage) truck when she saw John walking across the parking lot...it was 7:35 so she figured his stuff had to be on...he wasn't saying anything.  Karen just happened to take one last look back and, oops, is he standing by his luggage?  Yep.  Karen drove back and asked him what was up.  "I was going to load my luggage on that Budget truck," he said.  "Did I miss something?"  He was pointing to a small Budget that was parked in the lot next to where we'd been parked.  Now there was no resemblance to say the least between the two trucks...besides, ours was twice as big!  Oh, by the way, wasn't luggage load at 6:45?  "I don't know, but I knew breakfast was at 7:00,"  He said.  Glad Karen happened to see him or no telling where his luggage would have shown up if he'd put it on that truck.

DID I REALLY SEE THAT?

 We'll park our bike about anywhere, but we couldn't get to the Bonanza roof lot.

New meaning to the term "Food On The Road."

Hmmm...4 ways to go, no route sheet to refer to...what to do?

Hey, this helmet modification really works...no one has passed me all morning.

We have someone on our ride that looks just like the receptionist behind the desk at our motel...I became suspicious when she transferred everyone to the Airport Hilton and arranged for massages for everyone.

Tracy's last day...maybe he won't leave after all. 

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