Day 22:

105 miles today, and my bike just screamed through the miles. Could it be cooler weather? (Low 70’s until middle afternoon). Could it be that we came down from 4000 ft elevation to 2000 ft elevation where there is oxygen? Could it be little or no wind, maybe even a little tail wind? Could it be no hills? Could it be all of the above?

We went through the "Bad Lands", now there’s a weird place. Looks like the Grand Canyon, only everything is in miniature. Very scenic, but weird. The whole thing is only a few hundred feet high.

I came across a road sign at a fork in the road. An arrow pointed in one direction with the word "Scenic" on it. An arrow pointed in the other direction with the word "Interior" on it. Of course, the arrow labeled "Interior" pointed on the road that ran toward the center of the state. I took the Scenic route.

A mile down the road, I came across a little community named "Scenic". And, sure enough, a few miles later down the road was another road-sign indicating that "Interior was only ten miles off in so and so direction.

These South Dakotan’s, can’t they come up with more creative names. After all, we Alaskan’s have "Circle" and "Chicken".

Day 23:

Just another hot day with rolling hills that aren’t so gentle. You do just a much climbing on rolling hills as you do when you go through a mountain pass. The only difference is that the mountain pass, you only have one hill. It’s just as hard a day, harder when you consider the heat.

We passed the halfway mark today. I guess there’s no point in quitting and riding back to Seattle. We stayed at Fr. Pierre, South Dakota.

Day 24:

We crossed the Missouri River again, and this time it was flowing south. We are now in the Central Time Zone.

Of the evil H’s, hills, headwinds, and heat, heat is definitely the one that does me in. Hills and headwinds just slow me down, but the heat saps my strength and makes me feel miserable.

As we get further east, there are more small towns, and hence more services. The number one important service is the ice-cream store. There is no question, that after a root-beer float, that my energy is restored and I am ready for another few miles. I figure it takes about three to four ice-cream stops a day before all is well.

Today, we are in Miller, South Dakota. The park where we are staying is undoubtedly the nicest place we’ve stay during the entire trip. The park has a small lake with two fountains. The people have been very nice, and a lot of people have come down to the park to talk to us.

Day 25:

It was a nice ride today except for the heat. It reached 96 today, and the humidity is starting to pick up.

Yesterday there were grasshoppers all over the road. As you would near them, they would jump out of your way, but as often as not, they would fly into your spokes. So yesterday it was suicidal grass-hoppers, and today it was dead frogs. There were hundreds of them, all over the road.

Some people have joined this ride as an opportunity to clear their head. My brain is now completely withered and gone, so I don’t have anything left to clear. No brains, no headache.

Two bikes got stolen today while the owners were in a coffee shop in Huron, South Dakota.

Day 26:

Road-kill was back to its normal levels today.

I have to add humidity to the evil H’s, now there are 4 evil H’s. Heat, Humidity, Hills and Headwinds.

Revisiting the bikes that got stolen in Huron. The residents of Huron lent a couple of "Huffy" bikes to the riders whose bikes were stolen. The stolen bikes were probably worth 50 times the Huffy’s, but the riders were able to continue the ride that day. The residents of Huron then went all out to find the stolen bikes, involving the local radio and the police. They were able to recover the stolen bikes and delivered them to camp this morning.

We entered Minnesota today. We are in Tyler. The mayor of Tyler brought his dog down and said "Hi" to us. The mayor said "Hi" also. His dog, Dweebles, was a hit.

Day 27:

Today we rode to New Ulm. We have a day off tomorrow. I need it. My body says a day of recovery is in order. Actually, my body says it would like several days off.