Day 24: Philip, SD to Pierre, SD

I tried to get Marc to write the blog today as he had a much more eventful day than I, but he's in bed already. He hit the wall way to early in the ride and could not recover.

It was hot and windy today! I originally thought that our ride from Sheridan to Gillette would be the most isolated ride of the tripbut today tops it. We rode 90 miles today and only had one town with services at mile 20 and that's it!

All I can say about today's ride is that it was boring and the crosswinds were brutal. I think I wore down the side of my tires today as I was tilted sideways so I wouldn't topple in the wind.

We left our hotel in Philip around 9:30 this morning after a breakfast of potato salad and a banana. (There were no breakfast restaurants so we picked up some food last night.) We stopped to eat our packed lunch of summer sausage and melted cheese (it was so hot today) at the town of Midland. Luckily there was a large park in town with a water fountain, as there was practically nothing else in town. According to the placard in town, Midland was a boom town back in the early 1900's when the government was selling parcels of land for $100. Now its more like a ghost town consisting of an Ace Hardware, a bank and a 5 room motel.

After we left Midland, there was nothing but hilly prairie land for the next 70 miles. This was one of those days that you need to keep your mind positive and busy or the boredom will drive you crazy - if not the boredom - the 20 mile/hr winds will do that for you.

I kept my cool today, but Marc did not. He had a horrible day. He said this day was the worst of the trip for him. He said " If there was a Sag Wagon - I'd be on it." ( A Sag Wagon is a support vehicle for cyclists for those that are wondering.)

Poor guy! I kept waiting for him and then I got sick of waiting as I just wanted to get to our hotel and jump in the pool. We finally arrived in Pierre around 6 PM or actually 7 PM as we crossed the time zone when we crossed the Missouri River. Pierre is a beautiful town with not much going on. Its the capital of South Dakota and has gorgeous government buildings, but the restaurants and stores leave something to be desired.

We ended up walking about 2 miles to find a restaurant. We ate at Mad Mary's Saloon and Steakhouse. It was decent food - no pie though. I ended up eating a Mrs. Freshley's Blueberry/Blackberry Pie from the convenience store. I left it in the microwave way too long and had a gooey mess to eat. It was still good. Kind of like a cake donut wrapped around a blackberry-blueberry pie filling.

Our hotel, the Capitol Inn, is surprisingly nice for the price - only $45/night and they have a pool and free breakfast. Things in South Dakota are cheap!

I hope Marc has a better day tomorrow - I was ready to get my own hotel room (the way he was acting), especially since the price was so cheap. (He's in a much better mood now, but he was a crabby boy today!)

Tomorrow we are off to Miller, SD. We were going to try to push to Huron, SD but its a 113 mile ride and tomorrow is supposed to be hot and windy again. Ugh!