Day 24: Pierre, SD to Miller, SD

We got up early this morning with good intentions of leaving early to miss the afternoon heat. But after packing the bikes, eating breakfast and then spending too much time shopping for shoes at WalMart, we did not leave town until 9:45. ( I ended up with an ugly pair of water shoes for $6.. I am so embarrassed to be seen in them. Don't tell anyone in South Dakota that I sell shoes for a living!)

Our ride today took us across the heartland of the state. We passed 70 miles of farm fields with wheat and corn. South Dakota has been hit hard by the rains and there have been huge ponds of water in many of the fields.

We stopped to eat lunch in the small town of Harrold - population 209. We picnic'd on the front steps of an abandoned old building in town. Its funny, almost every house in town had a for sale sign and the only activity was from the grainery and post office. We sat and ate our crackers and melted cheese (it was hot today) and watched the trucks pull up to the grain elevator.

The rest of our ride to Miller was uneventful - just hot with a 6-8 mph headwind. The headwinds felt nice as they help keep you cool, but annoying as they slow your pace by a few mph. Its tough to keep your mind occupied on these flat rides with not much to see. My thoughts tend to wander between what I'll write on the blog to what I want to eat for dinner. Today I thought about my doggies. I miss my little Sierra bug and Hunter-pants. It's pheasant hunting season in this area and I was hoping to see a few German Shorthairs out and about. Marc said one crossed the road right in front of us while we were headed to WalMart this morning. I must have been asleep at the handlebars, or something, as I completely missed that!

We did see a GSP (German Shorthair Pointer to the lay person) at Wall Drug. It was a tan colored one with white spots. I didn't even recognize it as one of the breed as they are almost always dark brown and white. Thus I was subsequently embarrassed when I asked the gentleman who owned the dog - "What type of Pointer is this?"

He responded, "A GSP."

"Oh a GSP, we have two of them!" I acknowleged sheepishly. (Now don't I look like the idiot!)

We arrived in Miller around 4 PM and boy I was glad I made a reservation for the motel. Both motels in town were booked solid. We are staying at The Dew Drop Inn. ( I love that name!) Its an old 1960's ranch style motel with very friendly owners. I love the mom & pop motels as the owners always seem so nice. He said the motel has been full for weeks and we got one of their last openings. We were lucky as the next motel would have been another 45 miles away (at least a 3-4 hour ride.)

For dinner, we headed down to the Virginian Inn. The restaurants in South Dakota seem to have slipped into some sort of time warp. They all have circa 1970 decor and 1970 menus as well. Marc and I both got a good laugh out of tonight's salad bar. Our selection consisted of a large bowl of "white" lettuce and for toppings we had shredded cheddar cheese, bacon bits, croutons and 4 types of dressing. And that's it! No vegetables at all - no carrots, no onion, no cucumber, etc. You could either have a plain salad or shredded cheese salad. We both opted for the shredded cheese as you just felt like you had to put something on the salad.

For dessert I had a slice of crumb topped apple pie. It was definitely homemade with thick chunks of granny smith apples with a buttery crumb topping. Delicious!

We are headed to bed early tonight as we'd like to get a good start tomorrow. The forecast is calling for afternoon showers and a hefty headwind of 10-15 mph. (Where are the tailwinds?) We are riding straight east -78 miles to the small town of De Smet, SD. The town is famous for Laura Ingall Wilder's "Little House on the Prairie". I'm eager to visit the museum and other attractions. Hopefully we can get there early enough to enjoy them.

Day 7: Coeur d'Alene, ID to Haugan, MT

Oh my stomach is too full to type... I just had the best slice of pie yet this trip. And the best part was that it was FREE! Our waiter at the restaurant took interest in our bike trip and treated me to a free slice of Caramel Apple Walnut Pie. It was delicious with big chunks of apples and gooey carmel topping.

We logged 80 miles of riding today and have stopped in the small town(not really a town, more of a truck stop) called Haugan. Haugan is known for its $50,000 silver dollar bar. We've been seeing signs for this bar since we started our ride in Coeur d'Alene. I thought it was a silver bullion type bar not an actual saloon bar. As the story goes, the bar started in 1951 with the original owners hammering a silver dollar on the bar top. Since then thousands of patrons have done the same and now the bar is covered in silver dollars (over 50,000 to be exact!).

Our ride today was a tough one for me - very hilly. We climbed about 1000 ft straight out of Coeur d'Alene on a winding residential road. There were great views of the lake and the famous golf course with the floating green. (Yes they have a golf green that you have to take a boat to get to!) The scenery was great, but we were really bummed when we crossed a bridge and saw the highway way down below us. We climbed all that way up just to drop back down to the Interstate.

This was our first time riding on the Interstate (I90). It wasn't bad. We had a 8 foot shoulder and rumble strip. The Interstate actually seems a bit safer than some of the side streets with all the intersections.

We followed I90 up over Fourth of July Pass at an elevation of 3000+ ft and then up over Lookout Pass with an elevation of 4800 ft. In between the two mountain passes, we hopped on the Coeur d'Alene trail. Its a nice paved bike path that meanders along the Coeur d'Alene river up to the town of Mullen (about 25 miles). I really enjoyed the path, especially since it takes you right through the heart of most of the towns. We passed right under the gondolas of the Silver Mountain Ski Area in Kellogg and then rode under the Interstate in Wallace (that would be handy in the rain!).

Of course we had some rain again today but we timed our lunch perfectly and missed most of the first storm. The second storm started on our way down Lookout Pass and we stopped at the hotel in Haugan just minutes before a major downpour. Luck was on our side today! As for flats ... my new tires seem to be doing the trick and I'm happy to report that we didn't have to dismantle the wheels at all - yea!