Presho, South Dakota

Score:

Wind 116

Hap and Diane 2

That about sums up the last two days of riding! But let's start where we left off. We packed up the tent and gear in Mitchell and met our friend Steve in a restaurant for breakfast. We sure had a nice chat before heading out. Steve lives in Mitchell and said are you guys sure you don't want to take another day off. The wind is howling from the south and it is supposed to get very hot. Nah, we'll be fine....no problem........ Did I explain the part about being on a fully loaded tandem and side winds, swirly winds and wind gusts?? Let me try again. At one point I was taking a drink of water and I went to put the bottle back in the water bottle cage, a big gust hit and I completely missed the bike, through the bottle on the ground and had to chase it about two miles on foot. How's that for wind? It was an exciting day. Glad I wasn't drivin! Sorry Hap! It was also that hot stuff again. Somewhere around 96 or so! The plan was to ride to Chamberlain to visit a niece and nephew of Steve's that we had never met. We are riding due west following along I 90. Supposedly we are on "old Rt 16" or at least that's what people keep telling us. We haven't actually seen a sign for it. So we just kept asking directions. Cause it sure wasn't on any map we had. At one point the road seemed to turn due north, uh oh, isn't this the wrong direction, we have a tailwind??? We asked two people, one said I don't know "old Rt 16 goes somewhere down there". Another guys said sure just go north for awhile and "old 16 will turn west again. BUT there doing construction and there is a detour. You just have to turn north on a gravel road for awhile." Sure no problem, we headed west on "old 16" until we got to the road closed sign, road through the construction and just kept headin west. The route was actually very pretty. Rolling hills, with green wheat pastures, lots of cattle and horses. One field had a strange combination of long horn cattle (I recognized the long horns!), regular old cattle, horses (brown) and buffalo with calves. When we started by the them all of the buffalo started running. I don't think they have ever seen a double bike! They ran for quite a while with us.

We got to Chamberlain alittle later than expected because of the slight winds. We called Kim and Jim and they met us just on the edge of town to lead us to their home. They had also called the local newspaper who came out and did a story and picture about Alpha One. Chamberlain is down in the Missouri River Valley right on the river. It is part of the Lewis and Clark Trail. The first thing we did while following them was to go DOWN a huge hill to the river (you know what that means for tomorrow don't you?). Then they made a right hand turn (they were driving their van) and started up a hill. I said they probably live in that big house up on top. Yes, you guessed it! They took us out to Al's Oasis for a great dinner of Walleye. We also met Brittany their daughter and their two dogs. Ella and Allie (sorry I don't think this is right, but she was a beautiful golden retriever and I petted her enough to make up for my mistake I hope! I hope she doesn't mind I don't remember her name exactly).

This morning Kim was nice enough to make us breakfast of french toast and sausage. It was sure nice to sleep in a real bed and have a good home cooked meal. Thanks Kim, Jim and Brittany! Kim suggested we take another day off because the winds were howling once again, but this time from the north! We headed out, across the Missouri River and up out of the valley. We started out on I 90 which wasn't that bad to ride on. Afterall we have our own lane! The terrain was green, lush and rolling with big farms. Towns were few and far between. We stopped a couple of times to eat, but mostly just spent the day fighting the swirly, wind gusts again. We decided to stop in Presho because it would've been at least 25 more miles to any campground or anything and we decided we had enough of the wind. It was alot cooler today though, in the 80's which helped alot. We stayed at the Prairie RV park, pitched the tent, did our laundry and ate dinner at the cafe. Until next time!