South Dakota

Sunrise while camping on the playground

Ashley excited for our care package, it's HUGE!

Our lunch looks very similar to a 4th graders lunch.

Day 17: For the love of cars and trail angel
The school was a nice quiet place to sleep compared to where we had been for the past few nights. We got an early start knowing that we had 94 miles ahead of us to make it to Belle Fouche if we wanted to make Rapid City the next day. The day started off normal with our usual 10 miles before breakfast where we stop on the road for oatmeal and a quick stretch break.

Story: Lorenzo the trail angel

Sometime around mile 20 the wind started picking up and knowing that we are just on this straight away all day with the 15-20 mile per hour winds started to get to our heads. There were times that we both started to hate biking. We joked with trucks going by saying "anyone want to take us to Belle Fouche" they couldn't hear us of course as the wizzed by at 70mph. We were biking up this one small hill and as we rounded the top we saw a truck pulled over with an individual waiting for us on the back hitch with a cooler. Trail magic!!!! This individual has done some biking in his life and understood that it was a boring day, hot, and uphill so he provided us with vitamin water, lots of bars, and blueberries. Before he left he suggested that we go to the green bean for a salad when we got to Belle Fouche. Feeling refreshed we only had a few miles before Hammond MT where we knew we had a package waiting for us from Ashley's friend Amy. As we entered the "town" aka the only road was the highway and on one side was a 20"x20" building post office, and on the other side was one house we walked in and picked up our GIGANTIC box. Upon opening it we found goodies such as mac and cheese, trail mix, and chocolate. I will admit we ate some while sorting it even though it was only 11am :) leaving the post office we knew the only thing between us and Belle Fouche was one gas station 30 miles away; we planned to stop there for a late lunch and bathroom break. The wind persisted leaving us going 4-7mph uphill and 8-11mph PEDDLING downhill. It's a mental struggle to realize that you are going so slow downhill and peddling for it. We only went another 7-10 miles before we saw a truck on the side of the road, as we approached we recognized the vehicle as our friend Lorenzo who just gave us water and snacks a few miles back. He said "I was just driving this stretch and thinking how boring it is with no shade and nothing to see, I figured you might want to join me for lunch at the green bean" he mentioned that he knew we were doing our "bike thing" but that we might not miss this boring 50 miles when looking back on the entire 3,000+ mile trip. He was right, we accepted the ride and jumped in the car (after sending our friend a picture of the licence plate for safety). Our hour car ride consisted of learning about the sun dance festival that he was traveling to attend, it was fascinating learning about other cultures and this is part of the reason we did this trip so the day was worth it even through we didn't bike those miles. Our conversation continued over lunch, and he was right the green bean was a delicious place to go.

Since we had only biked 40 miles so far that day we decided to go another 20 to the town of Whitewood. We waited around town till the wind 'died down' a bit....long story short it didn't. We trekked the next 20 miles pulling 2.5 miles each with 20mph wind and gusts from the cars and trucks. It was the slowest 20 miles thus far! We found a lovely church to camp at and ate dinner and went to bed early in hopes of an early start the next morning.
Miles: 60 miles biking, 50 miles in car. (total biking miles: 1,216)

Camping spot at church pavilion. 

More gravel! ughhhhh

Light hike in Rapid City, SD with Emily Berry

View from M Hill in Rapid City, SD

Kelsey contemplating life

Beer selection at Lost Cabin Brewery

Day 18: so close to REST DAY!
As you can tell, we HATE the wind. In order to avoid it, we decided to wake up at 4:15am so we could start biking at 5 and hopefully beat the wind. It was a pretty good plan....until...you guessed it, gravel! In order to cut 10 miles off the route, google once again led us to dirt roads. How nice. By around 9am, the wind was starting to pick up and because we had already been up for almost 5 hours, it was time for second breakfast: a heaping cup of Velveeta mac n'cheese we got in our care package. After that, we found pavement again with even more wind! We had about 14 miles to Rapid City, SD where we would finally be able to take a break with one of Ashley's friends from Vermont, Emily. She works at the Museum of Geology at South Dakota School of Mines and Technology as the assistant director. Very fancy. When we got there, she gave us a tour of the paleontology and mineralogy sections. Lots of fossils and gems! It is also free, so if you are ever in Rapid City, SD swing on by for a look! While Emily was at work, we cleaned up our bodies, did some grocery shopping, and tried to relax. After she got out of work, we went for a little hike up "M" hill that looks over the entire city and much of the Black Hills. There is an actual "M" where the names of the graduates from the University get put on each year.  RC is quite the hidden gem: it has a lot to offer for those interested in the outdoor community like hiking, road and mountain biking, trail running, beach volleyball, and lots of other fun things. Afterwards we went across the street to Lost Cabin Brewery, one of the microbreweries in the city. There was also a food truck for some grub! Really good food and exceptional beverages. 10/10 would recommend.

Sporting our tan lines at the local pool. 

Ashley falling asleep while writing thank you post cards. 

Loaded up for the road. 

Emily Berry in middle, she hosted us in Rapid City, SD. 

Day 19: Finally put the feet up....not
Although we look forward to rest days there is still a lot to be done. A typical rest day consists of laundry, trip to the store, sorting food, washing dishes bags and what not, scrubbing our entire bodies down very well, fixing any equipment, hydrating, sleeping, and eating everything in site. You can see how the hours pass by quickly and it's hard to squeeze everything in. OH, and often finding a library so we can sit here for a few hours to type these crazy posts up haha. Even though there is a lot to do we do find time to squeeze in a few local attractions, plus we were lucky enough for Ashley's friend Emily to loan us her car while she was at work to get our errands done quicker. Around town we got to go to the famous donut shop downtown Jake's Cakes and Donuts, visit the farmers market for a few items for dinner, make it to Armadillo ice cream, and the dog park. There are a few other attractions in town that Emily suggested such as the Roosevelt pool, Pactola Reservoir, Horsetheif lake, and the Prairie Edge Native American store. It was a delight to have a host that knew the area so well and understood our wants and needs. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to all the fun things Emily suggested for us to do, because rest days are actually chore days. We did get to flop around in Roosevelt pool for awhile! Emily swam a mile while we resembled more elegant animals, like slowly drowning geese. They even had a slide and diving board. You bet your biscuits we regressed to back to our childish selves. We made a quick dinner afterwards and went to bed at a good reasonable hour.
Mileage: Zero day, Total biking miles: 1,266

Day 20: Mosquito Heaven
We slept in, the only thing waking us was our bladders due to the massive hydration kick we did the day before. Spending a slow morning with Emily was delightful; we had eggs and toast before saying our goodbyes and hitting the road. There was a minuscule hill going out of the apartment complex that made us feel weak, tired, and heavy; we both laughed so hard that we almost fell over! Once we hit the straight road we had only a cross wind so we were able to gain speed and the miles flew by. We took frequent breaks “butt breaks” by other than that we were making great time. About 30 miles outside of town we were swarmed by relentless mosquitos, nothing we could do would stop them other than physically swatting them off. We dealt with the mosquitos for several hours before they subsided and we were able to relax the pace to a more sustainable clip. We made it to the badlands entrance right as the heat of day hit and we were able to find a local town park with shaded picnic tables to sprawl our stuff out and lay down to cool off. We accidentally fell asleep for an hour but we weren’t concerned because we had nothing else to do and although it was early in the day looking at the next 50 miles there was no camping on the reservation land available so our only choice was to stay here at 75 miles or somehow make it to white river (which was another 76 away) Although some might call us a little crazy, we aren’t stupid enough to go 151 miles in a day so we stayed out. We hydrated, snacked, and read till the evening when we sauntered down to the local bar for a beer and fries to pass some time till sunset when we could pitch our tent. The mosquitos in the area are unlike mosquitos we have ever seen before, their bodies bigger, and when you killed them the amount of blood was ridiculous! When getting back to the park we set up tent as quick as possible and jumped in to read for a few more hours before our eyelids became heavy and rest fell upon us.

Day 21: 

In the morning, we were woken by thunder rolling in out in the distance. That was our cue to get moving. For the most part, it looked like the storm was behind us to the west and we could outrun it. Turns out we were actually riding into the storm. Lightning strikes could be seen out in the distance and at around 8 miles into our day, the strikes were getting too close to comfort. Good excuse to take a break and eat breakfast. Luckily, we had some reception and could see where the storm was heading on the radar. It was supposed to pass within the next hour. So what do we do best to pass the time? Sleep. We’re very gifted sleepers. On the side of the road in someone’s driveway. One of our more exotic napping areas. As we mentioned before in a previous blog, no one will stop and ask if you are okay even when you are LAYING ON THE GROUND. After a solid hours nap, we scraped our bodies off the road. Yes, I do mean scrape. We do not recommend this approach of napping in the beginning of your day. It is very difficult to get your body moving again. We continued on our way, got a little sprinkled on, and then the sun came out, bringing a heavy blanket of humidity with it. Quite delightful indeed. We stopped in the town of Wanblee in the pine ridge reservation to fill up our waters, chatted a little with the locals and tried to beat the heat towards White River. Every time we try to beat the heat, it finds us, without fail. Moisture and all. We got to White River and took a nice long break in a little “drive-in” restaurant accompanied by ice cream treats. Afterwards, we went 17 more miles to Karla’s Last Kall where there was a high possibility we could pitch our tent there. The bartender made us some delicious frozen pizza and told us where we could pitch our tent. By the time we were all done with that, it was bed time because we lost an hour in the time change. No problem there, we were exhausted anyway 

Little brick ice cream in Platte, SD. 4 out of 5 stars

Some seriously salty sweat from a har day's work.

Karla's last call in Wood, SD 

Day 22: South Dakota is not flat!

We barely remember the alarm going off at 5:20 and overslept till 6am; which felt like 5 because of the recent time change. We packed up quickly and was able to use the restaurants restroom before hitting the road because they were open for breakfast. We did our usual 10 mile breakfast on the side of the road stop with stretching and added complaining about everything that hurt. After that the sun started to heat up the pavement and the air. There was a slight headwind of hot air, but it’s better than stale air so we accepted it. McDonalds was our first escape from the elements at 10:30am. Kelsey didn’t care that it was early, she got a salad while Ashley got a more appropriate second breakfast option of sausage egg McMuffin. The McDonalds was full of locals and travelers excited to know our whereabouts and hear of our travels so we did spend some time before going back out into the hot oven called the outdoors. The miles passed by relatively quickly due to our new joy of listening to books on tape. We took our next stop just a near 20 miles after the McDonalds where we found solace in shade from a building. We ate a meal and might have fallen asleep for 5 minutes before again complaining and peeling our bodies off the asphalt. The next 20 miles were quite hilly...didn’t expect it so I think that didn’t help our tiredness. Crossing over the Missouri River was fun after a long downhill, and with the thoughts that subway was close. Our final stop for the day was a subway where we enjoyed a buffet of veggies and greens paid for by gift cards given to us by our friend and fellow cycle tourist Maggie and Andy Holt. At the subway we met locals that told us where to find the best ice cream and since I mentioned the storm rolling in the invited us to camp in their yard and even shower at their home. Thank goodness for the kindness of strangers, because the salt stains on our clothes from sweating in the 90 degree day with 85% humidity are gross.

Bryan family: Loretta, Joe, Caleb, and Jackson.

27704 367th Ave Platte, SD 57369

Hail storm coming right for us. 

99c ice cream cones! The gas station was filled with 

65+ individuals who knew the $1 secret. 

Our usual breakfast routine included instant oatmeal made in
bags, and didn't occur till we had at least 10 miles done. 

Day 23: Pancakes, frog guts, and hail storms

Dreaming of giant pancakes, we were awoken by the smell of fresh blueberries. And there they were, beautiful giant blueberry pancakes made by our new friend Joe. After breakfast, we headed eat into some slight misting in the air. South Dakota has received an abnormally high amount of rainfall this year, making everything quite green and lush. Perfect for wetland creatures. Unfortunately, that means more road kill. The road of SD-44 was splattered by frog guts everywhere. So now our bikes probably have a substantial amount of said guts along the undercarriage. For lunch, we ate our leftover subway sandwiches on the side of the glamorous highway. Looking over into the northern skies was a growing gray ski that looked to be moving in our direction. We looked at the radar and this sucker was heading right for us. Maybe we could out run it? Ha. Nice joke. Trying to be proactive about this issue, we did what any desperate cyclists would do: throw out the thumb to every pick-up driving by. We were striking out big time. These drivers were not feeling it, probably because they were sitting in the comfort of their nice vehicles unable to see the growing storm behind them. Lucky for us (and when I say lucky, I mean completely and utterly unlucky) we got hit hard by this storm. It came in full force, hail and all with estimated 60mph gust. Super safe for biking. We couldn’t see anything which meant the car could definitely not see us. We pulled over and desperately put our thumbs out. 4, maybe 5 trucks passed us by WHILE WE WERE SOAKED AND BEING HAILED ON. Thankfully, a young lad in a giant pick up truck stopped. I say “young lad” because he eventually called us old. Thanks, kid. Anyway, he drove us about 25 miles to the next town of Parker and dropped us off at this amazing convenient store. They had self-serve ice cream cones for 99 cents! So we got a lot of ice cream. It was heaven. Because we’re so good at killing time, we stayed there for 4 hours, eating our ice cream, reading our books....may or may not have took a nap on the table. We left there a little after 6pm and had 35 miles until the Iowa border. Why make life easy when you can make it even more exhausting? 4ish miles from the border we were starting to get really hungry and decided to scope the schools and churches around for possible places to camp. Nothing looked desecrate enough so we just kept going, hoping to find a field on the side of the road. Just as we were leaving the outskirts of town, these folks pulled over next to us asking if we knew about the storm coming in and if we needed a place to stay. We graciously accepted. Not sure why we keep running into extremely generous people, but we have been very fortunate on this trip. We biked back into town to their home and settled in. They even fed us tacos and other goodies! Thank goodness because it was past 9pm and we hadn’t eaten dinner yet. Our original plan for dinner was to soak mac n cheese in our Hydroflasks with somewhat hot water. Not as good as a home-cooked meal. Brenda and Jeremy were very helpful at planning out our route for the next couple days; which road would be best for cyclists and places we could stop in. 

We weren’t particularly looking forward to biking through South Dakota because we thought it would be boring and flat but the people we met really changed our opinions of it. South Dakota, you really outdid yourself. Well done

 The Ask family: Brenda, Jeremey and their daughter. 

306 South West Street Canton, SD 5713