Day 22, The Capital of South Dakota, Pierre

BEST: Air conditioning inside the school we are staying in. (96 degrees outside)

WORST: Oops, did a couple of bonus miles when we missed a turn. However, I never would have seen the dinosaur skeleton chasing the man if I followed the route.

MOST UNEXPECTED: I had a grasshopper hitch a ride on my back for several miles. A picture was posted on facebook. The grasshopper was hanging his head on my shoulder like a dog with his face in the wind.

Today's ride was almost a century ride with my small mistake on the route, 98 miles total. Not much scenery so I can of had to make it up as I went along, First cornfield, lonely church on the prairie (which is a TV show), more hay rolls, and my photo assignment which was to photo something famous that my daughter wouldn't know. I might get another A on this assignment as I include two pictures: Dances with Wolves was filmed close to Pierre, and the Central Time zone happens right in the middle of the Missouri river. Yeah, that Missouri river that I last visited in Montana at Thompson when it was just a wee lad. The day was warm too hot, and the headwind was not too bad. I am waiting to say tailwind in a sentence, but it may never happen. Lots of uphills and downhills. The roadbuilders have done a marvelous job on the condition of the roads in South Dakota, but I wish they had just built the roads flat. I mean why go up and then down, just straighten the sucker out. The constant upgrades did sap the energy even though there was a corresponding downgrade. The slopes were too long to get any momentum anywhere near the top, so it was run up a couple of hundred feet from the downhill, then put your head down and grunt your way to the top.

We finally made it to Pierre after passing through Fort Pierre which was very confusing. There is a picture below showing the town behind a standing rider. After lugging my gear up a floor from the truck and setting it up in the gym, I realized the air conditioning in the gym was just blowing cool air from the school hallway into the very large space. It did not take long to figure out to move my stuff into the hallway where it actually was cooler. The janitors had indicated they would have airconditioning in the gym, but this consisted of a large fan blowing air from the hallway.

We lost an hour today due to the time change, so I am now two hours ahead of home. I should call home when we leave for the ride at 6:00 just to see how 4:00 is for people to wake up.

Showers are really wonderful after a day of riding, and I have been keeping up on this front. Todays shower in the boys locker room was definitely an industrial strength unit and I think I removed all of my outer dermis with the force of the spray. I am doing well avoiding getting tattooed by the grease on the chain and chainring, but there are many riders who are really greased up on their legs including their left legs which is on the other side of the bike from the chain.

The picture of the Riders pouch is in front of the State Capital of South Dakota in Pierre. I did not get arrested.