June 12, 2018
Bonesteel to Snake Creek RecArea, South Dakota
It was a foggy morning leaving Bonesteel, South Dakota. So foggy, in fact, that I had to take off my glasses because they filled up with water droplets on the inside. If we had harvested the fog that collected on our bikes, gear, and clothing we could have supplied the town of Bonesteel with drinking water for 3 days!!
But the fog was nothing compared with the headwinds. They were so fierce that I didn't stop to take any photos because I didn't want to start pedaling from zero any more than absolutely necessary. Our conclusion: touring cyclists, especially those with both front and rear panniers, are not aerodynamic.
| Heart | 7 | Comment | 4 | Link |
| Heart | 8 | Comment | 2 | Link |
5 years ago
5 years ago
By 11am, we had burned enough calories to stop for a roadside picnic - bagels with peanut butter, mixed nuts, and an orange. The most interesting part for you readers, though, was our stimulating lunchtime conversation about the Nebraskan dialect. I always thought that people in Nebraska talked much like people in Portland, OR. But the way they pronounce the name of the town Norfolk is NorfoRk. So ... if a Nebraskan wants to invite some acquaintances over for a meal, does he ask, "Would you forks (spelled 'folks') like to join us for supper tonight?" Let's hear it, Nebraskan readers ... What say you?
After we discussed this important matter for 90 minutes or so, we rode on into the town of Burke to run a few errands. At Green's Grocery we picked up onions, canned chicken breast, and red pepper - to mix with easy-prep Knorr teriyaki for dinner. And apples as appetizers (apple-tizers - ha!). We also looked for a replacement for our Walmart can opener, which was a piece of crap. All we found was a duplicate of what we had, so we went a couple doors down to True Value Hardware. There we found a nice $8.00 (gulp!) version that looked solid enough to actually open a can. In retrospect, we should have gotten a sturdy compact opener at REI in Portland. Oh well!
We ran into an eastboound cyclist outside the grocery store. He was going from Seattle to Florida. We didn't have a lot of time to chat, and he was trying to get about 100 miles in today.
The big win of our Burke, SD errand-run was going to the post office and sending 7 pounds of un-needed stuff to our friend Kathleen (thank you, K!!). This is an 8% weight reduction, people! Do you think it will make us go 8% faster? Amongst the contents in the box were Ron's Homer Simpson doll, some redundant clothing, a handlebar camera mount, and some random gear.
7 pounds lighter, we continued on towards Snake Creek Recreation Area. We fought diminished headwinds and were rewarded with a nice 4 mile descent into camp, with a top speed of 31.2. We registered, showered and set up camp. So far all of the campgrounds in South Dakota have been great - spacious campsites, plenty of shade, picnic tables, and showers. Snake Creek also had a little store with a decent selection of Blue Bunny ice cream. Gay bought a soda (he is a dedicated consumer of Diet Pepsi) and Ron and I opted for dessert before dinner.
Shortly after dinner we were ready to crash after a challenging day on the road. Our RV neighbors had the following alcohol-induced conversation at about 11pm:
"Listen to me! I'm drunk and have lost my volume control! Also I am an idiot!"
"Hey, me too! And, check this out! The effing booze is making me effing think that it's effing funny to effing curse in front of the effing kids!!"
"HAHAHA!!!"
"Now let's repeat what we said five minutes ago because we've lost our short-term memories!!!"
"Oh yeah? Rajon flagin oophenmsh under the effing motorcycle hobenbragen!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
Thankfully Ron resisted his propensity to snap, jump up, stomp over to the drunk Hoosiers and start yelling at them to shut the (heck) up. And we had earplugs, so this torment was short-lived and we slept like rocks.
Today's ride: 50 miles (80 km)
Total: 481 miles (774 km)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 12 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 11 |
5 years ago
I just put earplugs on my bike tour packing list.
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5 years ago
We love your journal!
5 years ago
5 years ago