Once again the over abundance of water makes for some great scenery along the way. This is not too far south of Pierre and the first thing I wondered was why are those hubcaps where they are and how did they get there.
I found this very interesting in that once again it shows that the native Americans were equal to and in many cases ahead of stuff the white men thought was their exclusive ideas and methods of doing things.
This was on a hill a good ways off the road, not something a person would see driving by in a car. I wonder what prompted someone to build this where they built it.
More local history.
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Yesterday I once again did another dumb and it was a long day because of it, although as I think about it there may not have been many other alternatives. I was in Pierre and wanted to get moving in the direction of Council Bluffs for the Ragbrai. In addition I needed to get to the town of Chamberlain about 85 miles away today to do some personal business at a bank there by Tuesday.
So I screwed around in Pierre until about noon before starting the trip. I was so into biking/exploring the town and it was good. Time got away from me and before I knew it I heard the church bells ringing out the time.So I take off knowing it would be a long day, but realizing just how long it would be.
Of course there was the manditory head wind and it was a doosey. I learned later it was 30 mph with gusts of 40 (hell in North Dakota this would be catagorized as a breeze) . After about 10 miles I knew I was screwed , this was going to be the grind of all grinds and I was just hoping I would not lose my legs along the way. I could not go back , although letting the wind propel me along back t5o Pierre was tempting, I had to keep moving forward. I should also mention here that it rained 4 times during the day--not goose drowners but I got very very wet before letting the wind quickly dry me out (the only redeeming attribute I can credit the wind with).
I knew from looking at the maps that there were no towns for a long way. Fort Thompson was the only stop and that was 60 miles from Pierre, so it would be at least 60 miles into a 30+ mph wind.
Now I still believe that every day you can reach vertcallity and be able to ride a bike like I am on a wonderful trip is a special day. I have not had a bad day yet and do not expect to. What I need to do is maybe seperate those special days into catagories because they are all so different. After yesterday I will need to create a special special catagory for special days like it, maybe I will label it "special days that normal people might think suck the big one but I think are good."
What I can say is that my legs held up and I got a hell of a workout--too bad I am not training for some Olympic event like the triple marathon. I called it a day when I reached Fort Thompson, mainly because it was 11 p.m. and dark as the inside of my stomach because there was no moon or stars. Also there was no traffic--like zero all day and night.
I am trying to think what I can do to remind me to put myself in these situations --something that will over ride my great ability to forget incidents like this just when I should be remembering them in great detail. Maybe a tattoo warning me or possibly one of those electric shock neck collars --there has to be something. As write this I am thinking maybe I should hire that shit kicker from Onida with 2 dogs and have him come around periodically when I get dumb and need to be set right--sort of a tickle reminder.
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