Sioux Falls was about as bad as any city I’ve tried to cycle in but leaving town this morning was a pleasant surprise. About a half mile from the motel we got on a 10 mile bike path which took us out of town along the Sioux River. We cycled in a nice park along the river and at the end found Sioux Falls themselves. They were more impressive than I had imagined.
We’re soon out of South Dakota and into Minnesota. My initial reactions were not good:
- The Welcome to Minnesota sign was not only way off the road, it was on the left hand side – really dumb unless you’re in the UK.
- The shoulder disappeared and we had no where to ride except where the cars drive.
I later realized that the road we were on, CR-4, is a county road, and I don’t expect shoulders on county roads. In fact, it was quite wide for a CR. A couple of miles out of Magnolia, CR-4 turned into CR-35 (In a new county?) and CR-35 may be the smoothest road we’ve experienced in four weeks! It also has a narrow shoulder.
I haven’t mentioned the weather today; we had a heavy rain about 30 minutes prior to departing. I dug through my bag and pulled out the Gortex, still in the backpack. ABB delayed the start for 20 minutes and the rain went away, although the roads were wet and clouds threatened all day. I carried the Gortex in the backpack all day to prevent the rain. But you couldn’t prevent the wind today; it was from the SE and we were going east.
-- Anyway the cloudy weather along with the silos and barns called out for black and white photography .
Day 29, 71 miles, 769 feet climbing, 5.2 hrs, 2,133 miles so fqr
21 days to go, 1,570 miles to go
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