Long Day

I set my alarm for 6:30 this morning. I refused to listen to it and kept resetting it until almost 7:00. Marion made me a really nice breakfast of eggs, asparagus, and toast while I packed out to leave. I left the Cain's around 7:40 to get my long day started. The bike trail along the Missouri River in Sioux City is really gorgeous. Despite knowing I had a long ways to go, I couldn't keep myself from stopping time and again to appreciate the scenery and take a few pictures. After leaving Sioux City, I spent most the day on mostly deserted highway, 105, 11, 1C, etc. I saw cars most for most that time no more than once a minute. And sometimes as much as ten. No blaring horns, no close calls, no one impatiently driving behind me because someone else was passing the other way, just solitude along flat ground or gradual hills through idyllic farmland. They're not as big on monoculture corn growth up here nor do they need huge irrigation units, so even though I was just passing through mile upon mile of farmland, it was way more scenic than anything you'll see in rural Eastern Nebraska. I love my home state, I truly do, but most of it is nothing to look at.

Maybe it was enjoying the scenery, maybe it was that I was hitting my stride, maybe it was that heading west felt so natural...but I missed my turn to head north. And I didn't realize my mistake until hitting the interstate. I had essentially ONE turn to remwmber, and I missed it, making my long day all the longer (since I was headed to east rather than west Sioux Falls). But, I couldn't ask for much more than I found in road 1C, incredibly dead (unsurprisingly as it parallels the interstate), mostly flat, scenic, and astoundingly well paved. I followed it due north a good chunk of the way, until it turned to gravel at some point or another. I rode the gravel awhile before heading back west a road over to get back on pavement, mostly to keep pace. And I did, held solid at 12-14mph...until the last 10 or so miles when I finally hit my wall and was struggling to keep 10. But thankfully coming when I came into Sioux Falls at last, I was mostly on another nice bike path along a river, The Big Sioux, and could go at my slow pace and not have to navigate traffic or confusing steets.

All told, it ended up being a 98 mile day to get to my stay for the night in Sioux Falls, close to a century, and I believe officially the most miles I've done in a day on a tour. But honestly, I couldn't have asked for better conditions for it, cloud cover, warm but not hot, mostly flat, good roads, and best of all, minimal wind. If I had needed to fight much headwind today, I imagine I'd have been in real trouble. As it is, I got in right at 5, just moments before my hosts.

Who are really great as it happens, Lori and Dan, Erin's cousin and husband who she was kind enough to set me up with. They fed me well, eggs, veggies, and some excellent cheesecake, and even provided beer. Lori asked me if I trusted her to make a choice of my second beer (to which I responded that of course I did, as I'd known her more than an hour now), and she grabbed me an IPA. And you know what that means; I'm definitely in good company. I couldn't ask for a better end to my long day than to spend it here with them.

So, today I left Nebraska, said hello-farewell to Iowa, and biked north through South Dakota doing nearly 100 miles. I'm sure I'll be sore as hell tomorrow, as I leave South Dakota for Minnesota. But 4 days and over 260 miles in (don't know precisely because my damn bike computer randomly reset on me...for the second time), I think I'm starting to hit my stride. The 70 miles tomorrow shouldn't be much trouble after today (though you never know). The challenge tomorrow will be finally setting up my hammock for the first time for real. We'll find out tomorrow.