New Ulm, Minnesota - Day 27

Day 21 - After breakfast everyone left Rapid City, South Dakota in a pretty large group and since the roads were narrow we established what was an informal pace line for the first leg of the ride. At one point, after my pull, I stepped out to the side to let everyone else pull up and I was astonished to see about eighteen people riding in single file within six inches of the next person's wheel. After the first rest stop, the groups began to break up and by the time we entered the Badlands, everyone was kind of riding on their own and quietly taking in the scenery.

Being in the Badlands is like being on the moon because of all the craters and just how beautifully desolate it all is. Tony described the formations as looking like giant sandcastles. Different layers have different colors and it was cool to see lime green and magenta splayed along the sides of these buttes.

Kadoka is yet another small town across America. The entire place looks like a city park and the people are all very friendly. We had a catered dinner of fried chicken and roast beef at a local restaurant and then after some chatting, everyone dozed off one by one.

Day 22 - The same restaurant that catered to us the previous night provided a delicious breakfast of biscuits and gravy. I rode by myself today to let my thoughts wander free, but the ride was so quiet and the yellow-green fields, open blue sky and rolling hills occupied my mind enough. I stayed alone until Tony caught me with 20 miles to go into Pierre. We rode together for the last little bit and stopped to take a picture before we crossed over the Missouri River into the eastern half of the country.

Camp was in a really nice park right along the Missouri River. Since there were some bootleggers and homeless people in the park, most of the group stuck around in the park to make sure that nobody went rummaging through our stuff. Noah, Simon, and I watched the sunset from a small dock and after writing some postcards (which I have still not sent out) I went to bed.


Day 23 - The scenery on this day was extremely boring. I took a total of two pictures: one of a gigantic farm-machinery contraption on wheels and another of a water tower. Reuben and I rode quickly to get to Miller so we could at least sit down on a comfortable chair in an air-conditioned high school auditorium.

That night we celebrated Chad and Janet's birthdays. Chad turned 21 so we stuck around the bar after dinner to buy him drinks. The locals were really friendly and seemed genuinely interested in what we were doing. It is nice to know that we are doing seems to be having a small effect.

Day 24 - Again, the day's ride was very boring but early on when the sun was still low and the roads were clear, I felt very relaxed and at peace. Today we crossed the halfway point for our journey, so hopefully we will get some more of "Oh, you're almost there then" rather than "Well, you've got a long way to go." The ride finished in De Smet, the childhood home of Laura Ingalls Wilder. De Smet is a perfectly quaint town with lots of beautiful green lawns and tall rows of trees everywhere. Our campsite was in a beautiful park, something you might find in a secluded part of Paris along the Seine River. We had a filling dinner at a Catholic church and afterwards the sun was still up at 9 o' clock. A bunch of people were working on their bikes while I laid in my tent enjoying the sunlight and some music.

Day 25 - We woke up to a nice little thunderstorm and pouring rain. After hastily packing everything up in the rain I left with Dewayne. Poor guy had half his stuff packed and his stakes just pulled up when the rain started pouring and the wind started blowing. We got breakfast in town and then chased the storm that just hit us and ran from a new storm that had formed behind us. Halfway done with the ride, we had arrived in Brookings, South Dakota and the storms had dissolved. Doug, Ed, Austin, Reuben, and I messed around town for a long time before setting out again.

About sixteen miles to camp we crossed over into Minnesota. I was pleasantly surprised at all the green lushness in the state. There are a lot of trees and lakes in Minnesota and so far I have not seen anything to call boring. I saw a lot of windmills in the middle of crop fields. The whole idea of windmills is quite genius actually. They are aesthetically pleasing and a good source of natural energy.

I arrived in Tyler, Minnesota and after setting up my tent and taking a shower, a few of us walked over to a pizza buffet for dinner. It was Ed's 28th birthday so we stuffed him silly with pizza and then fed him ice cream cake. After dinner, a few of us threw around a frisbee and then went to bed.

Day 26 - There was a thick fog hanging low over the air. It was very dark and ominous, but surprisingly peaceful. Nobody said anything for the first part of the ride. The air was cool and chilly as we rode mile after mile into the hazy unknown laying before us.

Eventually, the fog lifted and the sun burned through the clouds. Puffy and pearl white clouds stayed behind over a bright and deep blue sky. There were huge fields of grain, corn, and soy growing right alongside the road on the way to New Ulm. As we approached the outskirts of the city, there was a sudden increase in trees and I was immediately reminded of being back home.


We arrived at the Martin Luther College just in time to unload and choose rooms. After cleaning up and taking a nap, we had a simple dinner of rice and chicken teriyaki at the dining hall. After dinner, a few of us walked over the movie theater and watched the premier of the new Batman movie, The Dark Night. Afterwards it was 1 o' clock in the morning, and not being accustomed to staying up so late, after we got back to the dorm we passed out very quickly.

Day 27 - Chad, Austin and I got breakfast at a small breakfast diner in downtown New Ulm. I got two eggs, hash browns, sausage links, two pancakes, and a biscuit and gravy platter. Against my own expectations, I finished everything without a stomach ache. Afterwards, we went to the laundromat to wash our filthy clothes and while waiting for everything to dry, the three of us joined Greg and his fiancee Sarah for a game of Life.

The trip is over halfway done now and now there are "days left" rather than "days done." Each morning I wake up, I know that I get to do something incredible. To be honest with you, I am having too much the time of my life to even think about returning to civilization. My parents are going to kill me for saying this, but as soon as I get back I want to buy an actual touring bike so I can start doing my own unsupported rides all around North Carolina and elsewhere.

The next rest day is in Valparaiso, Indiana on July 27. I think that I am going to visit my sister Alison in Chicago that day and possibly the night before as well. You can expect an update on one of those two days.