Day 26. Friday, July 12.

Day 26. Friday, July 12.  Chamberlain to Mitchell,SD.  71 miles

This morning, we rode away from the Missouri River. After a couple of big climbs to get out of town, the road straightened and leveled out, providing us with a very modest 1000 feet of climbing. With half the trip under our belts, this presented no big deal.

We had hoped the winds would subside today. The day started with a gentle breeze, but then picked up speed and blew all day out of the SSE at 20+ mph again.  Not as bad as the headwinds yesterday, but nonetheless challenging.

The roads out here continue to go straight and go on forever. The fields of hay yielded to huge fields of corn, beginning to look more like the Midwest and central Ohio. At about mile 60, we started to see more trees. I guess I hadn't realized that for the past several days, we haven't seen many trees at all. The trees began to line the road, providing a nice screen against the wind. Our speed increased by a couple of mph almost immediately.

We arrived in Mitchell about 12:30, a relatively short day on the bike. Instead of going to the hotel, we diverted downtown to visit the world famous, only one in the world, Corn Palace. This is a large theater that has been here since 1892. Every year the outside is covered with different designed murals made of various parts of the corn plant. Inside are photos of all the years past as well as a number of trinket shops. I guess it was worth the five minute visit.

Tomorrow we ride to Sioux Falls, the largest city in the state, for rest day number 3. I think all the riders are ready to take a breather, especially to get a break from the wind, to give achy legs a chance to rest. I'm looking forward to a day off the bike, but mostly because Tam is coming into town tomorrow for a weekend visit. She'll leave Monday morning when we head toward Minnesota. This has been one of the tougher parts of the trip.  It is the longest we've been separated in over 41 years.

Forecasts for tomorrow call for more winds out of the southeast and a fair chance of isolated thunderstorms. I'll carry some rain gear just in case. By the time we get to Sioux Falls, we will have ridden over 2,000 miles since mid June! Holy Cow!

Be well. Do good.

Don