South Dakota---"Dunbar, not Dumb Bear."

Tough day. Tough, tough day. We got started early, but I knew forecasters were calling for triple digit temperatures and winds out of the south. We had hills from the get-go. My knees were barking, and no amount of ibuprofen was going to make them happy. I decided to take the day as easily as I could, and the morning's ride on Highway 83 heading south was pleasant enough. We were basically on Highway 83 south all day. Long rollers with wide expanses of grassland...cowboy country.





We rode through a couple of stretches that had grasshoppers...thousands of them, hopping around, hitting our spokes, getting stuck in Laura's sandal (she screamed...we stopped...she removed said offending grasshopper). They were gross.

We had just over 50 miles when we stopped at Murdo for some breakfast at the Star restaurant. I looked out the window at the trees. Uh-oh...wind. The rest of the day we struggled, and though our average was pathetic, I wasn't willing (or able, for that matter) to push it. I didn't have it in me. I was empty. I was never so glad to see 100.1 roll up on the Garmin as I was today. I had 3327' of elevation gain, and an average of 12.6. It was an even 100 degrees when we got off the bikes, and the next town we drove through had bank signs that said 102 and 107. It felt like the latter. I am grateful for air conditioning in the truck, and Karen's chicken and avocado sandwich that was waiting for me.

We headed south into Nebraska and west on Highway 20. We had contacted the city manager of Gordon who told us we could camp in the city park there. I had visions of large shade trees and green lawn, and lo and behold, that is what we found. The municipal pool is next to the park (which is next to the tornado shelter) so we asked if we could take showers there. Permission granted. I think the three girls who had just gotten out of the pool were impressed with our cycling tans...:)

A word about that tornado shelter...my dad asked me before I started this adventure what I was gong to do if one day I didn't make my 100 miles...would I come home? Ummmm...no. Then he told me that he woke up at 3 a.m. because he had had a dream. I was on day 43 and there were tornado warnings and I was going to ride anyway. I laughed and asked him if he thought I could count the miles from where the tornado picked me up to where it set me down...today is day # 43...no tornado.

Maybe you can't...because you won't...