South Dakota!

We left Little Falls in a light rain. Almost immediately the road took us across the mighty Mississippi River. This far north though it wasn’t very mighty. It was really neat seeing it this close to its headwaters. Lake Itasca, where the river starts was only 120 miles away.

It was cloudy with lots of wind. Gust up to 25 mph. Mostly a sidewind so riding wasn’t too bad. But still it was one of the few days where I just kept my head down and pedaled. I put on some music to help pass the time. At first I played every song I could think of that mentioned Minnesota. Even including Say Shh by Atmosphere and The Biggest Ball Of Twine by Weird AL Yankovich, the playlist wasn’t very long so I included songs about the Mississippi. Charlie Pride, Ian Noe, John Prine and many others helped the next 58 miles pass enjoyably. We got into Alexandria around 7pm. We were wind burned and worn out. Alexandria was a bigger city than I was expecting and did not offer very many opportunities to stealth camp. We could of kept ridding but we gave into the temptation of a motel that was near the bike trail. There had been lots of hills and we were tired.

In the morning we were on the bike trail by 10am. It had rained in the night and it was still very overcast and foggy.

The fog was so dense it was like riding through a misty rain. It was hot and humid, like a blanket, my shirt hung wet and heavy on my back, soaked with sweat and moisture from the fog. I missed having a lake beside me and the opportunity to jump in for a quick swim. I hoped the sun would burn through the fog and brighten up this caliginous day before we got on the road. Our 18 miles on the bike path ended in Evansville. We took a break there at a pavilion. There was a campground 15 more miles. We decided if the fog didn’t burn off by then we would stop for the day. Neither one of us was very comfortable with being on the roads.

Thankfully the fog lifted and we continued on our way. In the town of Elbow Lake we bought 2 gallons of water . That was enough to fill our water bottles and have enough for coffee in the morning if we couldn’t find a campsite near water. After the town, the landscape really changed. It was acre after acre of flat farm land. Hardly a hill in sight. Also the roads were pretty awesome. There were no cars. Rose and I rode side by side. We both have mirrors and would keep checking them. It was so flat we could spot a vehicle at least a mile away.

We made it to the Boise de Sioux River. There was a little park with grills tables and a pavilion. There was even outhouses! We hung up under the pavillion. The river is the state line between Minnesota and South Dakota. Another state! It was a beautiful spot. The river isn’t very wide more like a creek. We made a quick meal out of leftovers and went to bed. 72 miles today. We have been 396 miles in the past 7 days. That’s pretty good I think.