An Epic End to an Epic Adventure

 

Leaving Ticonderoga, NY by ferry to cross into Vermont

The next 4 days of riding were some of the hardest that we would have during the whole trip.  It isn't always about how many miles you have to ride, but how many feet of elevation you have to climb and how steep the climbs are.  In Vermont we were in the Green Mountains and then transitioned to the White Mountains in New Hampshire.  There were frequent climbs of 10 to 15%, not long but steep. Here is the mileage and elevation for those 4 days:

From	To	Mileage	Climbing Ft
Ticonderoga, NY	South Royalton, VT	64.1	5422
South Royalton, VT	North Woodstock, NH	66.1	4903
North Woodstock, NH	Naples, ME	76.57	4321
Naples, ME	Freeport, ME	42.34	2854

And to make it even more fun, in South Royalton there was no motel option within several miles so we were in a primitive campground with one porta-potty, no running water or electricity.  To the tour company's credit, they found us a hot shower at the local college which we all appreciated.  

Jocelyn finishing the climb over Brandon Gap, VT - Elevation 2170'

Jocelyn's sister has been following her progress with the Garmin live tracking feature.  We had stopped at a water stop and Jocelyn got a text from her asking if we were going to go by the Gorilla holding a VW Bug.  The route didn't go that way, but it was only a 1.2 mile detour and once you hear about it you might as well go see it.  What is another 2.5 miles on 63 mile day.

Gorilla holding a VW bug... who knows why its here outside Salisbury, VT

But before we got South Royalton we made a quick stop at Babe's Bar in Bethel, VT.  It was a true local watering hole on a warm Saturday afternoon.  Let's just say the clientele were "eclectic" for a small mountain town.   Of course, Glenn was there and had a great time having a conversation with Glen the bartender asking about the name of the bar.  The story goes that the bar was owned by two guys who liked to call each other "Babe"... and there was a Pride flag hanging outside.  Draw your own conclusion...

Jocelyn got offered a shot of homemade Apple Jack by one of the patrons and luckily she didn't go blind or get sick so I guess it was OK.  As usual, it was an entertaining 45 minutes, but we had to move on to catch our van ride to the local college and a hot shower.

One of several covered bridges between South Royalton, VT and North Woodstock, NH

After our very primitive accommodations we were looking forward to staying at the Woodstock Inn and Brewery which was only a half mile from the group's camp site.  I was able to book a room at the inn for the 3 Amigas and me.  The forecast was for rain overnight and we really didn't want to have to get up and deal with another hard day of riding after spending the night in a wet tent.  The inn was great and so was the brewery for dinner.

We got rained on all morning while we climbed 14 miles up Kancamagus Pass

The forecast was right and we got up to a steady rain.  Right out of Woodstock we started climbing up to Kancamagus Pass which is said to have incredible views... of which we say none in the rain and low cloud cover.  The bigger disappointment was that the road down from the pass had just been repaved and would have been a screaming downhill ride on dry pavement.

Jocelyn and I bypassed the lunch stop in Conway and went to a local coffee shop where they were kind enough to give us a few towels to dry off with instead of us dripping all over the place.  While we dried off, ate lunch and warmed up, Jocelyn was able to book a cabin at the KOA next to our campground in Naples, ME.  We had to pay for 2 nights, but we crammed 6 people (the 3 Amigas, Glenn, Susan the guide and me) into it and split the cost.  Best $80 I have spent on this trip!

The LL Bean Flagship store in Freeport, ME

From Naples we were one ride away from the Atlantic ocean and our last night of camping!  We woke up to clear skies and mild temperatures.  I was up really early so I emptied my stainless steel water bottles and made the 3 mile ride to the Dunkin' Donuts at 5:15AM to get coffee for our cabin which was much appreciated.

The planned route for the day was a looping 65 mile route but Jocelyn had done a ride from Freeport to Naples with Kelly (our original head guide) several years ago that was only 34 miles.  So the 3 Amigas and I took the short cut straight to the LL Bean Flagship store in Freeport.  It was sunny day with mild temperatures and a very hilly, but nice ride.

Unofficial "Tire Dip" in the Atlantic at Winslow Memorial Park

Glenn had already booked a car in Portland and he rode 30 miles directly to the rental car.  Then he met us for lunch at the Maine Beer Company later.  From there it was a short 7 mile ride to our oceanside campground and an unofficial tire dip in the Atlantic.

Got caught napping ... it has been a long trip

After a nice dinner at the camp and making smores at a campfire we were all ready to finish up the trip with a ride into Portland, Maine.

Sunrise on our last day

As usual, I was up early and out for a short walk to watch the sunrise over the ocean and my phone rings at 5:30AM.  Its Glenn... I answered by saying "Glenn, I'm not bringing you coffee this morning!"  Much to my surprise Glenn was at the Dunkin' Donuts and wanted to know how may cups of coffee he should bring to the camp since he had a car.  I said 4, so he brought 6 and we had an early morning coffee klatch in the group tent camping area.  I'm going to miss these guys!

The official tire dip at Ship Cove in South Portland

The final group ... from left to right:
John (66) from Chicago, IL
Jocelyn (62) from Black Mountain, NC
Dorothy (73) from King Ferry, NY
Glenn (77) from Wilmington, DE
Me (69)
Kevin (66) from Ft Worth, TX
Sheri (74) from Bainbridge Island, WA
Myles (64) from Merricmack, NH
Chuck (76) from Chicago, IL

The final route map

Final Statistics:

  Location:  South Portland, ME

  Final Miles Ridden:  4050.5

  Final Elevation Climbed: 160,837

A tall ship in the bay at our final stop

Final Thoughts

I'll take a minute to say something about the tour company.  While I have complained about things from time to time in this blog.  They did accomplish the main objective.  They got us from A to B every day and feed us when we needed to be fed.  The concept of the trip was good; the route planning was so-so and inflexible; and the execution was far more difficult that it needed to be primarily driven by the poorly equipped trailer and providing things that we really didn't care about like table clothes on the snack table with things nobody wanted and most of us would have been happy with packing a lunch or finding lunch instead setting up a lunch stop with the same cold cuts very day.  In the end we made it and the staff is exhausted.  Hank the cook stuck it out all the way to the end and I think the entire group tipped him well.

I asked most of the group why they were doing the ride.  I can't even answer this question myself and for a few it was a "bucket list" item.  Challenging yourself to a very large task that is both physically and mentally difficult.  But the majority of the group had ridden across the country before, so we knew we (at least at one time) could do it.  

For some it was "can I still do it?"  But in the end what we are going to remember was the experience of being with a like minded group who all set out to do something difficult, but had a great time in the process.  If I hadn't been having a good time doing it... I would have packed it in before South Dakota.  

But not only meeting the people in the group, but people from all over the country.  Experiencing "Minnesota Nice" or discussing Longmire books in a bar in Wyoming where the bartender had met the author or having Glenn ask about someone's tattoos in almost every bar or getting the phone call that we had been thrown out of a KOA in the middle of nowhere SD and maybe having to sleep on the floor in Lulu's bar.

There is a lot of alone time while you are riding 4000 miles over 75 days.  Plenty of time to think and reflect.  And yes, I did cry a few times thinking that I couldn't experience some of this with Beth or while I was redoing some of the things I had done with Beth before.  But on the other hand, I experienced it with a whole new set of friends, some who will be very close friends.  We have already started talking about maybe another adventure in the future, but right now we need to let this one sink in.  It was a great experience and very happy that I did it.

Back in the USA... Niagara Falls and into the Adirondacks

Niagara Falls from the Canadian side

We crossed back into the USA at Niagara Falls.  We spent quite a bit of time viewing the falls from the Canadian side of the river before heading to the Rainbow Bridge to clear customs.  We had been told by the tour company that we should use the pedestrian walkway to cross the bridge with our bikes.  Wrong yet again.  We got yelled at by Customs and Border Patrol that we should have used the car lanes on the bridge.  Anyway they let us through, but made sure we knew they weren't happy about it.

A series of locks on the Erie Canal at Lockport, NY

Riding the Erie Canal Tow Path

For the next couple of days we did relatively short rides (50-60 miles) along the Erie Canal which are practically dead flat.  I'm not quite sure of why the route was planned this way since the next 8 days were much higher mileage and lots of climbing as we headed into the Adirondack Mountains.  

A covered wagon for 5... with a bathroom and shower

A group of 6 of us have been trying to avoid camping as much as possible.  It is either raining or hot and humid.  John was able to rent this covered wagon with air conditioning in one of the RV parks we stayed in.  He invited me and the 3 Amigas to share it with him which worked out great.  Our sleeping arrangements tend to be pretty fluid if there is the opportunity to avoid pitching a tent and have AC.  

One day we completely rerouted the end of the ride to go to Oswego, NY which was 14 miles away from the scheduled camp to stay in a motel.  Dorothy lives about an hour away and her husband drove to the camp to get all of our overnight bags and bring them to the hotel.  He spent the night and took the bags back to the camp for us.  The next morning we rode on to meet up with our group prior to the first water stop.  This stuff is driving the tour operator crazy, but at this point we really don't care.

Riding in the rain with Jocelyn and Dorothy. 
Over the past few weeks we have been pretty consistent riding companions 

However, two day ago, we were in our second day of riding in the Adirondack mountains and it poured rain most of the day.  A few of the group called it quits at the lunch stop on a 74 mile ride.  Our group of 6 had booked a hotel in Long Lake, NY which was about 2 miles from the campground we were scheduled to stay in.  Much to our surprise, the tour company dropped off those who had stopped at lunch along with our bags at the hotel.  We were in shock that they were so cooperative.  Then after getting to the campground and seeing it was a mud hole, they drove two more of our group back to the hotel to get the very last room.

 

Mortars and cannons at Ft Ticonderoga overlooking Lake Champlain

It rained most of the night at Long Lake and well into the morning.  We tried to wait out the rain, but it just looked like it was going to go on until at least noon.  So we all took off on our bikes and got wet yet again.  Luckily the rain did stop about 10AM.  We stopped for lunch at the Paradox Brewery.  By the time we had finished lunch, the sun was out for our 24 mile ride into Ft. Ticonderoga, NY and a much needed rest day.  We all had bags of soaking wet riding clothes to wash!

Today we start our final 5 riding days of riding.  Again, it will be some of the longer rides and hardest climbing days, plus some more rain in the forecast.  We are all looking forward to finishing the ride.  It has been quite the challenge with the weather (snow, rain, thunderstorms, heat and humidity) and smoke from the Canadian fires.  But our final group of 9 riders have formed some pretty close bonds, so it will be hard to say goodbye.

Route map as of July 31 after 69 days on the trip, at Ft Ticonderoga, NY

Current Stats:

  Location:  Ft Ticonderoga, NY

  Miles Ridden:  3770.0 miles

  Ft of climbing:  131,777 ft

Oh Canada...

Algonac Ferry into Canada

We have made our way into Canada by taking a short ride on a local ferry from Algonac, Michigan to Walpole Island in Ontario.  With the help of some overnight showers the air quality had improved considerably and the temperatures were in the 80's, so it was pretty comfortable riding all day.  A small group of us took an early ferry and stopped at Big Chief's Drive-in for lunch, your basic small town burger place.  

We have been on a lot of gravel roads and trails in Ontario.  It is as flat as Kanas

Most of the group has been enjoying riding from hotel to hotel this past week.  A couple of days ago we had another minor run-in with the tour operators.  We were scheduled to do a 75 mile ride near Lake Erie, but the forecast was for rain storms on-and-off all day.  Several of the group came to me to see if I would put together and distribute a route that cut the ride down to just 53 miles from hotel-to-hotel.  I have used the Ride with GPS web tool for years and am pretty good at laying out routes and publishing them.  So I did.  

The general consensus of the group was that we were all going to ride the shorter  route.  John brought this up with the tour operator and he said that was fine, but there would be no support for the group from the tour company.  John about lost it when they said they would be providing water stops and lunch on the route nobody was going to ride.  In the end, 2 guys did ride the original route while the rest of us rode the shorter one... and yes it did rain hard a couple of times during the day.  But we had a good time anyway taking shelter in a convenience store and a very nice brew pub.

Taking shelter from the rain at a convenience store.  We ended up inside for about a half hour as the downpour passed

Our alternate route took us through a Mennonite community

The rain has helped clear the air and lower the temperatures.  Yesterday, the high was in the mid-70's, so really good weather for our long ride of  88 miles along the Lake Erie coast line which ended at Ft Erie, ON and a rest day for us.  It has been a while since have had a real rest day back in Minneapolis and everybody was looking forward a little time off the bike.  We are down to just 13 days left (just?) but some of the hardest riding yet to come in the last 5 days of the trip as we make our way through the Appalachian mountains of eastern New York, New Hampshire and Vermont.

The remains of the rain clouds hanging over Lake Erie

This next week we'll be back to camping, but the forecast is for cooler temperatures which should make it easier.  Tomorrow we ride to Niagara Falls before re-entering the US.  It has been amazing how many Canadian flags we have seen in everyone's yard.  If nothing else, our President has been good for Canadian flag sales!

Track of our rides across the continent as of 7/23/2026 - Ft Erie, ON Canada

Biking Stats:

  Location:  Ft Erie, ON 

  Miles Ridden:  3332 miles

  Ft of Climbing:  114,600 ft

Into the smoke from the Canadian fires

Sunrise in a smokey haze

We have made our way across most of Michigan, but with a couple of days of severe smokey haze from the Canadian fires north of here.  At one point I saw the air quality index was as high as 535 on a scale of 600 being the worst.  Luckily we had some rain last night and some strong winds today to get rid of some of the smoke, but it is already building up again as we will leave the area just north of Detroit and ride into Canada tomorrow.

The sun is just an orange ball in the sky

With the extremely bad air quality predicted for the next week, the tour company has agreed to let us stay in hotels for the next several days.  This has made a lot of us happy since the weather is also hot and humid for camping.  The hotels are at our own expense since we were supposed to be camping for  9 straight days, but nobody is complaining.  We are are all sharing rooms since we have become a pretty tight knit group.  I am rooming with Chuck for the next 4 days.

Me, Jocelyn, Glenn and Myles at the Glenside Cafe

We had another really good time at a local cafe in Muskegon after our ferry ride from Milwaukee.  A few of us stopped at the Glenside Cafe for dinner before heading to the hotel.  We were talking with the waitress about our trip across the country who then talked to the manager who couldn't believe what we were doing.  She gave all T-shirts and took our picture to put on their Facebook page.  

That is the second time in a week that we made Facebook.  We had stopped in a coffee shop in Jefferson, Wisconsin at the Tan-a-Latte where the same thing happened.  We had stopped there because nobody had heard of a coffee shop - tanning salon combo before.  It turned out to be the favorite local coffee shop and we talked to several of the locals who all thought we were nuts!

Route as of July 18 in Rochester Hills, MI

Current Stats:

  Location:  Rochester Hills, MI

  Miles Ridden:  3039 miles

  Feet Climbed:  112,460 Ft

Welcome to the humid mid-west...

 

Minneapolis skyline between showers as we left town

We have now hit some seriously warm, muggy weather this week as we made our way across Wisconsin.  There were a couple of days that I literally took my sopping wet shirt off and rang the sweat out of it.  Our first night of camping after leaving Minneapolis was at Mr Sippi Campground right on the Mississippi.  It was an OK campground with a bar.  Right after we arrived there was a serious downpour.  Several people had tried to get their tents up before it hit and failed.  I had looked at the radar view on the phone and saw it was probably better to wait, so several of us took shelter in the bar to wait out the storm.

Riding the Rail-to-Trails across Wisconsin

A lot of our riding this week has been on Rail-to-Trail paths that are scattered all over Wisconsin.  Beth and I have ridden on several over the years.  We rode down a section of the Elroy-Sparta Trail that we did just 3 years ago on our last vacation together.  I went and checked out the city park at Wilton where we had stayed in the van and were the only people in the park.  It was a little different scene last Saturday than when we were there.  It was packed to overflowing with visitors who had come for a big town celebration that included sand volleyball, a big cookout and I'm not sure what else.

Riding through the longest tunnel on the Elroy-Sparta trail

Sheri taking advantage of a rest stop water bottle shower to cool off

The group's moral is hanging in there, but we have lost another of our original group.  Marianne, who has been riding her electric recumbent bike, that we lovingly call "The Tank" has decided to leave us here in Milwaukee.  The battery attachment to the bike broke a couple of days ago and that was kind of the last straw for her.  She had been thinking about leaving because of the hot humid weather and some the camping facilities have been less that comfortable (no showers on site or flushing toilets), plus the mosquitoes have really increased this past week.

Again the route planning by the tour company has been less than fully thought out when it comes to a multi-week, cross-country tour.  You can put up with some less than ideal conditions every now and then, but when it gets to be 3 out of 7 days, it gets really old quick. Especially after a long hot day of riding.  A couple of days ago we took advantage of Chuck's significant other, Katy, coming to visit from Chicago.  She ferried bags for 4 of us to a hotel 8 miles down the trail from the campsite so we could avoid another night without showers and swarming mosquitoes.

Joel Pundmann came up from Chicago yesterday afternoon for a short visit here in Milwaukee.  He gave me and my broken bike a lift to a local bike shop.  The bike will get boxed up in a couple of weeks and then shipped home.  It was good to see him and catch up a little since we had been at the Masters practice day back in April.

This next couple of weeks has more of the same type of planning.  Remote campsites with limited facilities and no hotel options.  We'll see how everybody's mood holds up as we are now into week 8 with more hot, humid weather in the forecast.  But in general, still having a good time with the group of riders.

Route completed as of July 14

Current stats:

  Current Location:  Milwaukee, WI

  Miles Ridden:  2748 Miles

  Feet of Climbing:  108,110 Ft

Minnesota Nice!

 

First experience with Minnesota Nice at the City Hall Bar in Minneota, MN

We had barely crossed the Minnesota border when we had our first experience with Minnesota Nice.  Our camping spot for the night was the city park in Minneota, MN.  We weren't overly thrilled with the choice since it was a hot muggy day and there were limited facilities at the city park.  The closest shower was at the town pool about a half mile from the campground.  

Our group with one of the owners of the City Hall Bar before he left for the lake.

HOWEVER, before heading to the campground a group of us stopped at the City Hall Bar.  Being Friday afternoon on July 3rd the owners had decided to close early at 2 PM and head to the lake for the holiday weekend.  We showed up about 1 o'clock in time for a beer before they closed.  After about 6 of us showed up, we asked if they would be willing to stay a while longer so we could enjoy the air conditioning before heading the city park.  The owners are couple guys in maybe their early 40's and answer was.  "keep track of what you drink, leave some money and close the door on your way out!"  He showed Glen how to operate the digital jukebox and put in enough credits for probably an hour's worth of music (Glen was in the mood for Toby Keith in prep for the 4th).  Jocelyn, being the accountant, kept track of the beer consumption.  Needless to say we left them a very generous tip for letting us stay in the bar while they got their afternoon off. 

While we were at the bar, I went outside and was on the phone ordering a new bike from a bike shop in Minneapolis (I'll get to that minute) when a guy came down the street and wanted to know what was the story with all the bikes in front of the bar.  His name was Larry and sold insurance plus seemed to the town's unofficial welcomer.  He came into the bar and talked to all of us to get the full story and he told us about the town.  Later, he came by the campsite and talked to a few more of us and then offered to bring sticky buns for breakfast the next morning.  True to his word at 7AM, Larry walked into the campground with two pans of sticky buns.  Man, what an introduction to Minnesota Nice.

Corn to the left of me, soybeans to the right... that's been the scene for the last 200 miles

I won't spend a lot of time on what we have seen in the last few days.  Its farm country, so we have seen miles and miles of corn, soybeans, the occasional field of sugar beets and hog houses.  The weather has been in the high 80's to low 90s and the humidity around 70%, so I am sweating like a pig myself.  I'm probably drinking 2-3 liters of water/Gatorade a day.

Now, back to my bike.  About a week ago, it started making a creaking noise coming from the pedal cranks.  It became progressively louder and more frequent.  It was so loud not only did it bug me no end, but anybody around me.  I finally found the source of the creaking was the bottom bracket (the mounting system for the bearings that the pedal crank goes through) was working its way out of the bike frame.  I am not quite sure how this happened but it looks like a spacer that was in the mounting had fallen out at some point allowing the pressed in bearing assembly to work its way out.  Last fall this bike fell off a bike rack going 70 miles an hour on the highway.  There was some damage the the front and rear derailleurs that I replace, but I may have missed the damage to the bottom bracket.  Anyway, I wasn't going risk trying to get it fixed in one day and then move on, so I just bought a whole bike.  I am excited to have electronic shifting for the first time!

My new Salsa Cutthroat 1x12 with electronic shifting 

Long story short, I have been looking at what bikes might be available for purchase in Minneapolis (a few days down the road) and I found one.  The same make and model as my bike which I really like, but one size larger.  I called the bike shop and arranged to have it delivered to the hotel yesterday, just after we arrived.  I'll put my old bike on the van for a few days and at some point I will ship it back home where I'll fix it again and sell it.

We are now down to 4 weeks left in the trip.  The next couple of weeks have some long miles and not great camping locations, some with no showers available.  A couple of camping locations don't have opportunity for a motels without a 2-8 mile additional bike ride.  Our wonderful tour company won't deliver bags to a hotel... period.  Back in Huron, SD, I bought a bigger backpack so that I can ride to a motel several miles away if needed carrying enough clothes for the next day and I have already used it a couple of times.  

I am no fan of camping in hot muggy weather, especially after riding 65-80 miles without a shower.  The tour operators could use a little Minnesota Nice, but I don't see that happening.  Some of the end points for rides seem to be very poor choices where there are limited facilities.  Several of us have looked at the routes and just can't seem to find any logic in why we stopped where we did when a little route adjustment would have put us in a better location for services.  

I haven't talked to anyone on the trip that would ever recommend these guys.  Planning a cross country trip is not easy.  I did it for our trip in 2013.  Some of this just wasn't well thought out in view of the clientele.  We are all over 60, mostly well over 60 and sweating out it out in a primitive camp site when you really don't have too is not high on anyone's list of things to do.

XC50 Ride Route up to Minneapolis, MN  

Current Riding Stats:

  Location:  Minneapolis, MN
  Miles Ridden:  2362 miles
  Elevation Gain:  97,500 feet

South Dakota - Tour Company Drama, Rain, Wind, Storm Warnings, Heat, Humidity... and then a nice day

 

The Needles area of the Black Hills

A group of us went "off route" on our way from Hill City to Rapid City, SD.  Myles knew about a ride up to the Needles area of the Black Hill where there are some really neat rock formations and some tunnels carved through the rock.  I plotted out the course on Ride With GPS and distributed it to the group.  It added about 15 miles to our ride, but it was well worth it.  The rock formations in the area are really interesting. The tour company isn't overly excited about us doing this and won't support us, but we are all experienced riders and with a group of 5 there wasn't much to worry about.

Needles Eye Tunnel

The next few days were a mix of thunderstorms at night and heavy cross winds during the day.  It made for some tough rides ranging from 58-75 miles long.  

One of the most interesting of these was riding into Interior, SD.  It had been a pretty hard ride of 75 miles with 15-20 mile per hour cross winds and a group of us had stopped at Lulu's Bar in Interior (pop about 80) for a beer before heading to our campsite at the local KOA about 4 miles out of town.  We received a group text from the tour company owner that we would NOT be staying at the KOA, but with no destination listed.  A few minutes later I received a phone call from John (one of the riders) and he said we had been kicked out of the KOA for some dispute with the KOA owner.  John had independently booked a cabin at the KOA and he was welcome to stay, but his clothes were in the van with the tour owner who had already left him stranded there.  

John is a very savvy business man and had called the KOA owner and explained the situation of the 12 riders who were in route to the KOA and that he couldn't explain the tour owners behavior.  He smoothed things over so that the we could all stay there as long as the tour owner didn't set foot back on the property.  

I was getting play-by-play updates from John while I was at the bar and relaying the situation to the group.  We were discussing the possibility of spending the night on the floor at the bar.  What a mess.  Long story short, the group was allowed into the KOA (less the tour owner) and unknown to us at the time, our sole remaining guide, Susan had become ill and didn't join us either.  So Arlen, the tour company director and husband of the own and Hank, the cook had to deal with all of the camp issues that night, including cooking dinner.  In typical fashion for this trip, there was no explanation from the tour company, but group pretty much had all the details we needed from John.

The storm missed us (in more ways than one) at the Interior KOA, but we did get a nice rainbow

Myles riding through Badlands National Park

The next day we had a very pleasant ride through Badlands National Park that everyone enjoyed with a gentle tailwind to push us through.  As we exited the park and headed east, the wind picked up and we spent the rest of the day battling 25-30 mph cross winds in low 90's temperatures.  Luckily it was only a 58 mile ride, but we were all exhausted at the next KOA near Midland, SD.  

The wind was picking up to well over 30 mph as we tried to set up tents.  It was pretty much a team effort to set up camp in the wind.   Another storm passed through about 9PM and dumped a lot of rain on the camp with plenty of gusty wind.  The tents all held up and the only casualty was my tennis shoes.  They weren't quite fully covered by the tent rain fly and were completely soaked.  So I strapped them to my bike to dry them out as I rode the next day.

Improvised tennis shoe drying rack

The humidity was high as we rode 68 miles to 1880 Town, an old movie set for Dancing with Wolves and another KOA campground.   Jocelyn had reserved a cabin at the KOA with an air conditioner which she graciously shared with her 2 riding partners Sheri and Dorothy (the Amigas) and me.  I squeezed my camping cot into the small cabin and enjoyed the AC. 

We had a rude awakening at 4:30 AM when all the cell phones went off with a Severe Storm Warning.  We were all watching the weather radar on our phones as we saw the majority of the storm passing to our west with reports of 80 mph winds.  We only got about an hour's worth of rain, but everybody was up, so we had yet another breakfast of oatmeal, packed up and headed out.

The storm cleared out and it turned into a hot, very muggy day.  The planned route was to cross the Missouri River to Ft Thompson then ride on another 25 miles to be shuttled back to a campground at the MO river.  It was so muggy, I literally rang water out of my shirt after riding 33 miles to Ft Stockton's Indian casino.  Several of us called it a day, had lunch at the casino and got rooms at the nearby motel to enjoy the air conditioning.

After hauling our bags back to the campsite on the river (tour company won't pick us up at the hotel even through it is on the way) to get our daily helping of oatmeal.  We were shuttled to where the group had finished up their ride the day before.  It turned out to be the nicest day of riding all week.  A light tailwind, temperatures in the low 80's and not much humidity.  It was a pretty quick and enjoyable 61 mile ride to Huron, SD and our rest day.

Our "mobile" kitchen... I wouldn't take this trailer on a 3 day Boy Scout camping trip.

As I have mentioned, Hank, our cook, was working himself really hard the first couple of weeks.  When the head guide quit in Missoula and the owner joined the tour, Hank re-negotiated his job assignment to only cooking dinner, driving the van and helping with loading and unloading. The owner fixes breakfast (oatmeal) and lunch (cold cuts and whatever salad was leftover from dinner).  Let me correct that.... we had scrambled eggs and sausage once in the first 5 weeks of the trip. 

As you can see, it is a major task to just unload all this stuff just so Hank can use the standard kitchen stove that is buried in all that stuff.  There is no refrigeration for food storage, thus all the ice chests which leak on the baggage stored in the front half of the trailer.  We need a food truck! Hank can't wait for this adventure to be over.

Getting ready to cook dinner.  I will say the owner has brought some organization to the 6 ice chests so they can usually find what they are looking for.

Progress as of July 1, 2026

Current Stats:
  Location:  Huron, SD

  Mileage:  2054 miles

  Feet climbed:  93,900'