Saturday, July 12th: Pierre, SD or ... from one guy to another!

At 10 pm last night, a siren went off. My woman took me out of the tent into the safety of the school building. Was this a tornado warning? But there seemed to be no more lightning or thunder going on.  Our neighbor also got out, but we soon realized we were the only ones moving around. This is a first…I slept without my woman. She went back to the Green Turtle and left me to take care of the other luggage. It wasn’t such a good feeling. But in the morning I am happy to see my woman again. Breakfast is toast and homemade jam. My woman asks what the deal with the siren at 10 pm was. “Well”, they say “It’s a warning for the kids it’s 10pm – the time they should be home. And at noon we also have this siren going off. Every day of the year!”. Well, I wouldn’t like to be a dog in that town. Today dark clouds seem to cover the sky and yesterday’s headwind is still blowing. My woman decides to take a leisurely start: it could become a long day. There isn’t really anything exciting happening along the road. We do see some silver cylinders along the road. 

There are hardly any trees: lots of farming fields.

Maybe you wonder how my woman knows where to cycle. Well, one Cycle America staff human travels in a car. He paints yellow arrows and adjusts the Q-sheet. He is also the one who gives a talk about the route for the next day (road work, rumble strips, shoulders…). So the only thing my woman does, is follow the yellow arrows! Simple! And the route is usually divided into 4 or 5 parts – depending on the mileage: 1^st water stop – picnic – 2^nd water stop and 3^rd water stop.

One mile past the 1^st water stop is a gas station – this is always a nice break of the saddle. Alan joins us – pointing out how strange it is we meet again – here in the middle of the USA… where cowboys stop at a gas station with their car pulling horses… It’s so Americana! Once my woman has enough energy again, she speeds up the hill, where horses (of course) greet her at the top. 

The route makes this one big bend to the north… it’s another 25 miles straight cycling. And guess what: my woman is going fast! She actually can keep up with some cyclists! Go woman!!!! Up that hill, and down that hill… At picnic a few people decide to sag (so does Alan). Now we are almost alone on the road again. My woman reminds me of that first time we cycled here: 104°F – and no shade, stopping every 3 miles for a sip of water. Today it’s not as warm. Surprisingly we reach Pierre rather fast. Here is also a film location of “Dances with wolves”. It’s a big downhill to the big Missouri river. 

As we cross it, we lose 1 hour. Following the arrows to the Pierre Indian Learning Center is not that easy, but we get there. Tonight the cyclists are “on their own”: this means that Cycle America doesn’t give us food! But my woman joins some other cyclists with a car and they ride back to town for an excellent Mexican dinner. I am allowed to go along and … I almost get lost! Yup: as my woman jumped out of the car, so did I … Luckily someone noticed I got away. Just think of it – me being lost in Pierre, SD! I’d hate that!