From Grand rapids MN to Pierre South Dakota in two days

Yesterday was the longest single-day ride so far. I covered 688 kilometres from Grand Rapids to Watertoen South Dakota; about 80 kilometres was a a result of a detour in southwest Minnesota. At one point I passed a farm where a tornado surely had touched down. There were large pieces of twisted silver coloured galvanized steel that at some point been a grain storage bin, of which there are many in this predominantly large farm country. The roads are in really good shape and they go on for long, long (did I say LONG) straight stretches. you can really see for miles and miles and miles. I stayed at another Country Inn and Suites on the outskirts of Watertown SD last night, which meant that dinner was a Quarter Pounder with cheese from the nearby McDonalds and the rest of my lunchtime Subway sandwich I had picked up in Breckenridge MN.



This morning after a nice waffle with fruit and a coffee, and a one-hour conversation/negotiation with a service representative from Garmin Industries about my defunct GPS, I set off for Pierre SD. À propos the GPS, it decided it simply wasn't going to put up with my finger pointing (jabbing at the screen) any longer, so it died. No amount of technical support could resuscitate the beast. So Irwin (of Garmin, I'm sure you guessed) and I worked out a plan whereby he would send me a newer (and more expensive) model to Rapid City by Friday at 3:00, where, with any luck I will be able to find a shop to install it on my bike. And here's the kicker; if I send them back the busted unit, I get a refund of half the price they will have charged me for the new super dooper whiz bang model that comes with a bonus offer of map updates for life. Now there's the kind of deal you want when you're 20; though it's nice to get it however old you are. Now you probably understand why the call lasted nearly an hour.


Back to the ride to Pierre. Well there's not much to say really. The US midwest is like the prairies, flat with fields of corn, wheat and other grains I can't identtify that stretch on for miles on both sides of the road. The monotony is broken up by the occasional herd of cattle next to a watering hole or small creek, and various groupings of different size metal grain storage bins and elevators that you can see from a fair distance, the land being so flat and all.


Pierre, the South Dakota is a bit like Regina. It has a beautiful state capital building constructed between 1905 and 1910, which I visited, and a man-made lake, Capital Lake, next door to it. Except for a family of four, I was the only other visitor in the building, so I self-guided myself into the visitors galleries of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and along the corridors of power on the four flours of the building. And for your added enjoyment you can view the paintings and pictures of the justices of the South Dakota Supreme Court which holds its sessions on the second floor of the East Wing of the Capital Building.


That's pretty much it for Pierre; a 2 hour walk in 92 degree heat did not reveal any other noteworthy sights, though I'm sure they're there somewhere. The greatest disapointment was the inability to find a place to have a cold beer.


The capital building in Pierre South Dakota

The big sky in South Dakota

The Senate chamber: