6/19/11 Badlands Interior (LeAnn)

Woke up late since only grocery store in Philip was open 10am-2pm on Sundays. Got groceries, stocked up on water and headed the to Badlands. A few miles before we saw the most amazing rainbow ever!! It completely covered the sky. Got into the Badlands late as the sun was setting. The park ranger let us in for free, otherwise it cost $7 per person for bikes (rediculous!) Rode through the badlands, night set in, we couldn't stay at a campground filled to the brim with RVs, it just didn't seem right. So we biked another few miles till we found a bridge to sleep under. Set up our sleeping bags and pads in the dirt and ate trail mix and cheese for dinner. Crazy barn swallows with babies that made very strange noises kept Ben up for a good part of the night.

6/18/11 Wind, Hills, and Heat (LeAnn)

We left the roadside park after I took a meditative morning run and swam 1/2 mile in the lake/swamp next to our campsite. Biked west toward Midland through the worse wind and hills yet. It took us all day just to go 20 miles. We were very entertained along the way with lots of cows staring at us (every once in a while we even got them to moo at us). Got to Midland exhausted and hungry. Stopped in at Just Tammy's (the only food source in town besides the gas station) and ate omelets and hashbrowns. Rested for a while, then off to Philip. Storm came in and rain clouds chased us halfway to town until they finally caught up with us. Got to Philip late, grocery store closed early, Malt-O-Meal for dinner. We slept in an abandoned park filled with Cottonwood trees. Good, but exhausting day.

6/17/11 Oahe Damn and Toad (LeAnn)

We left early from Sugar Bear's house. Stopped at the grocery store to restock on food, then headed up to check out the Oahe Damn five miles up and five miles back, but completely worth the detour if you check out the video clip we posted you'll understand. The damn was said to be releasing more water per second than Niagara Falls and had all of its release valves wide open. It was amazing to see how much power water can have.

After seeing the damn, we headed uphill out of the city, west toward Hayes. The hills were the biggest we've biked through yet and again there was nothing but fields and pastures as far as the eye could see. Our new philosophy: bike until we find the perfect spot to set up camp. It's worked perfectly every time so far. So we biked until sunset again and came to one lonely roadside park in the middle of nowhere, right before the town of Hayes.

Ben and I set up camp and began to brush our teeth in the tent. A middle aged woman and her son pulled up in the parking lot to use the restrooms. We continued brushing our teeth and patiently waited for the people to leave so we could get out of the tent to spit. But they took their time, the woman talked on her phone as the boy (about 6 years old) played with something. It wasn't long before I realized what that something was he was kicking at. In the glow of the one street light that shone down on the sidewalk I saw something hop. We were just close enough for me to see the small hop of the toad and to realize what it was. The boy continued kicking at it and alternated small snickered evil boughts of laughter with picking up the toad and kicking him again. Finally, the mom hollered for the boy to come so they could leave and and the boy threw the toad onto the sidewalk with a splat. I write this in memory of a great beautiful American Toad whose life was taken, but not in vain, for Ben and I decided from that moment on that we would fight for toads across the world and never let our mouths stay closed again, even when they are filled with toothpaste.

6/16/11-Sugar Bear (LeAnn)

We woke up late and had a wonderful breakfast made for us. Added on to everything else we made sandwiches and got fruit and were sent off to Pierre with wonderfully content souls.

It was hard riding, extreme heat, gravel roadsides and west winds don't work well with biking. We got to Pierre late and were just able to do a few of our errands before the stores closed. We spent the rest of the daylight at the library, blogging, looking up routes and trying to find a campground to stay in. The Missouri river was flooding and all the city parks were under water. We looked for a place that would be ok to pitch our tent, there was nothing. Soon a storm came in and as the library was about to close, a very nice woman searched frantically for a place for us to stay.

We waited outside underneath the the library rotunda as the storm raged through and took a few pictures of some very evil looking clouds. After a while, the librarian lady pulled up in a little pickup truck and we shoved our bikes and gear into the back of the cab as the rain completely drenched us. 3 miles down the road we came to a trailer park rested alongside the charter native american school and that is where we met Sugar Bear. We were greeted by the old hippie and his pitbull named Riot as we walked through the door. It was so good to have shelter over our heads and a warm meal as the storm raged on outside and the entire city kept its fingers crossed that the levies wouldn't break that night. We stayed up til midnight talking and joking with Sugar Bear as he sipped on beers and Jag and played his favorite old tunes for us. We had a comfy pullout couch bed for the night and good company. South Dakota has certainly lived up to its name for good people.

6/15/11-Wait it gets better

We got a decent start at 9:30 and biked. We biked straight against 20 mile an hour winds all the way to Miller. This took us quite a lot longer then we expected and we were starving, binging a little we got a ton of cesar salad, strawberry yogurt, a few cookies and ate just about everything. We found the perfect spot to eat- a little table behind the grocery store and it was one of the best meals we have ever tasted. Empowered by our food we decided to bike farther. We biked through Ree Heights and asked for a campground, we found none. We biked through Highmore and asked for a campground. There was none. Exhausted and starting to lose spirits we decided that we would defiantly find a campground in the next city. It was about 9 and the sun was setting. We biked fast and turned our safety lights on, 7 miles to the next city. We saw it on the horizon and our enthusiasm diminished. Holabird, which it was called, was not really a town at all, nor a village, it was more of a sign. with one or two buildings by it. The sun was just about below the horizon as we were starting to realize today was the day to sleep in a ditch.



Just then when all hope was lost a pickup drove by and stopped in the driveway ahead of us. A wonderful man jumped out and invited us to come stay at his house, dumbfounded LeAnn and I nodded.  Our smiles could not have been bigger as we rode the 1 mile down the dirt road to their house and a full glowing orange moon hovered over the endless prairie horizon. Together with his wife and his daughter we were invited complety into their home. We were fed an absolutly wonderful homecooked meal, dried our wet clothes, got answers to all of our random curiousities about South Dakota, and we got a real bed to sleep in. It was a most wonderful experience which we will never forget. And we have never been so glad to lay our aching limbs to rest.

6/14/11-South dakota people are nice

We left Clark late and biked to Redfield against the wind. A big storm was coming and we wanted to do our allotted 40 miles at least a day before it came. Right before we entered Redfield a car stopped and a man told us that there was a big storm a coming and we best seek shelter. Starving we rushed to the grocery store to stock up before we made camp. LeAnn just happen to scare me half to death thinking that my wallet was lost. So i ran out to our bikes to look. And what did i find? There was a man in his 60's covered in paint by our bikes. He was painting a house he explained and had a son who biked across the US. He said the house was being remodeled and there wasn't any furniture but we could stay there the night if we wanted. We were enthusiastic with the big storm coming and gladly took his offer. We slept very well that night.

6/13/11-rest

Stayed in Clark as a rest day. Cleaned clothes, went swimming, got ice cream, and dislocated my shoulder. LeAnn got it back in.