Ok. I know that I have not been writing as often as I should, (an excuse follows) but I have really had very little to say. OK, I hear the laughing in the back there. Ron with nothing to say; they gasp!

So, I blew through Minnesota. Day before yesterday (Monday) I rode 163.2 miles. Finally broke the 150 mile day.

I have been taking pictures. I think I got a great one of a frog.

Today, I have been riding through cranberry fields all day. It has been a very nice ride.

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Finally made it to Minnesota!

The first picture if of the sun setting on South Dakota. The next is the sun rising on Minnesota. We camped right on the boarder, the Minnesota side of course.

We passed a wind farm on the way this morning. Very cool, the turbine blades were along the road. I think they were installing some new turbines.

Tylor, has a cool old school. It reminds me of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

Trying to make an 80 mile day today. Should make it to Sleepy Eye. Seems like a great place to sleep.

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A little update… I should leave South Dakota today!!!! Nothing against the state, it is beautiful and in a car I am sure I would have had a lot more fun. However, on a bike in July it is not that much fun.

I have had several people asking about the bike I am riding. I finally had someone to take my picture while I was riding it. I have uploaded the picture. I am thinking of taking the training wheels off in about a week. Should have the hang of it by then. The basket on the front of the bike has been a real lifesaver. I use it to hold my Kool-Aid and bologna sandwiches in my Power Rangers lunch box. A big thanks to my mom for packing Twinkies in my lunch yesterday.

Ok, back to the story. I am in Brookings, South Dakota today. Yesterday, I ran into Phil again. We will probably ride together for a while. So, we stopped at the Sioux River Bicycles and Fitness shop today to get a tune up and service. I have a picture of Mark from the shop. He hooked us up. Phil got a whole new wheel. The spokes started to go in the old one (that happened to me about 200 miles into my ride). The new wheel looks a lot better. By the way, Mark is a really friendly guy. I must just have a bad picture of him.

Then, we went and ate a Nicks Hamburgers. Everyone raved about them all over town. So, we could not leave with out trying them out. Small, but tasty. You know that you have found a great place when at 11 am the place is packed with locals and you have to wait for a seat. That is Phil sitting beside me. Note my new hair cut. It is the Lance Armstrong deluxe. It seems to be working for him I thought I would give it a try.

Minnesota is next, I will keep you posted.

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It is Hot!!!!

All the people in town are talking about the heat. It is well over 100 degrees. I watched the news last night and there is a cold front moving through late Sunday evening. The highs for the days after the cold front are in the mid 80′s nice. Hopefully, the winds will change too.

It has been a challenging last 4 days. It has been very hot, the wind is blowing west instead of east, and there are hills everywhere. It is not that they are tall, just steep. There are about 3 hills per mile. So, I feel like I am frying in the sun while peddling up hill into the wind. Not fun.

I have been contemplating my options. I could head north to Fargo, ND. That would be cool, but it is out of the way. I could also set off into the heat and stop in the next town, but they are having a rodeo today. So, there will be no where to stay.

I think that I am going to hang around town for a while. There is a pool and a park here. I will make the best of it, and wait for conditions to improve. I have been needing a rest anyway.

Interesting note: I am 18 miles from half way done with the trip.

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I spent the day in the city park. They have a nice covered patio that let the wind blow through and kept the sun at bay, but it was hot anyway. The person having dinner behind me said it was 106 in the shade. Ouch!!!

I slept on a table in the shelter for most of the day. I wet my jersey and tried to keep cool. I was not the only one hiding in the shade today. There was a rabbit under the marry go round. I watched him dig a hole and lay in it.

I love listening to the people around me at meals. Day before yesterday I listened to some guys talk about drilling for oil. Tonight, it is the Faith city auction. Tractors, land, shop equipment, and then of course the weather and hay making.

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Still no cell service, but I did find a library. So, I have uploaded a bunch of pictures and I will try to tell you about them here. Note: when I get cell service I have a lot of stuff to post. So, things will be a little out of order.

First off, I passed the geographical center of the US in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. It became the center of the US in 1959 when they added Alaska and Hawaii. Before that, the center of the US was in Smith Center, Kansas.

I passed through some beautiful country along the way. Some places look like they should be on a post card, yellow wildflowers with the bluest water. All the little towns have wonderful little churches and sometimes you are truly rewarded with a small one room schoolhouse complete with the old school bell.

I also passed the halfway point of my trip, 1735 miles. I also passed into the Central Time Zone and crossed the Missouri River. Last night, I stayed in Gettysburg, SD. They have a sense of humor about it. The welcome sign says “Where the battle wasn’t”.

There have been several great sunsets and sunrises. The plains are beautiful, but there isn’t much to see out here as far as buildings, but what they do have is great, lots of flowers and insects.

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This is Dianna again. Just wanted to let you know Ronald is still traveling and doing well. He has run into long stretches of ‘no cell service’ and little else. It has also been too hot to do much riding. He spent the night in Eagle Butte, SD and is hoping for Gettysburg and a very good steak. People along the way have told him he should stop at Bob’s and have one of the best steaks in that part of the country, it sounded like he was really looking forward to that. He’ll write again as soon as he has the opportunity.

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I am taking a half rest day today. It is going to be a while before I will be in a town this size, so I am taking it easy.

Last night on the road I met some great guys heading east. Finally!!! Alex and Phil. Alex was done with his ride yesterday and going home, but Phil is continuing on to the Atlantic. Phil works for a school and has a website. You could check it out. It is MilesForMentors.org. Great guys, I am glad we bumped into one another. Phil and I split a hotel room last night. I have been playing a game where I try to talk the hotel people down from their original price. With Phil’s help, last night we talked them from $70 to $45!!! Best yet.

While in the middle of nowhere, my back tire started to shred. That is why I am in Spearfish today. It was not on my route, but it is where the nearest bike store was. The tire looked bad when I finally got it replaced.

I will up load some pictures.

I think that it will be a couple days before I have cell service again, but I will try to keep in touch.

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Ok, I am back!!

It has been a while since I have had cell service, but things have been moving along. Let me try to update you.

Since last we connected, I peddled across most of Montana, entered Wyoming again and am now in South Dakota. Mostly, the road has been up one hill and down the other side, then repeat about 20 times a day. I remember way back in Oregon I was so proud of myself for climbing to 4200 Ft. Now, I do it several times a day and return to 2500 to 3000. I have had some great days like that too. I put in a 118.6 mile day. Best yet. I am guessing that on a good wind day with flat conditions it would be possible to go 150 miles (a new goal). The riding is getting a lot easier. I just peddle and sooner or later I get there

I went to Devils Tower. I was thinking that I might skip it, but then I heard that they play Close Encounters every night. It was cool to sit in the shadow of the tower watching the movie.

I peddled through the Black Hills on my way to South Dakota. I maxed out at about 4638 Ft. I am hoping that S.D. will be much flatter than the last few states.

I have seen a bunch of animals. I almost ran over a skunk. I literally raised my peddle so I would not hit it. Closer to a skunk than I have ever been or ever want to be again.

I chased a mother and about 20 baby pheasants. It was cool, I was just riding along and all at once there was an explosion of activity right beside me. Birds flying all over the place. They regrouped and flew to the other side of the valley. I also saw some wild turkeys and chicks. I have seen tons of wild turkeys, but I don’t ever recall seeing chicks before.

I rode for about a mile with a heard of cows that ran along with me. The caves were kicking up their heals. The whole heard seemed to have a great time.

I saw a group of wild mustangs. When I first saw them they were spread across the meadow. When they saw me they formed a tight group with all the fouls at the center. Then the stallion came charging out to challenge me. What a proud, majestic animal. I decided to stay on my side of the fence, and he made sure I didn’t change my mind. He meant business.

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I rode 60.3 miles today bringing my total miles to 1303.34. That is well above 1/3 of the way across and only 437 miles short of half way.

The riding has become a little monotonous. Get up, ride bike, go to sleep, repeat. I am seeing a lot of great stuff, but I need to spice it up a little.

Yesterday I started something a little new. I started my found along the road CD collection. I pass cds all the time. I started wondering how bad they must be for someone to toss them out of the car.

More on the CD collection to come…

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