July 18, 2024
Day 4 - ending at Yankton, SD
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During the night my knee was telling me that it got bumped when I fell over last night. But I was able to bicycle today. The problem is my knee hurts when I try to lift my leg. But during pedaling, the crank lifts that leg.
Up today at 5:49am. I ate the rest of the cookies from last night, then packed up. In the morning light I noticed that my emergency water bottle holder broke during the fall, so I stashed that bottle in my Gatorade bag until I can get a new holder.
I left site T-40 at 8:28am, walking down and up the hill that had tripped me last night. I was headed for the park office. On the way there I looked at their Towers of Time sculptural representation. The park office has a museum on the Missouri River, which I checked out while waiting my turn to make my payment for last night's stay. Before I left, I bought a cold coffee drink for now and Skittles for later.
I was on my way at 9:42am. Destination is the KOA campground in Yankton, South Dakota. At first this morning it was gravel roads going north, west, and south to get me back to highway NE-12. Somewhat hilly. I was at the highway at 10:54am. The next town would be Newcastle, Nebraska, where I hoped to eat lunch. There was a pilot car detour right at the edge of Newcastle, but my routing had me off the highway in town anyway. I checked out the town's campground - a place I had noted as an alternate camping spot. It would have worked, but is really set up for RVs.
Noon arrived. 12.1 miles was the morning's progress.
Lyle's Bar in town is where I decided to eat. Went with their special - cheeseburger with fries. Also has a root beer and got my thermos filled with ice. My server told me that the NE-12 road work I was seeing is because all the diverted truck traffic had torn up the road. The traffic had been detoured thought here due to the recent northwest Iowa flooding.
I'd been rechecking routes to Yankton, and decided to change from my plan to a flatter route. So I would cross the Missouri River south of Vermillion, South Dakota, ride 5 miles on SD-19, then straight west on SD-50. The only down side of this, besides highway noise, would be that I'd miss riding over the Meridian Bridge south of Yankton.
I left Lyle's Bar at 1:14pm, got back on NE-12 going west, and arrived at the turn-off for NE-15 at 1:55pm. At 2:19pm I was at the entrance to Mulberry Bend Overlook. I parked the bike at the sign and walked up the hill. There's a good view of the Missouri River from here.
I was over the bridge and in South Dakota at 2:37pm. Five miles on SD-19 to get to SD-50, then 22 miles more. Both highways have a wide, smooth shoulder and are amazingly flat. At 4:05pm I took a break at Meckling along SD-50, eating the Skittles I'd purchased this morning.
At 6:35pm I arrived at the KOA in Yankton. I'd been thinking of staying here two nights , since rain is predicted for tomorrow, but I only self-registered for tonight, since I don't know if this site with electricity I chose (T-3) is reserved for tomorrow night.
Bugs were flying around biting me, and it didn't take long to figure out they're buffalo gnats. My repellent worked well enough that I was able to get the tent up and loaded.
My left hand was hurting just a little this afternoon, and I eventually figured out it's an RA flare up. That makes typing on this phone so much harder. I went to bed at 10:57pm, hoping a good night's sleep will make both my leg and my hand better.
Jeff
Today's ride: 47 miles (76 km)
Total: 172 miles (277 km)
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2 months ago
Thanks! I'm doing much better this morning, except for being hungry. I intend to address that shortly ;-)
Jeff
2 months ago