June 8, 2018
Two Barns and a Slumber Party- Vermillon to Yankton
We got an early start again to beat the heat and get done early. While in Vermillion last night I got online and reserved the last campsite outside of Yankton for tonight. I didn't want to get there with no place to sleep on a Friday night. Gay was planning to go further today but we offered to split the campsite with him if he wanted.
The skies started to look grim shortly after we got on the main road, and about 8:00 we saw lightning in the distance and felt the return of our old friends, BHWB (Bastard Headwind Bastards). One minute the sky looked ok, and then next it was dark and menacing. One of us said "good thing it's not heading where we are going!"which, of course, sent a big mass of bloated storm clouds right to us and right to where we were headed for the next several hours.
Just as mother nature was about to get all medieval on us, we ducked into a large equipment barn. This will be referred to as Barn Number 1 for the duration of this story. It was perfect timing, as the rain let loose for a good 30 minutes or so. This was a working outfit, but we didn't see anyone except for 30 sheep in a nearby pen that eyed us suspiciously.
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Once that storm cleared we headed back out. And we were back in another barn about 20 minutes later at about 8:45. This barn was larger, tasteful, and had every accoutrement a discriminating cycle tourer would want in a shelter barn. Except pizza and beer. We idled there for two hours, putting on our warm clothes for the first time since we started this adventure. The rain hitting the barn roof sounded like machine gun fire and the wind was chilling.
At about 10:45, the gods stopped trying to kill us and we got back on the road towards Yankton.
We finally pedalled out of the thunderstorm apocalypse. The riding was good, it warmed up and we arrived at Yankton at about 2:30, and our campsite around 3:00. Gay decided to stick with us because of the almost 3 hour delay, so we set up, ate dinner and sat around talking. A guy in an RV, several bikes, 3 hammocks, a grill, tiki torches and a bunch of kids came over to talk to us. He was a special ed teacher on summer break. He was really interesting and interested in our trip. One thing I've noticed about South Dakota is not only is the scenery great, the people are friendly, helpful and interested in what people are doing.
A few other people asked about our trip, and then a guy rolled up on a bike and introduced himself as Matt. He is a youth/mission director for a church in Nebraska and had a lot of questions about our trip. He then asked if we wanted a beer, to which I responded immediately, and he brought a soda for Gay. He also said he'd cook us breakfast tomorrow, but we said we'd be leaving early. Very nice people. This is one of the reasons I'm doing a trip like this, camping as much as possible. You meet a lot of people. Some are assholes, like Squirrel Beard and Angry RV Man in Iowa, but most so far are very nice and engaging.
Anyway, I enjoyed the complementary beer and we all went to bed. And we all enjoyed a peaceful night free of wind,and lightning, thunder and rain.
Haha! Got you! Sucker! At about 11:00, winds picked up and started blowing like they do whenever Jen and I camp apparently. Then the lightning started and thunder and more wind. I thought, Holy shit, again?
A Slumber Party
Then at about midnight I saw a flashlight outside and a guy from the site next to us told us we should come in to their RV until the storm passes. So we all grabbed a few things and went over. The generous people were Monte and Phyllis from Norfolk, Nebraska, and friends of Beer Matt. They set up the little bed deals in the RV and we talked. for awhile and then crashed. It was very of them to open their RV to strangers.
The storm raged until about 5:30, at which point Jen and I went back to our tent, followed by Gay a few minutes later.
The story continues tomorrow, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel.
Today's ride: 40 miles (64 km)
Total: 322 miles (518 km)
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