South Dakota Highway 10 led me past several more lakes.  I certainly didn't expect to see such pretty blue lakes out here, but the biggest surprise (possibly the biggest surprise of this whole trip) came a few miles before Sisseton.  I had been riding up and down rolling hills for the first 15 miles since leaving Roy Lake and I had no reason to think that would not continue for a while.  Then I came to the top of one more hill and I was absolutely stunned.  It is possible that my eyeballs popped out of my head like in a cartoon.  There, stretched out before me, was a surprisingly dramatic view of the Red River valley several hundred feet below.  It was broad and flat and it extended as far as my bulging eyes could see.  It had the same effect on me as if I had just ridden up over a mountain range and suddenly and unexpectedly became the first person to discover the Pacific Ocean.  Certainly not the most beautiful thing I've seen, it was definitely, as I said, the most surprising.  And the four-mile descent into the valley was probably the longest since I left the Glacier National Park area.

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I crossed my second continental divide this afternoon.  At the South Dakota-Minnesota border is the north-south continental divide.  It's a curious little spot.  You ride over a sort of land bridge.  On one side is Lake Traverse and on the other side is Big Stone Lake.  Lake Traverse feeds the Red River which flows north to Canada and ultimately into Hudson Bay, and Big Stone Lake is the source of the Minnesota River which flows south, meets the Mississippi River, and ends up in the Gulf of Mexico.  I think that's how it works.

Strong winds blew from the southeast today, making this my toughest day of riding yet--especially the last 20 miles.  The regular wind was bad enough, but the gusts were horrific.  And when a truck would come from the opposite direction, the blast in my face was unbelievably fierce.

I must apologize for the previous paragraph.  If I was reading somebody else's blog I'd be saying, "enough with your wind reports!  Just move on!"  That is a fair comment and I promise not to bring up the wind again.  I don't care if a tornado comes and blows me all the way to Wisconsin, I won't mention it again.

I am in my home state now, safely encamped at Big Stone Lake State Park.  At the park office they weren't quite sure how to register a bicycle camper.  "Let me see now . . . I can't really charge you the vehicle fee, can I?"

"No, I don't think so," I answered.

"Hmmmm.  The computer isn't letting me override the box for your license plate number."

"Well, I suppose you could cancel it all out and let me camp for free," I suggested, helpfully.

Unfortunately he figured it out and charged me the standard camping fee less the vehicle fee.  The campground is much more rustic than last night's, but it will do.