Day 27 Faulkton

June 14, 2018

Faulkton, SD

Slow start this morning...needed the sleep. Breakfast was microwaved oatmeal and coffee/tea from the meager continental breakfast offerings at the hotel. Today was much shorter than yesterday, but the winds were still just as dreadful as yesterday. Took us over an hour and a half to get to our first stop at 15 miles. Just before that, we saw another long distance bike rider who’s traveling from the Mexico border to Canada. We only got to talk briefly. We’re the first bikers he’s seen since he started and he definitely came across like he’s been on his own for a while. He seemed a little off kilter, his helmet straps were hanging really loose (kinda defeats the purpose) and he had a big smear of sunscreen across his glasses. (Probably just the eye nerd in me, but that would drive me crazy!)

We stopped in Gettysburg, SD at a cafe/coffee shop for lunch, then at the gas station to fill our bottles with ice water and our 4 one liter bags for the rest of the day. Temperatures continued to rise today; it was 93 when we arrived in Faulkton. There were no other services in the 45 miles between the two towns. It took us another 5 hours to do that 45 miles with the strong head/side wind and hot conditions and breaks to refill water bottles, mix up some Hydrate electrolyte drink and take a breather. This was definitely one of those days you just have to get through. We passed some grass lands and farm fields, several with corn. If I didn’t know better I’d of thought we were back in Ohio at some points. As we neared Faulkton, we could see the water tower for several miles. We had a couple of small wind breaks when we passed some trees, but that just made us feel hotter. The road turned a bit more to the east, which meant we were facing the wind head on. Ugh, push harder. We had to pause for a couple of minutes just to gather the mental and physical energy to make it 2 more miles. First thing we did was stop at the gas station Jon went in for cold Gatorade and I just sort of collapsed onto the bench outside. Brutal day. Next we checked into the hotel and showered. We’d planned on going to the grocery store next to pick up something to make for dinner and breakfast, but the place closed at 6. So sad. We had to settle for subs from the gas station deli, but they were decent. In bed by 9 to recover from the day.

Today's ride: 60 miles (97 km)
Total: 2,184 miles (3,515 km)

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