Thursday, July 17, 2008 – Day 25

Start: De Smet, South Dakota
End: Tyler, Minnesota
Miles: 80.67 Total Miles: 1,877.79 BRAA Total Miles: 1,765.10
Time: 5 hours 11 minutes (avg 15.5 MPH)
Flat tire count today: 0 Total flat tires for the ride: 6

Yesterday, I was mentioning how wonderful the weather has been to us along the ride. Well, that all fell apart right as everyone was heading to bed last night. We began to hear thunder moving in and then the sheriff came by to let us know that a storm cell was on its way toward us and it was generating a lot of rain and wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour. So we waited and listened as the storm approached. Many of the riders started staking down their tents and getting their rain flies over their tents. I even packed up my stuff in my water resistant bag just in case water got in my tent. Eventually, the rain came. It was nothing to mention and there was very little wind associated with it. So, we thought we skirted by once again.

We began waking up at 5AM this morning. It was still dark outside, but on the horizon to the west, we could see lightning. A number of us hurried to pack up our tents and get our stuff loaded on the support truck because we knew what was coming. It came alright. Torrential downpours. Many of the riders were stuck packing up as the storm hit and they and their stuff unfortunately got wet. Some of the others never even came out of their tents and just waited the storm out. I was packed up and my stuff was on the truck and I was over at the church having breakfast when the storm hit. It rained for a little more than an hour. We eventually said it was time to hit the road and about a half dozen of us headed out. It was not too bad. The worst part was dealing with the wet dirt from road and the spray from the huge trucks as they zoomed past us.

The skies cleared up by about noon as we reached the Minnesota state line. State number 6!. It was sunny and bright and the H’s returned. I meant to tell about the four H’s yesterday, but forgot. The four H’s are Heat, Humidity, Hills and Headwinds. We had them all yesterday for the first time together and they returned again today. I am pretty sure they will remain with us for the rest of the trip.

Closer to our destination for the day were a bunch of windmills. These things were awe inspiring. I slowed down just to stare at them and their enormous size. Take a look at the picture with the building for comparison of just how big these are. Most of them were spinning away.

Tonight, we are going to the local pizza place for dinner. All you can eat buffet. This should fill most of us up for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow, we will head on to New Ulm, Minnesota and a well needed rest day.