Aberdeen

As I sat warming in the morning sun I wondered to myself "have I made a mistake?" Most of my trail mix was gone and I was still hungry. I had about 1.5L liquid in Gatorade and water forms. Only 34mi ahead of me but I was still concerned. Then I saw a flash of green - a woman had just walked out of what I though was an abandoned building and put up an "open" sign. So I walked in and asked if they had food. They had biscuits and gravy. Mmm.

The spot was a gathering place for local truck drivers and farmers. I chatted with the group about how I'm crazy while I finished my breakfast. Just about routine conversation by now. Then I refilled my water and hit the road.

The trek was more arduous than I expected. Seeing as the wind had been blowing from the northwest, I figured I had 15mi of headwinds followed by 20 easy miles after I turned south. Nah. Southwestern wind today.  And the sky was cloudless, which while beautiful, meant I was in the sun for the entire ride. So that was kinda exhausting, but I got to Aberdeen sometime early in the afternoon and went to the first hotel I saw. Then I got a room, showered, and ate way too much.

At the bar I met Dave, the "best bartender in three states and two Canadian provinces" according to his friend. Dave is a good dude. He informed me of some unfortunate and route-changing news involving the road that leaves Pierre toward the badlands. It's closed. After a lot of consulting with Dave I found two alternative routes. One would actually bypass the badlands by heading to Sturgis from the north. I would then have to double back after funneling south through the black hills. The other would bring me into the badlands but may add lots of miles. I gotta do the math still. For now I need to recover from how much I just I ate. That was a huge mistake.