Little Trek on the Prairie

17Aug

Against my better judgment I crossed back into the hills. Timber Lake is southwest of Mobridge. More west than south. As I said before, crossing the river is a sight. The hills sure do grow quickly west of the the Missouri. Big, rolling hills.

After conquering the first hill - on which a sub-par casino lies - I glanced at the path down the other side and hesitated. Again that 'what am I doing' feeling cropped up, and again I had to ignore it. Mainly because I had no place else to go.

That was the day I realized my legs actually possessed a small amount of strength. And damn did I need it. I got lucky with the wind. The sun and the hills, however, set me up for a two hour nap under a small tree at the end of a driveway. The only shade in quite some time. I woke up, ate a snickers, and started into the last 15 or so miles of the trip. Within an amount of minutes I realized my extended sleep session had set me up to pedal directly toward a terrible giant undulating black cloud. Seriously, the thing looked like it was flowing.

In a mad dash, I made it to within 4mi of Timber Lake before my terror drove me to pull into a truck shop yard and hide under my tarp. Just after the storm broke, a man named Tim Bollinger, owner of aforementioned shop, pulled up and offered me shelter from the storm. Also a beer.

It was quite the storm - 1/2in of rain in about 10min, with all the wind and lightning anyone could ask for. The storm continued, and Tim offered me a ride into town. I happily struggled to get the 60-odd pounds of muddy bike and cargo into the truck bed and hopped in the cab. Dude helped me find food and a place to stay. Good man, that Tim Bollinger.

Aug18

I once again sat for a bit in the morning attempting to figure out my next step. I settled on Eagle Butte as the destination. Eagle Butte is more southwest. This time more south than west. After a patty melt and fries breakfast I hit the road.

Western wind that day, maybe just a tad to the north side. Good thing the first 7 and final 4 miles were directly west. Combined those short sections took me about 90min, roughly 50% longer then normal... at least the wind kept me cool.

Turning south felt just wonderful. The hills picked up and the desolation picked up a bit more. Even got to see some up-close buttes. I managed to find an oasis a half-acre into a ranch around 2:00pm. I've found its hottest out here between 2:00 and 6:00, so I did the right thing by trespassing just a little and having a trail mix lunch and a nap under the trees. I was also able to befriend a butterfly. Really though, it sucked sweat out of my drying bandana like nobody's business.

I hit the road just a tad too early - sometime around 4:00 - and it was hot. Like 90°F, with very little cloud cover. I should have stayed longer but I was getting hungry and didn't really want to stomach more trail mix at the moment (I ate a lot). So I left.

20mi can feel a lot longer when pedaling in the beating sun. I grew weary after a bit and found shade again. This time next to a stack of hay bales. Shorter break this time, had a snickers, hit the road. Finally on the horizon I see water towers. The fact that I could see them meant they were about 10mi away.

A half hour later I was at a junction 4mi from Eagle Butte. Remember that wind? The road to town heads directly west. The wind decided to give me one final challenge. Those last 4mi took me almost 45min. Even going downhill I needed to pedal if I wanted to gain ground. Not that the town is downhill - it lies on the Fox Ridge. The prairie is quite the monster. I admit I did not expect such extremes in this place, though I guess some of the the locals did try to warn me. It's been good fun.