Day 28 Philip, SD to Pierre, SD

Last night we were told that a storm was coming.  I battened down all my hatches, but fortunately, it never came.  Instead, the sky and the moon were really beautiful.

Today's ride was basically just to get from one place to another.  There were no National Parks, no monuments, and no real sights to see along the way.  We spent all day riding on Highway 14, and in the nearly 90 miles between Philip and Pierre, there were two "towns."  They weren't really towns, though.  More like wide spots in the road.

We were riding through the prairie all day, along rolling hills, with either head winds, cross winds, or very rarely, tail winds.  These were the scenes along the way.

Here's our little lunch stop on the prairie.

Finally, we crossed the Missouri River and entered Pierre, the capital of South Dakota.

It's a small town, less the 10,000 people, and the part of town we rode through reminded me a lot of downtown Yakima.

We're staying at the Pierre Indian Learning Center tonight and tomorrow (our rest day!).  We get to sleep in real beds, laundry is free, and there's a lounge with a TV!  There's a HUGE thunderstorm passing through this area this evening, and I'm so glad I'm not sleeping in my tent.

Right before we rode into Pierre, Barb and I stopped at Pizza Ranch for an all-you-can-eat dinner.  (Pizza Ranch didn't make any money on us.)  While we were there, a woman next to us was asking about our trip.  She was asking about the towns we're going to next.  I said, "We're going to Miller next, but I'm not sure after that."  She didn't understand how we didn't know.

We just ride and follow the cue sheets and the yellow arrows.  No thinking is required.