Day 5 – July 2, 2003

The windy Ride from Aberdeen, North Dakota to Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Also our 31^st Anniversary

We started out today an hour or so late, but since it is our anniversary and we were only planning a 200 mile ride today, we weren’t too worried. We decided to ride awhile before breakfast and I have to say I never thought about South Dakota as a wet state before, but I do now. Maybe we took the wrong road, or just a low one, but boy did we see water. I keep thinking about how much California needs water and how the water around here just lies around everywhere and is taken for granted. We stopped for breakfast in another of those small towns that I can’t even remember for sure the name of. It was either Andover or Bristol. Anyway the food again was great and the coffee even better. The place was called Capitol Lanes Lounge and Café and it was another pleasant surprise. Not only was the service great, but the customers all helped each other. Whenever someone wanted coffee and grabbed the pot from the counter, he/she would walk around to all the tables and fill everyone’s coffee. It was kind of special, or at least I liked it.

Back on the road I started noticing more water, lakes and ponds everywhere. There were also the crops and the ranches but I also notice there is now a slight haze in the air. I also keep taking pictures of my leg for some reason. The birds in the area, ducks and geese seem to be practicing their formation flying in the wind. They don’t seem to be going anywhere, why would they, but they are all flying like they are practicing for a drill. I even saw one bunch on the ground together like they were getting their pre flight instructions. Maybe they were just playing with my head.

We crossed what appeared from the ground to be a very large lake called The Blue Dog Lake”, or something like that. Looking at the map, it seems to be one of the smaller lakes around, but it sure seemed bigger close up. The wind was blowing so hard that if we were going south directly into the wind, we didn’t notice it that much, but going east, it tried real hard to blow us off the road. We did notice the wind however when I hit my reserve tank at only 85 miles. That was a little hard to deal with.

I got a little bored in one place, so I started taking pictures of myself. Interesting, but not a pretty site. Then the wind nearly took the dew rag off my head, so I had to remove it. It does interesting things to your hair at 75 mph with a head wind. We also hadn’t seen the last of the construction season. Every few miles they seem to be building a new road.

I had an interesting thought as I passed several farms with multiple silos. How many of them were storing missiles?

As we neared the city of Sioux Falls, I came back to reality and took a few shots of the city from afar, more road work, and then the motel. You find the prettiest girls working in motels. Check this one out. This room is big enough to have a football party in and the lobby is beautiful. The parking lot is absolutely empty, guess we’re early, but we seem to have the place to ourselves. I guess it’s time for a skinny dip in the pool. Oops, sorry for that image.

After we got checked in and had time to get cleaned up, we decided on a dinner out. We found a TGI Fridays across the street and decided it would close enough that if we drank, we could walk. We both ordered something new and I tried the chicken with melted cheese, onions, and peppers, but I specified no onions and no peppers. Karen tried the pecan crested chicken salad. They were out of the regular dressing, but Karen found she liked it better without any dressing. My dish showed up as ordered, but with scallions all over everything. I would have thought that no onions would have meant no scallions as well. When I ask for a spoon to remove them though, they brought me an entire new meal less the onions. Laura, our server, was very pleasant and went out of her way to not only correct the oversight, but she also brought us a complementary cheese cake to boot.

Well, that is about it for now. I need to spend a little alone time with the misses, so till next time, I’ll see you on the byways…