Day 21. Mitchell, South Dakota
to South St. Paul, Minnesota
   Miles today = 315
Total miles = 5675		  
     
   
   
   
     
     
   
     
I woke up to another beautiful sunny morning. Only one thing for concern: the wind, it was blowing hard. The weather report for the day specifically said windy as opposed to the day before so I knew this was going to be a humdinger of a ride and most likely the whole way. The forecast called for 20-40 mile an hour winds but I'm sure out on the flatlands there were gusts to 50. Those would be the ones that blew me into the other lane.
I was on the road at about 10 am. I passed through town and past the Corn Palace again that was decorated to commemorate the Rodeo of 2007. I think it was a bicentennial or something like that. It wasn't so picturesque in the late morning so I headed out of town without stopping. I think every town needs a metaphorical Corn Palace to generate some pride and positive notoriety.
My plan was to head north a bit to pick up a state highway and ride that west to Pipestone, Minnesota and then northeast to another that would take me through some larger towns of Minnesota before the inevitable traffic of the Twin Cities.
Not that it was a reason for the route but I was certainly happy not to be on the interstate, the wind in South Dakota was really bad. The wind was almost dead on perpendicular to me and with the increased area of my baggage I might as well have been a billboard for the wind to knock over. I was most certainly riding at an angle and along the path of a drunken sailor. With no vehicles in sight I would weave left to right in a 3-foot wide section of the left side of my lane. Which in itself must have been a sight because the cars coming at me would certainly pull over to their side as much as possible and I would move the side of my lane leaning even further so that if a gust caught me I wouldn’t be blown into them. Which was certainly more of an issue with trucks and an even greater possibility behind windbreaks.
Certain farms would have a stretch of trees for whatever reason that served as a windbreak. When I got to them all of a sudden, without the wind, my speed would shoot up 5 to 10 miles an hour in an eerie stillness as if the hand of God was pushing me along, I then would have to slow down in preparation for the end of the break when I would again get hit by the wind with a bang.
When I got to Pipestone the highway I picked up was north northeast. So I had some respite from the wind. It was a toss up as to whether I would have preferred to be back in the rain of Idaho crossing the Craters of the Moon or to be riding in this wind. As the day wore on the two hours in the driving rain would have been better than a full day of this wind and the inevitable rush hour traffic to come.
Today was also the only day I really missed a turn as well. Once I hit Pipestone the traffic picked up and I'm sure it added to me missing the highway I had planned to take into Minneapolis. I should have trusted my odometer and stopped to check the map but I was sure that I wouldn't miss the signs since it was a decent size throughway. Of course I did and I was only halfway to my final destination. I didn't want to add time by backtracking to my intended route knowing that there wasn't a real destination in mind 		 

as much as there would be more interesting scenery following the Minnesota River into Minneapolis.
Once I got back onto a course heading east the wind was still blowing but it was more constant, not so gusty which made it easier to maintain my course and dignity as I was riding through the state of my birth. The route along 212 was nothing to write home about. No fields of slowly spinning windmills as there was in southwestern Minnesota.
Once I got into the suburbs of the Twin Cities I knew I was in for it. It was 3:30 and in the far outskirts the traffic was definitely much heavier. It would make me think twice of trying to live in the country if I had to endure that traffic everyday to and from work. Once I got to 494, the so-called bypass I knew I was in for it. I used to go to a junior college on this side of the Cities so I knew by the look of traffic I was going to be in stop and go traffic for quite a bit, and I was. Not fast enough to ride without continually holding and letting go the clutch and not slow enough for a standstill, which in itself would have been nice because my hand was beginning to cramp up after so many days of holding on coupled with the day of just hanging on. And so it was until I got to the river past the airport and then traffic took off like a rocket, of course, with all that pent up energy.
Getting to my folks was just a hop skip and a jump after that. It was very strange because on one hand I put on so many miles in the 2 plus weeks I was gone and on the other it looked so much the same that it was like I was coming home for the day. I didn't know if I was just going to roll off my bike onto the ground and just lay there or if I was going to skip it all together and just jump into someone's hot tub.
This morning as I type I can at least curl my fingers into a loose fist. Last night more of my knuckles had felt like I had "jammed" them in a basketball game. I could hardly curl my fingers. It felt like arthritis had set in or concrete for that matter. I lathered on some Ben Gay, had a rum and coke and basically just laid there. My next full day of riding won’t be for a couple days because that cold rain/snow is finally going to catch up with me here in a few days. That same weather in Idaho has been hell bent on throwing snow at me is going to chase me all the way home to Wisconsin. Which isn't going to help cleaning all the detritus and sludge I've collected a long the way. The hard rain in Idaho did little to clean off all of that oily dirt from Montana so I have a lot of work to get it back to its shiny old self again. Plus, an oil change and some kind soothing words are in order for the motorbike and a long rest until my backside is able to sit on the seat again.
So now its R&R and finally get time to start editing all the pages, add more pictures and see if I can finally get rid of my sea legs because I swear I was going to get sick last night laying in bed with the swaying motion still in my body. But first I think I'll go rile up my sister down the block for some coffee.

Route: Highway 37 north to East Highway 34, becomes Highway 30, north on Highway 23 to West Highway 212, to East I-494 to South St. Paul.
 
 
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