Day 24 - Side Winds Today, Head Winds Tomorrow

We left Wall SD just after the sun came up, by 5:45 am, due to having a 117-mile ride day and the possibility of  hot temperatures with strong side winds.  It was time to say good bye to Wall Drug and its beckoning 80 foot dinosaur.

We formed a coalition of riders for our little group, Don (taking the picture over his back), Drew, Gardner from Massachusetts, and me in the rear spot.   The man up front took turns being the front rider, taking the full force of the wind, while the rest of us drafted after his lead.  I'm so short (and not as powerful as the men up front) that no one wanted to draft behind me, and for good reason.  I was very lucky to have such kind fellow riders, and I was challenged enough just to keep up with their fast pace. 

 After many hours of traveling rolling farm and grazing land, we finally found the capital city of Pierre (pronounced "Peer") South Dakota. Here is  a shot of the Missouri River crossing where we passed from Mountain to the Central Time Zone.

 

We had  several hours to explore the finer points of Pierre, including both Dairy Queen (root beer float, anyone?) and this interesting combination  building next door.

Luckily, Pierre is also home to the beautiful South Dakota Capital Building, which was a couple miles by foot.  Here are our photos of this lovely, open to the public building, outside:

....and inside:

By the way, with a population of only 14,000, Pierre is the second smallest state capital in the US....Do you know the state capital city with the smallest population? 

Time to get ready for the next adventure tomorrow, 83 miles to Chamberlain, SD.  Winds are predicted to be in our faces for much of the way at 12-25 mph.  Another early start to ward off the strongest of the winds in the afternoon.