After Mobridge, we hit up a couple of South Dakota state parks and took a rest day in Huron. There were scattered thunderstorms as we came in, but I was able to avoid the worst of it. Bob, who was less than a mile away in the truck, ended up getting dumped on. I jumped in his truck for about 30 minutes while the lightning cleared out, and I arrived at camp mostly dry. Because Huron hosts the South Dakota state fair, they have a lot of city-managed camping. And because they’d had so much rain this summer, they are infested with mosquitos. I’ve never seen so many mosquitos – the swarms just hang in the air. I counted 34 bites from our 2 days there. We did our laundry there, and spent the heat of the day under our shade canopy w/ all 3 of our portable fans on. That worked pretty well for both the heat and the mosquitos. We also converted the bike stand into a dart stand to pass the time.
We then moved on to Oakwood Lakes State Park. Our camp host Linda was quite friendly and we took up probably too much of her time talking about dogs, BBQ, and her gig there.
From Oakwood Lakes I took a day trip into Sioux Falls to meet up for lunch with my friend Ian while Bob drove across the border into Iowa to get a license plate to add to his collection.
Working remotely it’s rare that I get to spend time with work folks on their home turf. Ian took me out to the titular falls after lunch – a very nice afternoon, thanks Ian!
The next day we crossed into Minnesota. Luckily our friend Chris is from the area, and her family was kind enough to host us for a night. No matter where we visit Chris – be it Rome, Slovakia, Colorado, or Minnesota – she is always an amazing host and tour guide. She drove out from Eagan to host us, and even welcomed me with a Grain Belt right after we crossed the border!
The next night we stayed at Fort Ridgely State Park, where I got to ride a lot of good gravel. I’m starting to see the appeal of the gravel craze. It can be fun when properly equipped, and it requires a different level of focus from my usual road riding. But I don’t think I’ll be signing up for any gravel century races any time soon – these midwest gravel bursts are just about the right amount.
Then we were finally off to the twin cities! Sunday was hot and humid, and the normally very nice trails coming in to the Minneapolis were full of puddles. My friends Mike and Meg planned to meet me as I came in, but they had to wait through a couple of “sorry, will be another hour” texts before I finally road in. Just like meeting Denise in Billings, I ended up having the longest day of the series on the last day, and was limping a bit with left knee pain that evening. Bob drove me down to Eagan where we set up “camp” at Chris and her partner Doug’s house.
We’re now at the half-way point – or at least, what we’re calling half-way. We’re probably a bit further than that, but we can’t be sure since we don’t have our daily routes planned past Wisconsin. Because of that and our great group of friends here, we decided to take a week off. Bob has also never been to Minneapolis/St Paul before, so there’s a lot for him to experience. Ju(i)cy Lucys, Paisley Park, Twins games…
Chris suggested we all go up to the North Shore and experience Duluth (where she went to undergrad) and various parks around Lake Superior. That sounded great to us, so she snagged us an AirBNB in Two Harbors. It was my first great lake, and it was a blast! Picnic on the beach, learning to skip rocks, Flip UNO at Castle Danger brewery, Gooseberry Falls, and some dome hockey with Torin. Thanks Chris and Torin!
We’re currently driving back into Minneapolis, likely meeting up with Mike and a group of his friends that I haven’t seen in a long time for a beer before heading back to Eagan where we’ll wait for Whitney to fly in (late) tomorrow!
This weekend we plan to attend a Twins game and go out for a nice dinner, before getting back on the road Monday. We have camping reservations for the first few nights that will take us into Wisconsin. We’ll stay a couple nights in Madison because I’ve heard non-descript “good things”, but we haven’t decided on where to stay or what to do there yet. Please reach out if you have suggestions. Our last “solid” overnight plan is to spend the following weekend in Milwaukee, where my Mom and now my friend Mike from Denver are both flying in to meet up!