Little Bike on the Prairie -- now in De Smet, South Dakota

The major milestone today was that we celebrated our half-way point today just outside of Miller, South Dakota near Willie's Bar and Grill on Highway 14E.   Cycle America drew a chalk line on the side of the road indicating our half-way mark.  We all stopped and signed our names in chalk on the other side of the line -- we have passed the point of no return -- completing 2100 miles of our 4200 mile journey.  It was a low-key but nice thing to do together as we all stopped and took photos together. 

I rode with the Jan Train again (Jan, Marnix, Martin, Chuck and myself) today -- with a good tailwind for much of the day.   Our average speed was about 18 miles an hour.  These guys really stretch me -- but it is a good way to pass the miles and miles of prairie and farms.   We stopped at a local Country Store in Iroquois -- sort of a local hangout for the town.  I noticed that we have clearly seen the change from cowboy hats to seed hats in this part of South Dakota.   Folks are all nice -- always asking where we are from and where we are going. 

The ride was 77 miles from Miller to De Smet and we arrived early at about 1:15 p.m.   I visited the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum and picked up some post cards.  This is the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder so they have a map and tours of all kinds of Wilder sites -- the Surveyor's House (1879-80),  Ingalls home (1887-1928), Almanzo and Laura's home (1894), and the Original Loftus Store -- I really have little idea what this all means but thought some of you may know more about it all!   I sort of feel like the wrong person in the wrong place -- but it is good fun to think of my wife, Cindy, and sister, Dawn, and how much they enjoyed reading these books!  To hear the young college ladies at the information desk in the museum  talk about "Pa" as if he were alive was a bit strange indeed.  These gals also shared about a family with three young girls who came yesterday all dressed up in prairie outfits and even persuaded their dad to wear suspenders like Pa. They had small round metal lunch boxes and even carried slate chalk boards as they came to visit the mecca of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Books.  

I normally ride around town a bit before checking in -- once I've showered, set up my tent and become settled it is hard to get back on the bike and go into town.  I'll bike around some of the sights -- have a root beer float maybe at the Loftus Store and wander over to the De Smet High School.

Lastly, I should note that we rode by the Worlds Largest Pheasant just outside the town of Huron.  It was one of those large giant side of the road displays were we stopped, took a photo and rode on.  

"The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes -- it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies"   -- Laura Ingalls Wilder.