Day 24: Laura Ingalls Wilder walked here!

77.46 mi max 24.5 6:34.20 avg 11.8

Guess what! It was windy again today. I had this theory that there's only so much wind in the world. In the US, it starts out in the Appalachians, rushes west across the plains, and then collects itself in the Rockies and blows back east. Kind of like the water in a bathtub, I call it the Sloshback Effect. Unfortunately, that theory has no scientific basis, and is apparently dead wrong, because all wind comes from the east. Whatever I was told about the prevailing winds coming from the west was a REALLY big lie.

About 10 miles into today's ride, Brian & Deb caught up with me, and we started our own little train...that was cool! Deb's had a really tough couple of days, including a festered infection which has gone systemic and since she's a vegetarian, she's had a hard time finding enough protein here in the middle part of the US. Meals here typically consist of Meat on top of Meat wrapped in Meat with a side of Meat...which is great if you like meat. She fell behind after a while, so Brian & I took turns fighting the wind, although it felt a lot like I was in front more often than not. He said that he was very tired, and was having problems with his cleats, so when Eric C showed up and announced that he was riding in (he crashed a couple of days ago and has been having some shoulder problems), the two of them took off for Dairy Queen. Deb showed up, and we took some halfway pictures - we've come 1,650 miles since June 26!!! (I wasn't QUITE celebrating, since my halfway point is still about 275 miles away). We stuck together through the wind until Mark's checkpoint, about 20 miles from camp. It was great to have Deb there, actively communicating when she felt ready to pull and when she needed to take a break from the wind. When we got to the store though, she talked about sagging in...I still had plenty of energy and took off for De Smet, South Dakota. Apparently, Laura Ingalls Wilder lived there in the Little Town On the Prairie. Many of the things that she wrote about are still there, like the store, and her house. The fact that she lived there is probably one of the few things that De Smet has going for it - as I found out, it doesn't even have a laundromat. There is DEFINITELY a lot of commercialization of everything Wilder in this area.