I arrived in Sioux Falls Thursday after staying in Pipestone the night before. It was a decent 50 mile ride which made for a pretty intense ride. I ended up leaving Pipestone around 11:30am and tried making it around 6pm, but ended up being a bit late. I have a place to stay here thanks to fellow couch surfer Bridgette which made staying in Sioux Falls nice. Between the headwinds and hills though I am going to have to tap out on this trip. I also broke my laptop the day I got in by dropping it outside of a gas station. Luckily I had paid off enough of my credit card to where I could put the second cheapest laptop walmart had available on credit.
I should probably write a little about Marshall, MN as it was one of the larger towns I went through. I ended up finally rolling into town pretty late, and asked the gas station where I should get some food and camp out. The concensus was Applebees because it was open and had half price appetizers at the time I showed up.
Applebees actually made for an interesting story in itself. I ended up getting a booth in the corner, next to a group of 12-14 people who took up a couple tables. There was a tone that sounded like a cicada eminatting from my corner of the restraunt and the group of people kept looking over. Eventually I said it wasn’t me, and it then stopped. Minutes later it started back up and they looked over again. This time it was distracting enough for the waitresses and others to also look to my corner. Sure enough we all start looking for what is causing this noise, and sure enough the little guy was on my leg and the people I told the noise wasn’t me said it was me after all. We had a good laugh and then awkwardly went back to our meals.
Pipestone really didn’t have any good stories, and even my flat tire was pretty uneventful. I did however crash around 17 miles outside of the city the night before because I just couldn’t push myself any further. I camped out at a gas station and lit matches one by one in the 50 something degree weather to stay warm. Next ride I will bring a sleeping bag, even if the season is summer.
So here I am, in Sioux Falls. I copped out and my mom is flying me back home until I think of what is next on my todo list. I have more photos to add, some of which are pretty darn awesome. I also have a good story about an open highway and me marking my territory, but that will have to wait.