This morning we woke to the sound of silence. It was wonderful having no wind whipping around. Heading out of Mobridge we again experienced what has become a morning ritual. Pheasants roost in the grass along the road and are startled by the sounds of our bikes. Within the first hour we estimate that we flushed out about 50 of them. We believe that we are more successful flushing out pheasants than a good bird dog.
Just out of Mobridge we met a rancher who was unloading his horse from a big trailer. He was going to retrieve some of his herd that had wondered off his range land. We were impressed when he also told us that yesterday they branded 400 head. If he branded 400, we wondered how many more he had.
Today we experience lots of rough road surfaces and 2 dogs that seemed to chase us for miles. Rather than getting upset with these conditions and the headwinds and hills we decided that they all just make us better cyclists. However, we were thankful that we had a nice tail wind all day.
Today’s highlight occurred at the town of Kenel, about half way into our journey. This was the only food stop along today’s entire 61 mile route. We pulled in just as the owner, Ernest Martinez, was arriving to open the store. He apologized for the lack of provisions and said that he expected a big order this week for the upcoming Pow Wow. We selected a healthy lunch of oatmeal-raisin cookies and orange soda. While we munched, the real richness of our lunch emerged as Ernest started telling us about his grandfather. Ernest was proud to represent his family at the 2007 dedication of Code Talker Hall at Quantico Marine Base in Virginia. His grandfather, John Bear King, a Standing Rock Sioux, was a code talker. Despite the popular belief that all code talkers were Navajo, many Native Tribes provided them. He showed us plaques awarded his grandfather and a metal that lists all the Tribes that provided code talkers.
The Prairie Knights Casino is on the Standing Rock Reservation and just west of the Missouri River.
Click to view today's Photos
Click to view an overview Map of our trip
Click for a detailed map of today's ride
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