Tuesday 6 July 2010

Day 47 Marshall to Pipestone

Monday 5th July
Daily mileage 60miles Average Speed 12.5mph Ride Time 4hr46min
Total Mileage 1744

We had breakfast and made it on the road at 8.30am. We continued on highway 23 SW all day and had a great morning as we made it 22miles to Florence where we sat in a park on the road side and snacked on a sandwich as the mossies continued to snack on us! After a quick visit to possibly the worst toilet I have ever been in we set off and cycled a further 23 miles to Pipestone again all in one session so by lunch we had covered 55 miles.

The road was over rolling hills that were very green as it is inhabited by farmers. All the small hills accumulated somewhat and as we approached the highest point of the day there were tonnes of windmills dotted all over and the town was aptly named Holland. As we entered Pipestone we visited the Pipestone National Park that is basically an area where Native American Indians quarry a red stone that they use to carve their peace pipes. The area is still being quarried today but there is a 5 year waiting list to dig there and you have to prove to the government that you are a member of a tribe.

After such a long break it was nearing 4pm and we were losing the enthusiasm that we started off with this morning. We carried on for a few more miles and as we went to turn West the sky on the horizon looked black and stormy. We luckily made the right decision to camp in Split Rock State Park that was only a mile away and we arrived just as the rain did! We put the tent up in the rain and jumped in as the thunder storm came over. It only lasted an hour as we watched a movie in the tent then ventured out for a hot shower but were back in bed with no dinner and were asleep at 6.30pm.

Copy and paste the following link to view the details of todays ride
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39510302

2 comments:

  1. boy...u guys have had ur share of rain...huh ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kris - seems whilst you were in deep thought on putting life's day-to-day issues into perspective, Alison ran off with a corn-on-the-cob ????. Glad to see you are still out there enduring the elements. Best Wishes. Janice (ex-Mar House)

    ReplyDelete