Dan's Travel Adventures

End of day 5 finds us in South Dakota – Murdo, to be exact. I’ll get to that in a bit

Day 4 was Iowa City to Sioux City, IA. In motorcycling parlance, we “slabbed” it. This is interstate travel, typically less entertaining to ride and less interesting to sightsee. It is to be avoided at all costs, but here, the alternative is equally straight and flat, just slower. Iowa is beautiful, and we knew the mid-west would mean slabbing, so here we are. End of Day 4 in Sioux City was at a little conference center, and we found a nice place for dinner, time for walk and a stogie, and the afterglow of a day of riding.

The afterglow doesn’t present itself every riding day, but it was a welcome visitor in Sioux City. There is quiet, after the wind and the road. There is restfulness in contrast to the constant vigilance of riding. There is fatigue and the sorting of the day’s memories. Perhaps afterglow is the product of adventure, and the precursor to gratefulness. Day miles: 316 Ending Miles: 1436

Day 5 opens as another beauty, and we are happy and ready to go. We made the call the night before to see what the state roads would bring, rather than pure slab. BOY HOWDY, did that pay dividends. Almost immediately, we crossed into South Dakota, for which my preconceived notions were unflattering. I’m here to tell you SD, at least in the east, is beautiful. Enormous farms and ranches, but unlike those in Wyoming, there’s water here, so they are lush and fertile. Flatlands and rolling hills, all green. There was a point where the corn stretched as far as I could see on all sides. Miles of corn! With corn comes enormous corrugated grain bins, irrigation systems that look like sci-fi walker bots, and cattle. Lots and lots of cattle. Cattle trucks, cattle pens, grazing cattle, free-range cattle, livestock auctions, you name it. The riding wasn’t terribly technical, but the smiles on our three faces reinforce that back roads are always better.

The day closes in Murdo, SD, as mentioned. It’s a tiny town, but as Mitch points out, there are sidewalks and benches, the properties are well maintained, this isn’t a poor town, just remote. We stay at the Range Country Lodging, and since we’ve finished early, lunch is a nice walk to a drive-in burger joint. Life is pretty damned good. Day miles: 292 Ending miles: 1728