July 18 Sioux Falls, South Dakota to Worthington, Minnesota

The South Dakota chapter of the National MS Society threw a party yesterday to welcome us to Sioux Falls and to promote their Bike MS ride on August 6 and 7.  They even had a rock and roll band — Exit 357 — with a lead singer named Travis.  It was a lot of fun but just a little hot for an outdoor party.  As a result, we hung out under shade tents rather than really rocking and rolling.  Still, here’s a tip for you.  If you’re ever in Sioux Falls and want to hear some good rock and roll, check out Exit 357.  I’m not biased because their lead singer is named Travis.  Their female vocalist was terrific, too.

As falls Sioux, so falls Sioux Falls

We were back in the saddle today for a quick 70 miler. Actually, it turned out to be a bit shorter than that.  We planned to leave Sioux Falls along a nice bike path.  Part of the path, however, is under water as the Sioux River has spilled over its banks.  (Sound familiar?)  The alternate route shaved three miles off the day and took us through some very pretty older neighborhoods and past Augustana College.  We don’t normally get to see pretty neighborhoods so it was a nice change of pace.  The other nice change was that we picked up a tailwind.  Today’s route was very flat — I haven’t been in my granny gear for days now — and the tailwind pushed us along nicely.  I arrived at our motel before noon.

We’re now in Worthington, Minnesota which was originally founded as a railway station town in the 1870’s.  The town is close to Lake Okabena so it was a convenient place for steam trains to take on more water. Not long after, some right-minded citizens decided to start a temperance colony where people could live “free of the sins of alcohol.”  The leader of the group, A.P. Miller, named the colony after his wife’s maiden name: Worthington.  I don’t know what happened to the colony but I hope I can get a beer here.

We passed several milestones recently:

• Entered our fifth state – Minnesota.  Only five more to go, plus Ontario.
• Crossed two time zones — we’re now on Central Daylight Time.
• Passed the 2,000 mile mark.

Day’s distance: 67.7 miles (108.9 km)
Average speed: 16.7 mph (26.9 kph)
Day’s climb: 1,300 feet (396.2 meters)
Total distance: 2,144.3 miles (3,450.9 km)