This morning we got up and the “continental breakfast” at the hotel was actually open. This was a first for this trip. They had some creative ways of providing individual servings of food items without actually setting up a buffet style breakfast bar. I was impressed by their thinking but trust me, it wasn’t anything like normal – whatever that means now.

Evidently someone thought we needed something more to eat and left us a bag of oranges near the bikes. It looked like the oranges had been cooking in the sun for a while. We appreciated the consideration but passed on actually touching the fruit.

After getting cleaned up in one of the best showers ever (thank you Days Inn – Carroll, SD), it was time to mount up and hit the road. The day was overcast and cool. It felt a lot different than when we rolled in and it was 95 degrees in the shade. The temp was just about 80 degrees and we had a few miles before we hit the interstates.

The mistake I made when pulling out of the hotel was thinking that we could cruise down the road just a bit and top off the gas tanks. Well – it wasn’t really a mistake if you call 70 miles “just a bit”. It’s a good thing it wasn’t an urgent situation because going north on SD 71 then due west on US 20 provided no other opportunities for gas. OK – we were only a little nervous.

While at the gas station I had some fun talking to a local couple who were out for a Sunday ride. They were quite friendly – which has been true of everyone we talked to on this trip so far. One of the appeals of this kind of travel for the 4 of us is getting reassured that good people are everywhere.

US-20 led us to I-29 north and lunch time. We needed gas again and there happened to be the Fry’n Pan Family restaurant next door so in we went for some nourishment (like I need more to eat). Our motorcycle “gang” never runs out of conversation so we sat deep-thinking about a lot of topics. We did convince Katie (our server) to take our picture. She was rewarded with her own Henry’s Ramblings pens and a healthy tip. Thanks Katie.

The only other pictures for today are ones that Mike F. sent me which means that he’s not in them (Sorry Mike and Donna – I’ll try to do better.) These were taken at our final gas stop about 75 miles short of Mitchell, SD.

We did manage to squeeze in time for dinner at Whiskey Creek Steakhouse before hitting the hotel (Kelly Inn). Tomorrow we have a 4 hour ride to Hill City, SD where we’ll hang out for a couple of days. Although I’m sure the 4 of us are super excited about an opportunity to drive past the “World’s Only Corn Palace” in downtown Mitchell.

Thanks for coming along on our ride.