Today was an easier day. Only 75 miles.
Today Essence is more of a helpful tip. "If it ain't broke don't fix it."
We woke up all abuzz about the "FIRE" alarm the night before. Actually there had been a fire. Some kids had set a fire over by the skate park and the yellers had been the park watchmen who had been sent out to watch over us. Alas we weren't, damaged or anything else.
Breakfast was a little lack luster.
We decided it was "Pirate Thursday" so everything turned into pirate speak for the morning. All "R" sounds had to soudn like "ARRRRRGGGGGGHHHH". Our standard verbal signal of "Gravel" in the road became "Rough Seas". "Passing" became "Prepare to be boarded!" ...and so on.
I hope to update this later with a crew roster and pics. At the moment you will just have to imagine.
After 113 miles, 75 miles seemed like a sale where everything was 30% off.
Riding with Steve, Alison and Kari, we pulled in to the midway checkpoint jsut after 9:00. Since we were over half done, we decided to do breakfast in Pollie's Cafe. And had our ride director, Polly, also Steve's wife" join us.
It was great to meet Pollie and see the backroom paintings, that had been painted as part of paying off a bartab fromt he '50s.
We met Sam, the former mayor, and had a great time. The heavy breakfast however did not sit well in our stomachs as we tried to et back into our exercise mode. It would have beena great breakfast to go back home and sit on the couch watching NFL all day, not cycling across the country.
A few hours later we were into Newcastle and bopping around just after 1:00p.m. Hannah, a young girl in the neighborhood, saw us as a wonderful untapped market and cleverly set up her fresh squeezed lemonade stand on the corner across from the senior center where we were staying. The lemonade was so tasty and refreshing that we drank her dry. I even managed to get a second cup before she ran out.
AFter that, Kari and I rode into oldtown to see what we could see. She talked me into goin up to the cemetary to see what old gravestones we might find.
A deer considered the cemetary flowers to be her personal buffet.
We did find a few old graves dating back to 1896. One that touched we was for a 16 year old boy. Such and elaborately carved headstone, must have been expensive and showed how much his parents loved and cared for him. It iw hard to explain how that came across but it really did. I felt sad for that family and that loss at that time.
Afterards we had a wonderful dinner in the Senior cneter of coleslaw and stroganoff and nodles and homemade rolls.
The rest of the evening, Bob and I were trying to research and finalize our plans for going off route and unsupported up to Mt. Rushmore and then rejoin the group in Rapid City.
The sky was pretty with some great pink clouds and I went anticipating a Century ride with Lots of hills. I knew I would be strong eonough by myself, but to get a small group through that without support, was a worry and as a stronger rider I felt the burden of responsibility. So I went to bed cautious optimistic.
Considering the breakfast that was out of the norm and hindered my riding and plannig to go off route, it seemed like a day where believing in the phrase "Don't fix it, if it ain't broke" seemed to be apro po.
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