Coast2Coast Day 38:  Fort Randall/Pickstown to Lewis and Clark Recreation Area/Yankton, SD; Humidity, River views, road construction and a hydration savior!

With the mooing of cows in the distance, we rode from the campground to again climb away from the River!  Of course, after taking some farm roads, we saw a multitude of fields again filled with corn, soybean, wheat, cows and a few horses.  The roads are lined with prairie grass, that is the envy of our local park managers in Littleton!

 We returned to ride along the River, treated to gently sloping fields, and more humidity than experienced yet on this journey.  When we ascended back to Route 52, we found that the road was under construction, having been stripped in preparation for chip sealing.  the rough surface enhanced the possibility of a few loose fillings and disrupted bridges.  The construction seemed to go on for over 20 miles or longer, but was likely something short of that.  

We did not encounter any opportunities to refill our hydration bottles, as all facilities were closed or nonexistent along the route.  Both Daniel and I depleted our hydration!!  Fortunately, there was a ‘fourwheeling momma’ coming out of her driveway, and Daniel begged Kathy for some water.  She ran her hose till the water was cool, and refilled two of our bottles each.  We were in-a-world-of-hurt, and Kathy came to our rescue!

Traveling on to the Lewis and Clark Recreation Area, we were challenged by a seven mile downhill into an 18 mph headwind, where it was necessary to pedal to progress downhill!  Eventually, we came to the un-manned entrance, but came across a maintenance worker to inquire where our site might be;  The Park is very large along the bank of the River, and offers much access to the river (beaches, boating, fishing, …).  He pointed us in the right direction, though the site numbers went down before going up (We are in site 236.) so we were hesitating on our way.

We were greeted by Cathy, and plenty of re-hydration to become human again.  Lunch, shower, nap, happy hour, dinner, and planning for tomorrow.  While lunching, we were joined by Steve from Brandon, SD, who came by to inspect our van.  He and his wife are looking at the possibility of down-sizing their camping accommodations.

Before retiring for the night, I did meet Kim and her three beautiful children.  The youngest (2?) was riding a bike (without pedals).  They were headed to the playground, but I wondered at what speed the youngest would conquer the slide while still fixed to his bike!

I’ll be off early tomorrow morning in an effort to get to Vermillion’s library to call-in for an interview.  (Sometimes we are so in our travel bubble that it is hard to realize that so much else is happening.)

Stay safe, and keep the rubber down!