August 23: Big Stone Lake State Park

     South Dakota Highway 10 took me past several more lakes which I was not expecting to see.  However, the biggest surprise, possibly of this entire trip, came a few miles before Sisseton.  I had been going up and down gently rolling hills for the fifteen miles since I left Roy Lake and I had no reason to think that it wouldn't continue.  Then I came to the top of the last hill and I was stunned.  It is possible that my eyeballs popped out of my head like in a Roadrunner cartoon.  There, before me, was an amazingly dramatic view of the Red River valley several hundred feet below.  It was broad and flat and extended as far as the eye could see.  It was like rising up over a bluff and suddenly and unexpectedly discovering the Pacific Ocean.  Certainly not the most beautiful thing I have seen, it was definitely, as I said, the most surprising.  And the four mile descent into the valley was probably my longest since the Glacier National Park area.
     I also went over my second continental divide.  At the South Dakota/Minnesota border, near Brown's Valley, MN, is the North/South Continental Divide.  It is a curious thing.  You ride over a sort of land bridge and on one side is Lake Traverse and on the other side is Big Stone Lake.  Lake Traverse becomes the Red River which flows north to Canada.  Big Stone Lake becomes the Minnesota River which flows south.  I think that's how it works.

     While I enjoyed my excursion through the northeast corner of South Dakota, I have to admit that using it as part of my scheme to avoid the wind really backfired on me today.  The winds are blowing in from the southeast and I have no choice to go south or east.  It was my hardest day of riding yet, especially the last 20 miles in which I had to go straight southeast.  The gusts were horrific and when a truck would come from the opposite direction, the blast in my face was unbelievable.

     I have to apologize.  If I was reading this blog, I'd be saying "enough with your wind reports! Just move on."  That is a fair comment, and I promise not to bring up that damn wind again.  I don't care if it's a tornado, I will not mention it again.
     Speaking of tornados, I just remembered a whirlwind back in eastern Washington that I never reported on this blog.  It was twisting and whipping up the dry dust that makes up that part of the state and it was approaching the highway.  I distinctly remember thinking "that thing is gonna hit the road at the same time as I get there." 
     Indeed, the whirlwind hit me and I had to lean into it for fear of getting blown over, and I'm guessing that thing would have only registered as an F-.00001 tornado. 
     THAT, officially, is my LAST wind report.

     I am in my home state now, safely encamped at Big Stone Lake State Park.  It is only 50-54% as nice as last night's park, but it will do.  Across the lake I still see South Dakota.