Day 21, August 15: sideways

Waubay. SD to Appleton, MN http://cyclemeter.com/85ef50859d8f1e5c/Cycle-20150815-0830 
Distance: 78.2 miles

Total trip distance: 1366 miles

Average speed: 12.0 mph

Maximum speed: 23.7

Riding time: 6:30

Weather: it didn't cool down much at night because of all the moisture in the air. The dew point was in the high 60s throughout the day. The temperature at my 8:30 AM start was 70°; it rose to 79° by 10 AM; and then hit the low 90s for much of the afternoon. I had strong south crosswinds all day during my eastward route. The winds were at about 8 to 10 mph in the morning and for the rest of the day they blew at 13 or 14 mph with gusts to 17 or 18 mph.

Terrain: uphill 1381 feet, downhill 2123. The day began on the Coteau des Prairies and then came a long descent although most of it was too gradual to notice. Then the landscape alternated between very flat and gently rolling terrain with a local relief of about 50 feet, i.e. the difference between the highest and lowest points was only 50 feet at most.

I followed US 12 about 40 miles to Milbank, SD; took county roads across the South Dakota/Minnesota border, and finished on MN 7 to Appleton. The whole day was windy, particularly the South Dakota portion.

Since 1979, the State of South Dakota has erected "Think" signs like these two on US 12 at the sites of traffic fatalities.

The stiff breeze by 10am caused this flag to flap audibly in the wind. As I rode eastward, I had to lean right a little bit to compensate for wind gusts from the south.

This sign warns about the upcoming descent off the Coteau des Prairies. The sharp transition where the Coteau meets the flatland can be seen on the Waubay - Appleton route map above, just east of I 29.

The view from the Coteau toward the flat lands in the distance. In the foreground is a large soybean field. The photo was taken
from US 12 just east of Marvin, SD.

The descent off the Coteau on US 12 was long and smooth, the kind of hill I really enjoy gliding down. But this time, I had to squeeze my brakes for part of the way, because I did not want to end up sideways, i.e., blown over by a gust of wind. The faster you go, the easier it is to be blown off your bike. I regretted wasting a good hill, but as a person of extreme moderation, safety comes first.

You can see a sort of purple haze as you gaze across this field of clover.

Purple clover close-up.

A restored wind mill in Milbank, SD. A stone driven by the wind mill was used to grind wheat into flour.

Granite is quarried in eastern South Dakota and several parts of Minnesota. Past this soybean field is waste rock from the Dakota Granite company's quarry.

It took four days of cycling to cross South Dakota, although I did not cross the entire state. In Minnesota, my route took me through glacial landscapes--outwash plains and moraine. The latter are accumulations of earth and stones carried and finally deposited by a glacier.

 

The Big Stone refuge preserves a section of tall-grass prairie.

The Minnesota River originates near here in Big Stone Lake. The name Big Stone is a translation of a Sioux name for the outcrops of granite and gneiss found in the Minnesota River Valley.

This really large stone was deposited here by a glacier, maybe about 10,000 years ago. It may have been carried here from hundreds of miles away.

The last part of my route, on MN 7, turned more or less directly into strong headwinds. I averaged a slow and tough nine mph along this stretch.

Appleton has an interesting community art project. Residents created hundreds of tiles of some aspect of Appleton, and these tiles then decorated benches in the park along a Memory Trail. The first photo shows one of the benches, and the second shows detail.

One of the benches in Appleton's Memory Trail

Detail from a bench on Appleton's Memory Trail.