Day 55: Into Pierre to Relax

TREV:
Having slept in the little cabin afforded us the comfort of AC as well as a bed. We made our breakfast and began the battle into headwinds to get to Pierre. The frontage road took us to a gas station that provided a sandwich and some snacks before heading north to Pierre. Thankfully the winds were either at our backs or across us so the riding went much faster. There was a little bit of warm summer rain but overall it was a nice ride, despite the rolling hills, and we took a nice break in a roadside pullout. We got into Pierre and decided on a motel room for the next couple nights to be able to take care of errands from a home base. Also, there is only one campground near the city and it's more of an RV park so the decision was pretty easy.

Once showered and refreshed we consulted Yelp which pointed us to La Minestra Italian restaurant. We were both in there mood for some good quality food and this hit the spot. My Chicken Parmesan included the largest chicken breast I've ever seen and Steph's pasta was delicious as well. Pair that with some tasty brews and top it with tiramisu and we were stuffed and greatly satisfied with our meal. Despite the cost of a room it's nice to shower, have a bed, and even a little Comedy Central to close a night once in awhile. I'm looking forward to just hanging out here tomorrow with Steph, even though it will be our last day together for a bit.

STEPH:
Hallelujah, we woke up to a cooler morning with clouds in the sky today. After some delicious oatmeal with bananas, we started riding east. My legs felt a little noodly, no doubt yesterday's miles took a toll on my muscles. The wind didn't help us out on our first 20 miles and by the time we stopped for lunch at the one gas station along our whole ride, I thought we were going to have a really long day.

Fortunately, when we turned north, we picked up the speed and before I knew it we crested a hill and saw the Missouri river and Pierre down below. We cried yahoos as we sped down the long hill and just like that our riding together was pretty much over. Just a few more miles to the motel we settled on brought me to a total of 375 for the trip. Tomorrow we'll have to get my bike down to the local bike shop to ship out, so I don't think we'll be doing any riding.

We heard from Don back on the Mickelson Trail that Pierre (pronounced "pier" by the way) is the second smallest US capital behind Vermont's Montpelier. Pierre is tiny, so Montpelier must be no more than a couple of blocks!

After our delicious dinner, we strolled along the main street in town, S. Pierre, and stopped at a local baseball game to watch the last few innings. Pierre lost to Huron and we decided to call it a night.