July 14^th, Day 26: Chamberlain, SD to Mitchel, SD: 72 miles, 827 ft. ascent

There were several entertaining diversions available on this 72 mile leg. But I have to report rather sheepishly that Alastair and I did not experience the Tractor Museum of Kimball, we did not experience the lawn mower race track of Pukwana we did not experience the Corn Palace of Mitchell, and we did not even experience the Puk U bar. But boy, did we experience the winds of South Dakota – again!

Our decision to bypass the Puk U bar seems rational as there is a strict moratorium on adult beverages while riding and it was still before 9am. But our lack of touristic engagement with the rest of these attractions (surpassed in the annals of world tourism only by Wall Drug) can only be explained by our single minded determination to thwart the once again unremitting winds. Our focus was somewhat undermined by the locals, who dismissed the wind as little more than a breeze. They seem bizarrely proud of the South Dakota weather, which fluctuates sequentially between unreasonably cold, unreasonably hot and unreasonably windy, with this pattern only interrupted by periods in which at least two of said conditions of unreasonableness are brought into play simultaneously.