Today I woke up at 6:30 AM and got cleaned up and was in the motel lobby by 7:15 AM for the continental breakfast. A number of riders were there all ready and we sat around and visited. 11 riders are leaving today because they only signed up for a portion of the trip. I have had the opportunity to get to know some more than others, and I am sad to see Torre' go. He is an excellent rider, but more than that he is fun to be around and a wonderful person. All the people I have met have enriched my life greatly.

Other riders straggled in over the next hour. It was fun to just sit, relax and of course, eat. Steve, Mary and I then took our bikes out behind the motel and conducted a major cleaning on our bikes. I also put on my two new tires. These new tires are so heavy I thought it might take two of us to get the job done, but it was much easier than I thought. The cleaning took until 12:00 noon at which time we lined up a taxi and rode to a restaurant called Spezia’s. On Sunday in Sioux Falls nearly everything is closed. Dan had gone to Mass in downtown Sioux Falls, so he was not with us. Kate joined Steve, Mary and me for lunch. The food was excellent.

We returned about 2:30 PM and we all went to our rooms and took naps. We agreed to meet at 6:00 PM so we could go to dinner. We did and we went back to the same restaurant. We got back to the motel at 9:30 PM and went to bed. That was the extent of my rest day. Tomorrow we ride 67 miles to Worthington, MN and say so long to South Dakota.

I failed to mention that last night we went to the Jazz Festival in Sioux Falls. We heard the Neville Brothers perform. It was a beautiful evening and there were about 15 of us there. We sat on the grass along with many other people and listened to the music. Dan and I finally went down front so we could feel the music and “get down”. We had a great time singing along, moving and clapping to the music. It felt like I was in college again. It was also fun because it was an activity apart from riding a bike.

Another item I have been told I need to follow-up on is the bullet holes in the truck and van. Mary and I went shopping in Wall Drug and found these fake bullet hole stickers. Mike, our leader has mentioned that most of the road signs in Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming and South Dakota had bullet holes in them. When Mary and I found these stickers we couldn’t resist putting them on the driver’s side door of the red van and on the back of the Rider Truck. They look very real.

The two of us would make very poor criminals. We almost got caught putting the first one on the red van by Mike and Barbara, his wife. They came across the parking lot right after we had placed one on the van. They asked what we were doing and we made up some flimsy response. I had all of the remaining stickers in my hand. Later, when they discovered the bullet holes, they thought it might have been Gerard, the bike mechanic or Dan. Yes, it had to be Dan. Well, now you know the rest of the story.
Click here to see more pictures from today!