Today’s ride was dedicated to my awesome cousin Mia who lives in Denmark. She is currently kicking breast cancer’s butt, and inspires me to be a strong and forward thinking person as she always has. I know that she has awesome support, because it is the same family that also supports me, and it was really amazing to be able to dedicate the day to her.

We started off our day so positively with a wonderful breakfast of eggs, sausage, and bagels and also a new morning ritual of pointing out the great things that we see one another do. I know that we all notice little things that people do throughout the day, but it is nice to get into a routine of saying those nice things out loud. We had a very short day today, only 46.6 miles through the gorgeous South Dakota plains. 3 out of the 4 groups arrived at the stayover before noon, the other group arrived four hours later after a “brief detour.”

This detour was very worthwhile however!!! While biking to the stayover (a little bit off route), a group of us stumbled upon a farm with cats (and baby kittens!), turkeys, horses, a dog, and some very interesting free range hens. It was so fun to hang out with the owners of the farm, and we also got to conduct a Portrait and hear their story. It is ALWAYS worth a detour to listen to others. That is the whole reason why we ride, and will be what we remember come August 3rd when this is all said and done.

Tonight we are staying at the Miller United Methodist Church, where we were fed delicious South Dakotan pasta salads and had a cookout! We ate until we could not possibly eat any more, and also were provided showers at the local high school. Talking to the church members during dinner was really fun – everyone we have met in South Dakota has been so outrageously kind and it has been great.

We also had a safety meeting tonight to go over some differences in what biking out west will be like. We are about to see some plants and animals that we have never really ran into before, and get into elevations that are simply nonexistent in Illinois. We are prepared and have safety at the forefront of our minds at all times!

Today’s rider shout-out goes to Brad! This morning we had a HUGE breakfast to make (huge especially compared to our usual plain oatmeal) and Brad got his bag packed quickly and offered right away to help cook and clean up breakfast. We all have our own assigned chores and breakfast is not his, but he helped out as if it was and it made the morning go very smoothly.

PS – we love when friends, family, and people we meet along the way comment on the blog and/or on social media! We read the comments and they mean a lot to us, so if you ever want to pass along any words of encouragement or updates about how your journey is going, feel free to reach out :)